California: (I'm not sure if this belongs here - I have also posted it under Landlord-Tenant rights.)
We rented an apartment 4 months ago, with the understanding that there would be at most one month of inconvenience while renovation work was done on the premises, including reinforcing balcony structures. Since that time, our lower deck has lain undone, with gaping holes, and temporary poles support the balconies of 2 floors. We have been constantly warned not to spend time on our balconies and to avoid the undone deck. The neighbour above us has no access to her apartment except from her balcony. Cement was poured a month ago and a new estimate for the deck, balconies and some termite damage there to be dealt with, was again, a month at most. A month later, no work at all has been done but a new "estimate" now expands the job duration to yet another month and a half. Meanwhile, other irritations include daily noise, dirt and that trash cans that we pay for on our DWP bill are used by the builders for construction debris.
We have written to our landlord, demanding a written commitment to a speedy completion date for this work. He is being non-committal. We do not want to sour our relationship with him, as he has given us a little rent discount for all this, but we wondered what our legal rights are in this case. What can we use for leverage, aside from filing a report with the housing department ? Thanks very much for any advice.
We rented an apartment 4 months ago, with the understanding that there would be at most one month of inconvenience while renovation work was done on the premises, including reinforcing balcony structures. Since that time, our lower deck has lain undone, with gaping holes, and temporary poles support the balconies of 2 floors. We have been constantly warned not to spend time on our balconies and to avoid the undone deck. The neighbour above us has no access to her apartment except from her balcony. Cement was poured a month ago and a new estimate for the deck, balconies and some termite damage there to be dealt with, was again, a month at most. A month later, no work at all has been done but a new "estimate" now expands the job duration to yet another month and a half. Meanwhile, other irritations include daily noise, dirt and that trash cans that we pay for on our DWP bill are used by the builders for construction debris.
We have written to our landlord, demanding a written commitment to a speedy completion date for this work. He is being non-committal. We do not want to sour our relationship with him, as he has given us a little rent discount for all this, but we wondered what our legal rights are in this case. What can we use for leverage, aside from filing a report with the housing department ? Thanks very much for any advice.