Manager Must Reside on Site
QUESTION: I live in a 26-unit apartment complex in Burbank. The landlord lives in Canoga Park. He visits to handle maintenance problems and make repairs several times a week without notice.
He has given one of the tenants a pager so she can relay calls to him from other tenants or for inquiries about vacant units. Is this arrangement legal? I thought the landlord of an apartment building this size was required to live on the premises.
ANSWER: A California landlord is required by state law to have at least an on-site resident property manager at any apartment building containing 16 or more units. While he may fulfill that role himself, he is not required to do so.
It sounds as if the owner of your building has an on-site manager, the tenant with the pager. If so, he is in compliance with state law. If not, it would still be a simple matter for him to appoint the tenant with the pager as the manager.
Small Claims May Resolve Deposit Flap
Q: Until recently, I lived in an apartment building in Downey. The owner did not return my security deposit. Instead, she claims she used $200 of it for cleaning the unit.
My family and I cleaned the apartment thoroughly before leaving so we could get our deposit back. When we moved out, we requested that the owner see the apartment and take inventory before deducting any money from our security deposit. She told us to leave the key under the mat and that she would refund the deposit.
We have not received anything to date, and now she’s telling us to go to court. Maybe she can sense that I can’t take her to court because I can’t afford a lawyer. Is there anything I can legally do about this situation?
A: Yes, and it won’t require an attorney or very much money. You can take your former landlord to small claims court, where attorneys are not allowed except as observers, witnesses or litigants.
The fee for filing a claim is only $6, plus $20 for the marshal to serve the court papers on the defendant, your former landlord. (While you can serve the papers yourself, it is advisable to have the marshal do so in order to avoid a dispute about proper service .)
Under new court limits effective sinceJan. 1, you can sue your landlord for up to $5,000 in small claims court, not to exceed two lawsuits in any calendar year. After the second, you are limited to asking for damages up to $2,500.
Besides any actual damages you believe you are entitled to, you may also ask the court for $200 for “bad faith” retention of the deposit plus 2% interest per month.
You should take all the evidence you have to court. Pictures may be the best evidence you can have. Also, your witnesses will be heard by the court.
In the Jan. 27 Apartment Life column, in our lead question, “Owner Needn’t Tell of Crime, but Should,” we said that there is no law or ordinance requiring apartment owners to notify new or existing tenants of any crimes committed in apartment complexes or units.
We got letters!
Christopher L. Cockrell Sr. pointed out a three-year statute of limitations contained in an AIDS-disclosure law, Civil Code section 1710.2.
Under 1710.2, after three years there is no liability for an apartment owner’s failure to disclose the prior death or affliction from AIDS of one of his tenants. There could be a claim against an apartment owner for failure to disclose within three years.
Alan D. Wallace notes that in Reed v. King the court held that prior multiple murders may be a material fact in figuring the value of real property.
Our writers didn’t indicate how far back in time any such disclosures must go, or how severe a crime must be. As in most cases involving reasonable care, the owner must make a judgment call on what the law would deem “material” to a consumer’s decision to rent.
