Can my landlord kick me out because the porch is unusable? (Santa Cruz: renters, house)

[guernsy]

We have been living in a rental house in Santa Cruz for the past three years. The house has been pretty neglected. The landlord doesn't care. Long story short, we don't have a very good relationship with him.
We like living where we are right now and don't really want to move. However, the house is simply falling apart. We still have a one year lease on the house.
The house is located on cliff and has a back porch which is falling off the cliff right now. We have children and are worried that someone will get hurt if they step on the porch.
We are also worried, if we ask the landlord to fix the porch, that he is going to ask us to move out because he does not want to fix the expensive porch.
We are wondering, if the porch is part of the house. Since we still have a solid lease in place and the porch is dangerous to our family, is the landlord required to fix it? Can he use an excuse of not having funds and telling us that we have to move so that we can be safe?

We really would like the porch to be fixed, we know it will cost a lot of money. However we don't want to move right now either. We are also paying a lot of rent.
Wondering, if anyone here has any advice of what we should do.
Thanks

[blueskywalker]

Typical Santa Cruz county landlord.
The stories i could tell.

I'm not sure but i'm fairly certain that the landlord is required to keep all of the home (including the porch) up to snuff, ie; legal and safe and meeting all codes.
And that he can't force you out (especially if you have a lease) or penalize you in any way if you insist that he fixes what needs to be fixed.
But if any part of the structure is that close to a cliff it may be that the work required to bring the home up to code won't be possible with tenants living there.
You may be in an illegal dwelling.
I googled but don't have time to check anything out at the moment.
Good luck. S.C. renting can really suck!

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...tenant+rights+

[2sleepy]

You can make him fix it but there's probably a good chance he won't renew your lease

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I can't help asking, why would you rent a place on a cliff with a dangerous back porch with children?

Broken porches are not on the list of things that make a place uninhabitable, such as running water, working sewer system, heat, door locks, windows that lock, etc. So, a broken back porch probably doesn't fall under a place being uninhabitable under CA law.

That said, if someone gets hurt, you could sue him for negligence.

As far as asking him to fix the porch and him kicking you out - he'd have to bring the building inspector down on his own head if he wanted to kick you out, in my opinion. If a building inspector says the place is not up to code and so it must be vacated until the repairs are made - you'll have to move out.

So, I don't see it being in your best interest to call in the building inspector, nor would it benefit the landlord. And with a lease in place, he can't just kick you out because of the back porch, without proving the place has been determined to be uninhabitable by an official.

At any rate, I wouldn't worry about him kicking you out over the porch being dangerous.

If I was you, I'd just ask him to fix the porch, and do it in writing. At least there would be written notice to the landlord, so he couldn't feign ignorance if you go to sue him over it, if someone was to get hurt.

Just write him an email, if you've got his email. You could send a letter with proof of delivery, but an email would be less likely to tick him off than a letter that comes in a priority mail envelope with tracking, etc. Just something simple like:

Dear Landlord:

We're worried about the back porch being dangerous, as it needs repairs and we've got children. Would you please come make the needed repairs to make it safe?

Thank you,

You.

[Ultrarunner]

If it is in such a bad state of repair... code compliance could very well tag the dwelling and you would have to move in all likelihood... especially since children are involved.

Another approach would be to effect repairs and raise rent significantly... would you still like living there if the rent went up?

At least you have options... if you wanted to move... with a proper paper trail it would seem you could break the lease... just my opinion especially if the porch is deemed a means of egress should there be a fire.

I managed a property where the owner had a lot of deferred maintenance as they use to say...

Was able to do 50k worth of repairs at the time which was a lot in the 80's. Tenant insisted on staying while repairs were being done... no sooner than the home was done... new roof, paint, deck, patio, etc... the owner received a unsolicited offer for top dollar... home really turned out nice and he sold it... tenant was furious... saying she would have moved if she would have known it was going to be sold... I was not all the pleased either since it was me coordinating the repairs with long term management in mind...

[WillieBeasley]

No he certainly can not do that without a prior notice at least a month ago or else he is liable to get prosecuted.

[onlymike]

I would not live there with kids.

[Clark9272]

To answer your question -- yes.

[Yasonage]

Get familiar with your renters rights. In California, it's hard for a landlord to kick you out even if they have a good reason. From what I've heard, a lot of landlords in Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas don't always go about things legally.

[blueskywalker]

Originally Posted by Yasonage

Get familiar with your renters rights. In California, it's hard for a landlord to kick you out even if they have a good reason. From what I've heard, a lot of landlords in Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas don't always go about things legally.

They sure don't!
The housing situation in S.C. county is deplorable and there are some awful landlords. 3 different ones in recent memory balked when i insisted on screens in the windows!
One lady (lived on acres in Aptos over looking the bay, with winery, indoor swimming pool, etc.) actually said to me when i complained about a 2 inch gap between the door and casing extending from top to bottom in the dump that she was renting on a crappy piece of the property, "well, that's country living".