Hot Water Problems

[bokaba]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I live in an apartment in a converted 19th Century home. I have been experiencing substantial problems with the hot water in my unit. The hot water is great when it works, but it is sporadic and unreliable. I am virtually unable to do anything requiring hot water including bathing, washing dishes, etc. most of the day because the water cycles hot and cold every few seconds (because other tenants are turning their water on and off). This problem occurs in other units, but is not nearly as bad because my hot water heater is the last in the loop.

After almost a year of complaining, the landlord finally had a couple of plumbers come out to look at the situation and said the water main and pipes are heavily restricted from decades of mineral buildup causing the pressure to drop when another water source is turned on, which causes my water heater to force hot water back into the cold line and cold water into the hot line. They indicated a full house re-piping and water main replacement was necessary to remedy the problem and estimated it would cost around $20,000.

I believe the unit is unlivable under California law (Green v. Superior Court and Cal.Civ.Code section 1941.1). Is my opinion of the law correct?

I plan to inform the landlord that I will withhold rent until the problem is fixed (though I suspect for $20,000, he would rather my apartment just be permanently vacant once my lease is over). I understand that California law requires only a portion of the rent reasonable to the defect be withheld, not the entire amount. My rent is $625 per month. What would be a reasonable value on having hot water? Half of the rent?

 

[FarmerJ]

SO heres the deal you can make this very simple , call your city inspections desk and voice your complaints , I get it that this house has iron pipe or galvanized water line in use that has narrowed with age and yes it will eventually fail by totally plugging and not working at all or rust thru and sprout leaks ( no matter this is not your problem) , BUT your landlord does not have to totally re plumb your LL only needs to bring a new cold line to service your hot water heater and if needed to patch into your units cold water lines ( which would cost a lot less than re doing the whole house and let the LL plan for further replacements (Ive lived in a building that was built in 1888 and its owner had to replace the old lines that served the second and third floors which ended the third floors problems with poor flow when either of the two apts on second floor ran water , the two apts on second floor mine and the other one opposite mine had some improvement but it was not that bad to start with for us)

 

[bokaba]

Thank you Farmer. I will contact my city inspection and possibly county housing authority. In the meantime, am I legally justified in withholding a reasonable portion of the rent until the landlord corrects the problem? The landlord has been aware of this problem for a year and has been dragging his feet since day one (as he does with anything he can't fix himself with a wrench or a hammer). I am writing my intent to withhold notice to the landlord today. I am planning to withhold half of the rent. Is this reasonable? One of the ground level units even has siphonage of waste water from the washing machine into its sink--but that is between that tenant and the landlord.

 

[FarmerJ]

If your going to complain to inspections then what is the point of holding back rent money ? If you were in a court room on Monday and you had to show the court what your paper trails were about this complaint would you have them ? not phone calls , not emails, not text messages but on paper complaints with a way to track that the LL did get them ? instead you would be better off just going and calling inspections at this point and let them order him to repair it because if he wont then they will cite him or condemn and if they condemn than your lease is over with and you will have the chance to live somewhere that doesn't have this problem.

 

[bokaba]

I do have letters written to the landlord about the problem as well as documentation from the plumber that inspected the water system. I used the threat of withholding rent last night, and surprisingly, the landlord is here today working on it and we're going to discuss a deadline on when the work needs to be completed.

 

[FarmerJ]

deadline ? really if the LL actually starts repairs then let them but in the time being you can call your city to learn if their must be permits filed for waterlines to be replaced and if the city requires permits then the LL will have to get them again which is another way for inspections to keep tabs on the landlords work . NOW keep in mind that if you appear to be too dang bossy about this to the LL and your living in a city that has no so called rent control laws that would get in the way then you risk that your LL will refuse to renew your lease and tell you when they safely can do so with out it being treated as retaliation to move out. Now that your LL has begun feel free to suggest he /she explore replacing enough of the cold lines to end this problem for now and plan on replacing more water line later. It will keep the cost down even with a partial replacement you will see a huge huge difference for the better but don't be bossy re deadline instead just call inspections if the LL does indeed not follow thru , this is part of the job they do and in the end if they order repairs and the LL will not comply then they can condemn and then no one can live there (and no LL in their right mind wants to have a rental property condemned because many jurisdictions now insist on full code compliance when there is a condemn order and full code compliance could be horridly spendy.