No need to sign on the dotted line of landlord’s notices
Question: My landlord continues to request I sign each notice he gives me. The notices have included new yard rules, payment of rent and water usage. I have told him to leave them on the door or mail them, but he insists I sign them. What are my rights here?
Answer: If you are a month-to-month tenant, these types of changes should be addressed with 30-Day Change of Terms notices. There is no requirement for you to sign them.
The owner can deliver a notice personally, tape a copy to the door and mail a copy to you the same day, or hand the notice to any adult who answers your door and also mail one to you the same day. The notices become operable as soon as they are served, without any requirement that the tenant sign on receipt or acknowledgment.
For a tenant with a lease, changing the terms and conditions can only be done at the end of the lease period through a revised version, signed and dated by both parties. Alternatively, if a lease expires and it converts to month to month, the 30-day notice rule then becomes applicable.
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Utility rules jolt new Californian
Question: I just moved to California from a state that required landlords to pay all utilities, including gas and electricity. My landlord here says I must get my own company account and pay for utilities. Is there any law in California that says a landlord must pay for utilities at a rental property?
Answer: Civil Code Section 1954 states that a property owner must provide functioning gas and electric equipment but does not require him or her to pay for these services. An owner can require a tenant to pay for utilities if that obligation is stated in the lease.
In some cases where there may be a single meter, a property owner may pay for utilities and prorate a monthly amount to a tenant or tenants, if this option is spelled out in the rental agreement.
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Who has to pay high power bill?
Question: I have a disability that requires me to use a ventilator 24 hours a day. The apartment manager has given me a 30-day notice stating that the portion I pay for electricity will go up due to excessive use. I can’t afford to pay more. Do I have to pay this extra amount, even though I’m disabled?
Answer: Check your rental agreement to see whether there is any language about electricity usage. For instance, does it allow for “typical” or “ordinary usage for the household size” or specify that charges will be incurred for “extraordinary” usage?
If it does not allow for extra charges but simply states that the landlord will pay for electricity, then these fees would constitute a change in terms, which would only be allowed at the end of a fixed-term lease or with 30 days’ notice on a monthly agreement.
If your agreement does allow for extra fees related to usage, then your landlord could charge you more, so long as he or she applies the extra fees uniformly. However, if other tenants are using similar amounts of electricity but only you are required to pay extra, then you should contact your local fair housing agency because this could amount to disability discrimination. Under fair housing law, it is illegal to “discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection with such dwelling, because of a handicap. . . . “
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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.
