Web link to sex offender registry

Question: In your April 3 column, you said property owners are required to inform prospective renters about the Megan’s Law website. I looked up Megan’s Law, but I could not find a reference to any such requirement. Could you cite the code section that states this requirement?

Answer: The state law that requires landlords to inform tenants of the sex offender registry was enacted in 1998, more than five years before the public got online access to the database in December. Consequently, there is no specific reference to the website in the required notice.

However, Assemblyman Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) and state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer have introduced a bill to update Megan’s Law requirements to include, among other things, the website in the tenant notice.

California Civil Code Section 2079.10a requires every lease, rental agreement or sale of residential property of one to four units to include: “Notice: The California Department of Justice, sheriff’s departments, police departments serving jurisdictions of 200,000 or more and many other local law enforcement authorities maintain for public access a database of the locations of persons required to register pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 290.4 of the Penal Code. The database is updated on a quarterly basis and a source of information about the presence of these individuals in any neighborhood. The Department of Justice also maintains a Sex Offender Identification Line through which inquiries about individuals may be made. This is a 900 telephone service. Callers must have specific information about individuals they are checking. Information regarding neighborhoods is not available through the 900 telephone service.”

Although it’s not directly referenced, the database referred to is the Megan’s Law website at www.meganslaw.ca.gov.

No manager found on the grounds

Question: My mother lives in a 30-unit apartment that has not had a resident manager for the last five months. The building is mostly occupied by senior citizens. Is this legal? Whom can we contact to enforce this issue?

Answer: This is not legal. The California Code of Regulations, Title 25, Section 42, requires that a resident manager must live on the premises of any apartment complex with 16 or more rental units. If you live in a city with its own housing department, such as Los Angeles, you can contact that agency. The Los Angeles Housing Department phone number is (866) 557-7368.

For complaints in other communities in L.A. County, you can contact your local building and safety department for possible assistance. Making this kind of complaint in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County can be much more difficult, however. Representatives from both the county Department of Consumer Affairs and Building & Safety Department said they do not handle such complaints and referred me to each other when I tried calling them as a complaining renter.

The phone number for the county Consumer Affairs Department, (800) 593-8222, does, however, feature a telephone menu that allows callers to get recorded information about 15 aspects of owner-renter law, including evictions, security deposits, leases, rental agreements and repairs, among other things.

Their satellite TV suddenly squashed

Question: I live in an apartment with my mom in Anaheim. Three months ago, I got her satellite TV, with the dish mounted on the roof of the building. The other day, we heard someone walking on the roof and we haven’t had satellite TV since.

My mom thinks it is because the manager said the local cable company has an exclusive agreement with the owner to provide service for the building.

Can the cable company keep the satellite firm out because of such an agreement?

Answer: Some cable companies will not provide service to apartment buildings without “exclusive” agreements such as the one you describe. Whether that’s legal can only be determined by a court. I am unfamiliar with any lawsuits or cases on the issue.

Send questions to AptlifeAAGLA@aol.com, c/o Kevin Postema, or mail to AAGLA, c/o Kevin Postema, 621 S. Westmoreland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90005.