The landlady can keep certain contact information to herself
Question: Recently, I sent a letter via certified mail to my landlady requesting emergency contact information. It’s been more than two weeks, and I still have not heard anything from her or the property manager. How can I get this information?
Answer: Although the owner is required to provide you with an emergency phone number and address, she is not required to provide you with her own number and address for this purpose. Presumably, since you sent a letter to her, you already have an address, either hers, the property manager’s or both.
It also is likely that you already have the property manager’s phone number. The law requires residential rental property owners to provide tenants with at least one emergency phone number in the event of a crisis. If that is the case, the landlady has already fulfilled the legal obligations in this regard.
If you want to pursue this, you can get owner data from one of the L.A. County Tax Assessor’s five offices. But this will require some legwork, as you must go into one of the offices to get the information. It is not available by phone or on the Internet.
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Rent’s going up; so are owner’s costs
Question: I read in a previous column that Los Angeles approved higher annual increases again, from 4% to 5%, on rent-controlled apartments. When the increase goes into effect in July, what are some of the things owners should be doing for us with this extra money?
Answer: Even though the city did approve the percentage increase outlined above, landlords won’t necessarily have a lot of “extra money” because of it. In fact, some may not be able to cover their rising costs, even with the increase.
For example, insurance costs have skyrocketed; oil-based products, which include paint, drapes, roofing materials, asphalt and many other items used in maintaining apartment buildings, have risen dramatically in price; and city fees are up, among many other building-related expenses.
Annual rent hikes are formula-driven, and are based on inflation increases that affect landlords as well as the rest of us.
Nevertheless, landlords are required to keep the premises habitable pursuant to California Civil Code section 1941.1. This includes maintaining roofs, plumbing, heating, locks on doors and windows, and window screens, as well as keeping the premises vermin free.
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Get the landlord’s OK on home swap
Question: Can two tenants, who both live in the same rent-controlled building in Los Angeles, switch apartments without asking the owner’s permission? If it is done, what are the ramifications?
Answer: Regarding your first question, anything is possible, but the answer is no. If you decide to roll the dice and try this unauthorized swap anyway, the ramifications could be serious.
First, you could both be evicted as unlawful subtenants of your “new” -- and likely soon-to-be-former -- apartments.
Second, if the owner evicts you, that will reflect negatively on your credit, which could make getting your next apartment more difficult.
If the owner doesn’t evict you, he or she could raise each of your rents to market levels under the vacancy de-control provisions of the rent-control law.
I think the chances of not being evicted if you attempt this swap are highly unlikely. How would the landlord know you could be trusted in the future?
If you still want to switch apartments, your only sensible option is to let the landlord know about your desire in advance and then get his or her permission before orchestrating the move.
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Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, an apartment owners’ service group. Send letters to aptlifeaagla@aol.com, or mail them to Apartment Age, Attn: Kevin Postema, 621 S. Westmoreland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90005.
