Habitability Must Be Considered in ‘Repair and Deduct’ Law

Question: My Volkswagen was damaged by a garage door that came crashing down on it as I was backing into my garage. The car’s damage was $860, but the apartment owners refuse to pay it, saying it should be paid by my auto insurance.

My auto insurance deductible is $500 so I told them that I would deduct the $500 from the rent. Can I legally do this? Am I in the right? I live in the city of Orange.

Answer: Although there are times you can repair habitability problems with an apartment and deduct the cost of the repairs from the rent, this is not one of them.

To use the “repair and deduct” provision of the law, problems must be directly related to the habitability of the rental unit and you must provide the owner with a 30-day notice of your intent. Car damage is not a habitability problem. If you deduct money from the rent to pay for your auto repair, you could be evicted for nonpayment of rent. A better question might be, “Is the owner liable for the damages?”

Based upon your letter, I don’t think so. For the owner to be liable, he must first be negligent. For instance, if the owner knew there was a problem with the door but did nothing to correct it and your car was damaged, he probably would be considered negligent.

Since you apparently didn’t know there was a problem with the garage door, it is even more unlikely that the owner, who lives elsewhere, knew about it. Therefore, he probably is not negligent, and, hence, not liable.

No Compensation for Construction Chaos

Q: The owner of my apartment building in West Los Angeles bought the building next door and demolished it. Now they are building another apartment building in its place, less than 10 feet from my building.

It appears they are trying to join the two buildings as there is also construction in my building. The noise, dirt and sawdust are seriously affecting my quality of living.

Am I entitled to a reduction in rent due to the inconvenience of the construction as well as the reduced quality of living that our building owner is causing?

A: New-housing construction generally is considered progress, which usually is not penalized. Reducing your rent, and presumably the rent of all the other tenants in the building, would be a severe penalty to the owner.

Although virtually any construction project, whether it be housing, commercial or even street construction, is inconvenient, we usually are not compensated for our inconvenience.

When Fixtures Can Rightfully Be Removed

Q: My wife has lived in our West Hollywood apartment for the last 25 years. I have lived here for the last 15 years. During the tenancy, one of the two wall air-conditioners in the apartment began blowing only warm air. After several attempts, I gave up trying to get the management to replace the unit.

In May 1991, I bought and installed a brand-new wall air-conditioner for $600, plus professional installation. It was installed in the original casement and is more powerful and energy efficient than the one it replaced.

The original unit was stored in the garage area, although it disappeared after about three years. We are now in the process of buying our first home, and would like to know if we can remove the unit we installed and take it with us, or negotiate with the owner for a suitable cash consideration. Do you have any advice for me?

A: As a rule, fixtures cannot be removed at the end of a tenancy if such a removal would damage the premises. In your case, it does not appear that actual damage would occur.

You bought the new air-conditioner, so it is your property. The trickier issue is: Who pays for the old unit and what was it worth?

If you return the apartment to the owner with the air-conditioner missing, you are subject to being charged for its current value. So, it seems that your idea of negotiating with the owner is a good one. Just be ready to show that the old unit was worthless.

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Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of AAGLA, an apartment owners’ service group. Mail your questions on any aspect of apartment living to AAGLA, 12012 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025.