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Unsafe living conditions, including mold, Disabled Senior Citizen renting mobile home

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Revoltarian

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I need immediate advice regarding my best options in this situation. I have rented a mobile home for 10 months now, and the landlord still has NOT fixed the windows (they will not close all the way) causing me to freeze this winter in 20-degree weather, and pay high electric bills for space heaters.

Additionally, there are leaks in the roof, one which caused a bedroom floor to become so wet that mushrooms started growing out of the carpet. The carpet is now ripped up, I am waiting for a plumber, and there is what appears to be black MOLD all over the wood flooring that was under the carpet.

I have also advised the landlord and asked him to spray for spiders, bugs, and ****roaches for over 9 months. My son must kill about 5 black widows per week, and there are dozens of other types of spiders and all the landlord says is "they were here first."

He left piles of leaves and weeds from previous tenants, and is now telling me that if he gets a fire warning, he will make me pay the $500 fine.

The screens are SCREWED into the INSIDE of the windows (that won't shut completely) so they are full of spider webs and I cannot clean them. He says it is not a problem. I cannot even unpack my boxes because I have no closets in which to put things, and he insults me each time he comes over (unannounced) by telling me I am not clean or am a "hoarder." Because the windows will not shut, you can literally feel the breezy wind throughout the entire house, and we had to sleep on our couches all winter because we could not keep the other rooms warm.
There are also holes in the kitchen floor, near the sink, so I believe there has also been leaks there and if the tile were taken up, there is likely more mold.

There is no mail box at the residence. The landlord will not provide one, and made me get a PO Box. It is my understanding that this is one of the violations of habitability.

The back door will not shut and lock; we have to pull it together and use a bicycle chain and lock to secure the door. We have had 3 attempted break-ins.

I would like to have the landlord pay for my moving expenses, as I do not feel he is obeying the laws and he is responsible for the repairs under the implied warranty of habitability in California. I know he will not replace the wood that has black mold growing on it, and it is almost the entire room. He is very pushy and abrupt. It seems that, according to California law, he is violating 10 of the 15 conditions considered “uninhabitable.”

He also never gives notice that he is coming over; he simply comes over and starts berating me in defense of not maintaining the property as he should be doing.

Can anyone advise me or help me?
 
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Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Have you notified him in writing?

Have you called your local municipality's inspection department?

You are free to move. Your lack of savings is not his "problem", unfortunately.
 

Revoltarian

Junior Member
Have you notified him in writing?

Have you called your local municipality's inspection department?

You are free to move. Your lack of savings is not his "problem", unfortunately.
Yes, I have notified him in writing, beginning 9 months ago. The mushrooms growing only started a couple of weeks ago, and he came out and ripped out part of the carpet and left the room that way. A plumber is coming on Tuesday, the 18th, to look at the bathroom sink. And I realize that under normal conditions, my lack of savings is not his issue. However, he has been receiving full rent for 10 months while violating 10 of the 15 items considered uninhabitable and against the implied warranty of tenants' rights, and I would not HAVE to move if he were maintaining the property. My savings was spent on my mother's death and burial, so please do not insinuate that anything is simply poor planning on my part. He needs to be held responsible for putting me at risk. I do not even have a mail box, which is also on that list...

This all happened Friday, so I have called my County's inspection department, but I cannot sit here and do this hour by hour, I need to know what my potential solutions are. Planning is indeed important, and I'm planning that he cannot rip up a bedroom floor, bathroom floor, and kitchen floor while I'm in the home.
 

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