Illegal Rentals, Health Inspection and Month-To-Month Leases

[bulletproof]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California

Apologies in advance for the long-winded post: I thought it best to try and fully explain in the beginning.

In July, I moved out of my former apartment and into a two-bedroom house in Los Angeles. The owner has two single-family homes on the property, one of which has been unoccupied for the duration of our tenancy (despite the fact that, allegedly, a family was supposed to begin occupying the home in August). Ours is in the back of the property. As far as the lease goes, we are month-to-month. They collected the final month's rent and a $200 deposit, which is what they are holding.

Upon renting the property, we knew that there were some issues; however, my back was against the wall as options were limited and my previous lease was about to expire. We were hopeful that they would resolve some of the issues prior to us moving in and, while writing out the lease, they verbally agreed to fix up the house. According to them, their mother had previously occupied the home and had messed it up through neglect on her part. They seemed like they were willing to actually do the work (I know, I know, should've gotten it in writing...), but alas. In addition to being very slow/shoddy with their work, a whole slew of new problems arose after we moved in, compounding the original issues.

The house has been ripe with problems. To name a few: the paint was poorly done/chipping (we're currently working on fixing this ourselves, with no financial assistance from the landlord), the toilet doesn't flush properly (it didn't flush at all the first week, but they did a crummy repair), the pipes need to be replaced (according to two plumbers who came in response to drains in the bathroom not functioning), the front porch is falling apart (he has PLANS to fix this, but hasn't done anything). certain outlets are not functioning, I don't believe there are enough smoke detectors, there's mold in the bathroom, bugs have been a problem (cracks/holes in the house are the cause of this, most likely), etc. Sounds real nice, right? It's not exactly a slum, but it's pretty bad.

Normally, I would just move out; however, neither I nor my roommate have the funds to do so at the moment. In leiu of this, I would like to get him to at least move on projects that will improve our living conditions. My true fear is that there actually IS some behind-the-scenes health code violation that could potentially harm my roommate and I, which has probably been overlooked through sheer negligence.

So, after that long-winded backstory, I have some questions (apologies for any misuse of terminology/jargon):

A. I'm relatively certain that the house is not zoned for rentals. He's told us that if his insurance company comes by (they frequently do, apparently, as there are outstanding issues with the house they're aware of, such as unpainted trim on the exterior of the house) to tell them that he lives with us. How could I go about verifying this?

B. If someone in the city becomes aware of the zoning issue, what happens to my roommate and I? As I said, money is an issue at the moment, so if it's a situation where we immediately get kicked out and then have the scramble to find somewhere else to live... it won't be a pretty scene.

C. Because of the potential zoning issue, I have been reluctant to call for a health inspection. Can I / should I do this? Is this going to cause problems regarding questions A & B?

D. Because of his poor attitude on the phone, I have been trying for the last three weeks to schedule a meeting with my landlord in order to discuss needed repairs with him / show him issues (the most pressing of which is the mold in the bathroom). We finally have one scheduled on Thursday. Because we've been raising issues with a lot of things, I'm worried they're going to move to sweep this under the rug and just give us our 30 days. What's our recourse in this situation?

I've never legitimately worried about losing an apartment and having no other options, but I guess that's where I'm at right now. Any advice would greatly help.

Thanks

[Mr. Knowitall]

If the home is not zoned for rentals, the home is not authorized to be a rental under any applicable local zoning ordinances, the home is deemed unfit for human occupancy, or the landlord does not do ordered repairs such that he loses any required certification of the home as a rental, you will be ordered to move out. You may have a cause of action against the landlord as a result.

If you have a month-to-month lease and your landlord gives you proper notice to end your tenancy, your 'recourse' is to look for a new place to live. If you want to try to make the case that the notice was retaliatory,

The law infers (assumes) that the landlord has a retaliatory motive if the landlord seeks to evict the tenant (or takes other retaliatory action) within six months after the tenant has exercised any of the following tenant rights:

• Using the repair and deduct remedy, or telling the landlord that the tenant will use the repair and deduct remedy.
• Complaining about the condition of the rental unit to the landlord, or to an appropriate public agency after giving the landlord notice.
• Filing a lawsuit or beginning arbitration based on the condition of the rental unit.
• Causing an appropriate public agency to inspect the rental unit or to issue a citation to the landlord.

I suggest reading through this guide.