I am in Santa Clara County in CA. We had a 2 year lease agreement for a house that we had paid rent in the amount of $5,200 for the first year and $5,500 the second year.
During this time period we have had numerous issues (and some on-going) with faulty structural, major appliances, electrical outlets and wiring, toilets, major water irrigation issues (still not fixed), as well as an altered exterior deck/grounds that was ripped out and left in a subpar condition and as an unusable area.
With the deterioration of the house's condition and the lack of the property managements' response to our ongoing requests to remedy, a month before our our two year lease ended we had requested a decrease in rent for the next year (3rd year) due to decrease in current market comparable, as well as the house was by no means in the same condition as we had first rented , to know fault of ours. We also requested again to have items rectified.
We received via mail (1/4/20) a signed addendum to our lease for the 2020 year which reflected a lower rent as we requested, to the amount of $3,350. We accepted this amount and had the document notarized for our signatures and returned certified mail on 1/6/20. Near the end of February we received an email from the property management team stating we were $2,000 in arrears. We sent the new signed agreement back stating that we were paying on the new agreement that they had sent and that we had accepted as a reasonable adjustment. In March we received a demand of arrears in which we restated our issues at hand and that we would continue to pay our rent under the new lease agreement but if they wished to meet to further discuss and come to a mutually agreed resolution that we would like to.
They said they did and then COVID-19 shut the area down. I proposed that we could still have a conference call but they declined wishing to meet in person. In April we received emails from their attorney demanding payment and threatening to sue. We cited our concerns again, we continued to pay our new rent amount timely. On Friday we received an email with a legal document to sue for Damages of reformation and legal fees.
We would not have agreed to a new lease in the amount of $5,350 as they now propose as the correct amount, as we have paid for 2 years high water and electrical bills due to continued issues with the house and the faulty electrical, water and irrigation.
How should we respond to this upcoming legal suit requesting for rental arrearage and reformation of the Addendum as well as thuer legal fees. We are going to represent ourselves but are not sure how to submit the proper response to the Court filings.
Thank you for any advice
During this time period we have had numerous issues (and some on-going) with faulty structural, major appliances, electrical outlets and wiring, toilets, major water irrigation issues (still not fixed), as well as an altered exterior deck/grounds that was ripped out and left in a subpar condition and as an unusable area.
With the deterioration of the house's condition and the lack of the property managements' response to our ongoing requests to remedy, a month before our our two year lease ended we had requested a decrease in rent for the next year (3rd year) due to decrease in current market comparable, as well as the house was by no means in the same condition as we had first rented , to know fault of ours. We also requested again to have items rectified.
We received via mail (1/4/20) a signed addendum to our lease for the 2020 year which reflected a lower rent as we requested, to the amount of $3,350. We accepted this amount and had the document notarized for our signatures and returned certified mail on 1/6/20. Near the end of February we received an email from the property management team stating we were $2,000 in arrears. We sent the new signed agreement back stating that we were paying on the new agreement that they had sent and that we had accepted as a reasonable adjustment. In March we received a demand of arrears in which we restated our issues at hand and that we would continue to pay our rent under the new lease agreement but if they wished to meet to further discuss and come to a mutually agreed resolution that we would like to.
They said they did and then COVID-19 shut the area down. I proposed that we could still have a conference call but they declined wishing to meet in person. In April we received emails from their attorney demanding payment and threatening to sue. We cited our concerns again, we continued to pay our new rent amount timely. On Friday we received an email with a legal document to sue for Damages of reformation and legal fees.
We would not have agreed to a new lease in the amount of $5,350 as they now propose as the correct amount, as we have paid for 2 years high water and electrical bills due to continued issues with the house and the faulty electrical, water and irrigation.
How should we respond to this upcoming legal suit requesting for rental arrearage and reformation of the Addendum as well as thuer legal fees. We are going to represent ourselves but are not sure how to submit the proper response to the Court filings.
Thank you for any advice
