No Agreement Leaves Tenant Guessing

QUESTION: I have been living in an older West Los Angeles triplex for one year. I have no written lease or rental agreement with my landlord. He refuses to give me anything in writing except the letter announcing a 5% rent increase.

Is it important for me to have a lease? If yes, how do I force one on him?

In another vein, when I moved into the apartment it contained a stove and refrigerator which had belonged to the owner’s mother, who previously occupied the apartment.

The owner has had a repairman fix the refrigerator a couple of times during the last few months, but it still leaks. The owner now says he’s put enough money into the appliance and, if I want to trade it in on another one I can (at my expense).

He claims that the units come without stoves or refrigerators and he only let me use these appliances out of the goodness of his heart.

He says he has no duty to supply me with these appliances. Does he?

Also, my back door came off its hinges. The owner says that it wasn’t that way when I moved in and he doesn’t consider that “normal wear and tear.”

He says he doesn’t have to deal with that problem either. Does he?

Finally, the lawn is mowed about one time a month. The owner claims that it doesn’t need to be mowed any more often, yet the grass is a good four inches higher than the lawn next door. What is his responsibility regarding lawn maintenance?

ANSWER: It sounds as if the relationship between you and your landlord is chilling rapidly, which is not good.

As for the written agreement question, it is the owner’s option whether or not to give you one. If you want a written lease in the future, get it before you move into an apartment. A written agreement, by the way, protects the owner far more than it does you. For instance, if you had one it probably would have specifically noted that the stove and refrigerator were provided “out of the goodness of his heart.”

Absent anything to the contrary in writing, it sounds as if the owner will not fix the refrigerator again.

About the back door, its unhinging represents a health/safety problem that must be remedied by the owner, regardless of who is at fault.

If the owner can “prove” that you somehow misused the door, then he can likely charge you for its repair. If not, he will have to pay for it.

The grounds-keeping problem is another one on which you probably can’t get much help. If it represents a health/safety problem, the city of Los Angeles can either compel the owner to cut the grass or do so itself and bill the owner for its services.

While four inches of grass may be unattractive, it probably does not represent the health/safety problem needed to compel the owner to take action on it.

Good luck in your future dealings with your landlord. Remember that maintaining a good working relationship with him makes it easier to get him to do things.

Try Other Methods Before Breaking Lease

Q: I’m on a one-year lease in a West Hollywood apartment. A few months ago the landlord rented the apartment next to me to a tenant who plays his stereo as loud as a live Guns N’ Roses concert.

All of us have complained to the tenant and to the owner, which isn’t working. There were seven complaints in February alone. I even called the police on him. Nothing is happening.

If the problem persists, and the owner does nothing, can I legally break the lease after a reasonable amount of time? If yes, what is a reasonable amount of time?

A: Breaking a lease is always a gamble. Whether or not you ultimately have any rent or other liability as the result of breaking it would likely be determined by a court if the owner was not willing to let you out of it.

If you haven’t broached this with the owner, do so before you do anything. If nothing else, it may get him into gear to do something.

Assuming he won’t let you out of the lease, you may be able to persuade him to evict the noisy neighbor.

Of course, while the owner may have enough “proof” to evict this loud lodger (meaning other disgruntled tenants willing to go to trial), the law does not impose a duty upon him to “control” his tenants.

You may be able to obtain a restraining order through the courts to control the racket if the police will not help. However, remember that it is always hard to prove midnight noise problems in a noontime courtroom.

The bottom line is that there is no “good” time to break a lease. Try everything else first.

Postema is the editor of Apartment Age Magazine, a publication of The Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA), an apartment owners’ service group. Mail your questions on any aspect of apartment living to Apartment Life, AAGLA, 621 South Westmoreland Ave . , Los Angeles, Calif. 90005-3995.