Best Ways to Get Your Landlord to Make a Repair in California

Need something fixed in your apartment? Assuming it's your landlord's responsibility to fix, your first step always needs to be to make a request for a repair in writing and then wait for your landlord to respond and fix the problem. Once you’ve done that, here are your options:

Leave without notice: Yes it's true - if there is a problem that's clearly a violation of the warranty of habitability you are no longer liable for rent and can leave.

Withhold rent until it gets fixed: This is your best option if the problem is serious, would cost more than a month of rent to fix and you don't want to leave

Repair yourself and pay less rent: You can hire a contractor to make the fix, but you have to wait thirty days and it has to cost less than a month of rent to fix.

Your decision about which path to take pretty much hinges on how serious the issue is. If it would cost more than a month of rent to fix then you can't fix it yourself - you have to withhold rent or leave. In any scenario, the burden of proof is on you - so make sure you documented everything carefully. Even the threat of going to court will be empty if your landlord knows you have no proof that they received a request.

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