Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I've been living in a month to month in law unit with my bf for 5months now. By term of the lease it does not say no smoking, however my bf and I smoke. She has expressed she'd like us to smoke in the backyard which we have no problem with so we followed her wishes. She had weeks later complained of the smell and it interfering with her laundry and ask we only smoke in back at night, so we followed her wishes. Only for her to again complain and ask we solely go in front, which we now do. The other night at 11pm while I was asleep and my bf was baking something she began banging on our door yelling if we were smoking. Not only did this wake me up but was a completely faulty accusation. After I walked to the door and began to tell her we were not doing anything of the sort and I'd like to not be harassed any further, she continued to yell and then threaten to evict us. After that she yelled and screamed and cried upstairs for hours. Since the move-in we've followed all the agreements. She has since about a month into our move in; yelled at unethical hours of the morning and night not to mention throughout the day (as well as next to our front door downstairs and window next to our bed), came to our door for fixing a plumbing issue that had pre existed before our move in (which we nicely fixed for free through my bf's father who has a pluming company), told we we're not allowed to use our small covered compost bin bc of the smell(which is near odorless), and most recently we're bothered once again for an issue involving the pluming where she asked my bf to clean the garage bc of the overflow then proceeded to tell up we should no longer flush our tissue paper and put it into a trash bin. She will mostly speak in her native language and is very old but we can hear her talking about how we must be out at the end of the month and she's done with us. We've done nothing wrong but been more than polite through this. We have no intention of moving out, how shall we proceed?


Asked on 11/04/13, 3:02 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark Saltzman, MBA, JD Law Offices of Mark E. Saltzman

A tenant has a right to quiet use and enjoyment of his or her rented property. You have a few options. You can bring a legal action against the landlord for violating your right. You can move out, if the problem is so unbearable that it is the equivalent of an eviction, i.e. you were forced out. You can ignore the landlord's harassment. You can offer to mediate the dispute, if you have a mediation clause in your lease. This is quite common. You can consult with an attorney, who may send the landlord a letter, demanding that the conduct stop. There are other remedies available. These are just a few. I suggest consulting with an attorney.

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Answered on 11/05/13, 11:19 am


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