Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

My landlord/owner did not pay the water bill for my apartment complex and our water was shut off today about 11 am. I paid my rent for the month in full and I contacted the property management and was told they were working on getting a hold of the landlord/owner. My wife spoke directly with the landlord/owner since she had her direct number and was told that we (the tenants of all her properties) were using too much water, and threatened to increase our rent if we did not cut back in our water use (again as a group of tenants). My wife and I, along with our 3 small children have lived there for years and have never paid water or been told of any excessive use before today. According to the owner, the property management company she uses to collect our rent was supposed to notify us of the water issue but never posted or mailed us any notices. She then advised us we would get our water back later in the day. As of 5:30 pm, we still do not have accessible water. We pay month to month and are current on all rent due. I'm sure property laws let the owner raise our rent and is likely in our future and our rental agreement does not mention the water as being part of our responsibility, but is there any legal recourse to penalize the owner of not paying the water bill and leaving us with an uninhabitable living space that she is responsible for without giving us proper notice?


Asked on 1/21/16, 5:40 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

What the landlord did is totally illegal. Contact a local tenants rights attorney immediately.

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Answered on 1/22/16, 8:51 am


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