A Rude Awakening for Venice Tenant
QUESTION: I gave my landlord of 10 years a 30-day notice of my intention to vacate my Venice rental. A couple of weeks later, I was roused by the sound of sandblasting of the exterior of the house and found workmen in the garden. I was not notified that they would be coming.
Upon scolding them, one of them turned the hose on me and told me to get out of the way. I did. They continued with this for a few days. The blasting deposited sand, dirt and paint dust over my furniture and kitchen and killed plants and vegetables.
My complaints to the landlord went unanswered. I wonder how I can make a claim against him for the general inconvenience and damage caused.
Can you help?
ANSWER: To make a claim against the landlord, you must file a lawsuit in Small Claims Court. In general, you may be compensated for damages caused by negligence but probably won’t get much for general inconvenience. Since the work was done outside of the house, the landlord probably was not required to notify you about it.
The outside areas of most rentals are considered “common” areas, and no notice of intent to enter or work in them is usually required of landlords or their workers.
You say in your letter that the blasting “deposited sand, dirt and paint dust” over your furniture and kitchen and killed plants and vegetables.
Even if your lease or rental agreement specifies that you are in control of the common areas, your only damages there appear to be to plants and vegetables, which aren’t usually very expensive, and you will have to prove that the negligent sandblasting actually killed them.
You also may recover damages for the cost of cleaning your kitchen and furniture, if you incurred them.
It also is possible that if the workers began before 7 a.m. or worked after 10 p.m., a judge might award you some money for inconvenience because loud work like sandblasting generally must be done between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
A better approach might be to sue the sandblasters. If you were “blasted” by a workman, you may have an assault-and-battery claim against him and his company. They look like they may be the more culpable in this case.
Walk-Through Can Safeguard Deposit
Q: I live in Signal Hill and I have a question for you. Several months ago, I recall reading in your column about doing a walk-through at the end of a tenancy for the protection of landlords and tenants alike.
I asked for a walk-through at the end of my tenancy, but it was declined. They said it wasn’t necessary. Is it?
A: It is not legally required, but I believe that doing a walk-through both at the beginning and end of your tenancy can help prevent you from getting the runaround when you move out, while protecting the owner at the same time.
At the walk-through, you should use a written form like the Inventory Checklist produced by the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles. It features a brief description of the condition of the premises and furnishings when you move both in and out of the apartment, making it easy to determine what has changed during the course of the tenancy.
To get a free copy of the form, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to AAGLA, 621 S. Westmoreland Ave., Los Angeles CA 90005. Or if you would like to pick up a copy, call AAGLA at (213) 384-4131 for the address of the office nearest you.
Also you’ve probably heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. That’s particularly true with security deposit refunds because it’s hard to argue with a picture.
You must have both before and after pictures to make a truly convincing case. Those pictures may be worth more than a thousand words. They may be worth $1,000.
Illegal for Owner to Collect Rent Twice
Q: I rented a condo in Alhambra for $880 a month. The owner was notified of my intent to vacate the premises one week before I left. Ten days later, new tenants moved into the unit. Nevertheless, the owner kept 15 days’ rent because of the short notice.
Can the owner charge rent from two tenants at the same time? He also deducted $50 for cleaning the kitchen range and $70 for cleaning the carpet. Is that legal?
Also, must he pay me interest on the security deposit that he held for more than four years?
A: Apartment owners in California are prohibited from collecting double rents from tenants. The owner probably owes you for five days’ rent if he collected it from both you and the new tenants for the same five days.
State law does allow an owner to charge for the actual cost of cleaning an apartment after a tenancy if it was clean when you moved in and wasn’t when you moved out. The cleaning charges of $120 seem to be reasonable.
As far as any interest payment on your security deposit, there is no requirement for apartment owners in Alhambra to pay renters interest on such deposits. There is such a requirement in the city of Los Angeles, but it applies only to rent-controlled properties in the city.
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Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of AAGLA, an apartment owners’ service group, and manager of public affairs for the California Apartment Law Information Foundation, which disseminates information on landlord-tenant law to renters and owners in California. Mail your questions on any aspect of apartment living to AAGLA, 12012 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025.
