Your Tenant’s Right to Habitability

Your Tenant’s Right to Habitability

What is the Implied Warranty of Habitability when you rent your home? What is the acceptable level of repair and maintenance? What is fair to you to protect your tenant’s rights? Typically, certain repair and maintenance items are under the care of the landlord....
Protecting Your Tenant’s Rights in a Fire

Protecting Your Tenant’s Rights in a Fire

Suppose a catastrophe happened and your apartment building or rental house burned to the ground. Are you without any tenant’s rights? Even if  you do not have a written lease to your home, you still may have tenant’s rights.  If you have an oral contract with the...
Tenant’s Rights and Dog Bites

Tenant’s Rights and Dog Bites

What happens if you are bitten by another tenant’s dog? Do you give up your tenant’s rights? The other tenant is generally responsible when his or her dog bites you. Few tenants, however, have adequate insurance or other assets to pay you for your injuries. In...
A Case about Evictions and Short-Term Rentals

A Case about Evictions and Short-Term Rentals

A significant case prosecuted by the San Francisco City Attorney settled in early May, with the landlords being forced to pay $276,000. Evictions According to the City’s complaint filed in 2014, the landlords purchased a rent-controlled, tenant-occupied duplex located...
A Family Member Stays in His Home

A Family Member Stays in His Home

In late April, the California Supreme Court rejected reviewing an appeal by the landlord over whether a family member, who had remained in his rent-controlled home after the signers of the lease had moved out, was considered an original occupant. The Govender family...