The long and short of it: Put a screen on the drain
Question: I have long, thick hair. There recently was a plumbing clog in the unit above my apartment. After the repair, the manager told me I would have to put a screen on the shower drain to catch my hair because it was causing a plumbing problem. He is not asking anyone else to do the same. What do you think?
Answer: Asking a tenant to take steps to eliminate a potential repair problem is not discriminatory. It is reasonable for a tenant who has had plumbing problems to be asked to put a screen on the drain, so long as the manager does not make discriminatory comments about people with long hair in general.
Under California fair housing laws, tenants are protected against housing discrimination based on arbitrary personal characteristics, for example, long hair, tattoos or piercings.
In theory, if your manager is enforcing policies that have a discriminatory effect on people with long hair, then he may be violating the law. However, in your case, it seems he is justified because he was simply responding to a plumbing problem.
It’s a check, but is it considered cash?
Question: The rental agreements in the complex where I work are being rewritten to require that rent be paid by money order or cashier’s check only. A few tenants have challenged this, saying it isn’t allowed because money orders or cashier’s checks are considered cash and a landlord can’t require rent payments in cash. Who’s right?
Answer: Civil Code 1947.3 precludes a landlord from requiring that rent be paid in cash. Money orders or cashier’s checks are not included in this definition of cash. Therefore the request that rent be paid only by money order or cashier’s check is permissible.
According to Civil Code 1947.3, the only time a true cash rent payment may be requested is when a tenant has paid a month’s rent with an insufficient funds check or stopped payment on a money order or cashier’s check.
In this case, the request that the past-due rent be paid in cash must be part of a 3-Day Pay Rent or Quit notice, along with the hours and location the payment can be made. The landlord may continue to require cash for a period of three months. To do this, the landlord must serve a written 30-Day Change of Terms notice for the “cash-only” period.
The late-night
car show is a drag
Question: I live on a street that is becoming a late-night car “side show” on the weekends. This is creating a lot of noise, trash and safety problems for the neighborhood. The manager did not respond to my letters of concern so I contacted the property owner. The owner’s reply was that she is not responsible for the street problems. What can we do?
Answer: Since the problem is not occurring on the owner’s property, her position may be valid.
The street is public property, which means you should contact the local law enforcement agency that serves your area for assistance.
If the racing and disturbances were being held on the owner’s property, she would have a duty to remedy the situation to ensure the safety of the tenants, as well as her property.
Also, if such activities on the owner’s property were encouraging the side shows on the street, for example by allowing the participants to meet on her property, the owner might be liable for creating the resulting “nuisance.”
You may want to contact your local city officials as additional resources.
This column is prepared by Project Sentinel, a rental housing mediation service in Sunnyvale, Calif. Questions may be sent to 1055 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road, Suite 3, Sunnyvale, CA 94087, but cannot be answered individually. For housing discrimination questions, complaints or help, call the state Department of Fair Housing and Employment at (800) 233-3212 or the Southern California Housing Rights Center at (800) 477-5977.
