So, You Have an Issue With Your Landlord
Do not assume that your landlord has your best interest in mind, even if you’ve had a good relationship in the past. Also, do not assume that your landlord is complying with the law. A staggering number of landlords operate in bad faith, and others might be ignorant of the law. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
First and foremost,
Know that you have rights and options. No matter what. The best place to start is by educating yourself. There’s a lot of research you can do on your own, but it can be overwhelming or confusing or (often) both. Luckily there are some incredible organizations in Los Angeles that can help!
Practical steps:
Perhaps the most important first step is documentation. Start documenting everything you can, and keep all your related documents or files together and organized. If at all possible, communicate with your landlord using methods that are documentable: email, snail mail or text. If you have a conversation in person or on the phone, follow up that conversation by sending an email that reiterates what was said in the conversation, “as discussed this afternoon...”
Also, keep a simple journal with dated entries of your experiences. All of this documentation can be used as evidence for your case should you end up in a courtroom later. If there are documents of particular significance, make a copy and keep it somewhere safe outside of your apartment, perhaps with a friend or family member.
When communicating with your landlord, keep it simple and don’t offer extraneous information.
Unless advised otherwise by a legal professional, continue to pay your rent in the same way you always do. Pay your rent on time, and preferably in a way that is documentable. Pay with a check, cashier’s check or money order. There are many ways to make sure you have a record that you paid your rent, be sure to do so.
Share with your community what you are experiencing, but not on public internet forums like Facebook or Nextdoor. Housing instability (and if you are having an issue with your landlord, that is what you are experiencing) is very stressful. Our home is supposed to be a place of refuge, so threats to your living situation, even minor ones, have a huge impact, emotionally, physiologically and spiritually. Make sure that you have people close to you who are aware of the situation and available to talk about it so that you aren’t going through it alone.
Go to a legal workshop. Workshops on housing rights are offered by many organizations in Los Angeles. These are a great opportunity to get legal advice specific to your situation. Scroll down to find a list of organizations that offer legal clinics.
If your landlord has served you with any type of legal paperwork, be ready to get help or take action quickly. The courts require strict adherence to deadlines; be ready to prepare a legal response (or get help to do so) as soon as possible, if necessary.
It can be scary
or embarrassing to share something that feels so personal, or even shameful. Please know that you are not alone, and what’s happening is not your fault. We are in a housing crisis in Los Angeles as a result of major systemic issues. 30,000 evictions went through the court system last year, which means that tens of thousands of people did not have access to the resources to fight back, or didn’t even know they could. The more you share what you’re going through, the more people will know they can fight back too and the faster we will be able to build a city that works for all of us, not just the rich.