Lanlord is a slumlord. What are the rights?

Question

I have a friend who rents a nice house in Venice Ca, a section of Los Angeles. She has been there 3 years now. The land lord has not registered the house with the housing dept. As far as I know houses don't have to be registered? But here is the thing: there are two houses on the one lot. She lives in the original house another house was added with no permits. It is also being rented out.
So is it a duplex? Is it qualifying as a property that must be registered and therefore inspected for flaws ? (like twice a year). The landlord is soo neglectful ie no smoke alarms, chipping paint everywhere, no light to the back stairs (also no rail on the stairs and it is very slippery when wet) ...on and on. The tenant is afraid if she complains he will jack her rent way up and then evict cause the property is not under any city regulations including rent control. The rent control only allows 3% increase per year. Her increases are a lot more every year. It is all so 'wild west' over there.

Answer 1

There are laws protecting renters in each state. Does Venice have a tennants rights board? If so that's a great place to start. If not, you can research California landlord tennant laws either at your local library or on the net.

Most states will allow a tennant to put their rent payments into an escrow account if there are safety issues, or the housing is substandard. Check with your county clerk of courts on the correct and legal way to do this.

Another good resource for information is the US dept. of Housing and Urban Development. there are certain FEDERAL standards that a landlord must adhere to, including smoke detectors and possible paint hazzards. Especially if the paint is old or painted over old paint which may contain a lead based paint hazzard. Landlords can be prosecurted by the FEDERAL gov. for such violations.

You might want to check with your local builing inspector also as to the legality of the 2 homes on one property parcel, and inquire as to the safety of the particular home your friend resides in. It is grossly illegal for a landlord to retaliate against a renter, in the way that you described in your post. If all else fails your friend can contact an attorney who specializes in landlord tennant disputes, there are a ton of them in the phone book... They know all the ins and outs of landlord tennant law, and can be a great asset as well. Good Luck, I used to be a housing advocate in the state of Ohio. I can tell you that renters laws and rights are pretty much universal, and though they do vary from state to state, certain things are the same everyplace.

If your friend can afford to, I would also advise her to look for a new apartment/home, because if the place she currently resides in is as bad as you say, she may have to move anyway. A lot of leases have an exit clause that the landlord can exercise, which means he can legally evict a tennant w/ adequate notice if a lot of repairs need to be made.....
Best of luck!

Answer 2

The property has to be registerd with the city, and has to be inspected etc..

She either needs to tolorate the conditions now, or just decide to move, and after your all moved out then turn his a*s into the city for building code/permit voilations.