Requesting Repairs in California Rentals

In California, ask your landlord or the landlord's agent for the repair in writing, keep a copy, and allow a reasonable time for the fix, which the law presumes is 30 days before you repair and deduct, or less for an urgent problem. If the landlord still has not fixed a serious defect you did not cause, Civil Code section 1942 lets you pay for a repair costing up to one month's rent and deduct it, no more than twice in 12 months. You can also withhold rent and raise the defects if the landlord sues to evict, or ask code enforcement to inspect. For 180 days after a good-faith repair complaint, a landlord cannot evict you, raise your rent, or cut services in retaliation if you are current on rent, unless the landlord states and proves a good-faith reason.

How to make the request

The repair laws accept oral or written notice, but a letter gives you proof of what you asked for and when. The California Department of Real Estate's tenant guide recommends these steps:

1. Write a letter, typed or handwritten, that describes each problem and the repair needed. Sign and date it, and keep a copy.
2. If the problem is urgent, call or tell the landlord in person first, then put the same request in writing right away.
3. Send it by certified mail with a return receipt, or hand-deliver it and ask for a signed, dated receipt. Certified mail is not required, but the receipt proves the landlord got it.
4. If you first report the problem by text or email, follow up with a letter, because the repair statutes mention only oral and written notice.
5. Take dated photos or video of the problem.

Address the letter to the people named in your lease. A written rental agreement must list the name, phone number, and street address of the manager and of the owner or the person authorized to receive notices, and a landlord with an oral agreement must give you that information in writing within 15 days. If that address does not allow personal delivery, a notice you mail there is treated as received on the date it was posted, as long as you can show proof of mailing. How to report maintenance issues to your landlord covers the basics of any repair request.

The landlord can enter to make the repair after giving reasonable written notice, and 24 hours is presumed reasonable. The entry must be during normal business hours unless you agree otherwise, and you can instead agree orally to a repair visit within one week. No notice is needed in an emergency. If the landlord gives notice of a repair visit and never shows up, the state guide suggests a letter saying so, which serves as proof if the landlord later claims you refused entry.

How long the landlord has to respond

California sets no single repair deadline; what counts as reasonable depends on the problem. The 30-day presumption comes from the repair-and-deduct law, and the state guide uses 30 days as the usual benchmark before withholding rent or moving out too. Urgent problems call for shorter waits: the guide's example is one to two days for a broken furnace in very cold weather, if a qualified repair person is available. How long landlords have to make repairs compares deadlines in other states.

Repair and deduct

Under the repair-and-deduct law, you can fix the problem yourself or hire someone and subtract the cost from the next rent payment if all of these are true:

• The defect makes the unit untenantable, meaning unfit to live in. Examples in the state guide include a roof leaking during the rainy season, a lack of hot running water, and a gas leak.
• You, your family, your guests, or your pets did not cause it.
• You gave notice to the landlord or agent and waited a reasonable time.
• The repair costs no more than one month's rent.
• You have not already used the remedy twice in the past 12 months.

Example: your rent is $2,100, and the landlord ignores your letter about a broken water heater for 30 days. A plumber charges $480 to fix it. You pay the plumber, then pay $1,620 for the next month's rent with a copy of the receipt and a short note explaining the deduction. If the defect did not qualify, or your notice or wait fell short, the landlord can sue to recover the $480 or serve a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit (a written demand to pay what you owe or move out) and file an eviction case, and a court can order you to pay the full rent.

The same section lets you move out instead, after the same notice and wait, and you owe no rent after the day you leave. Our repair and deduct guide explains how the remedy works in other states.

Withholding rent as a defense

Withholding means paying part or none of the rent until the landlord makes repairs. The right comes from Green v. Superior Court (1974), in which the California Supreme Court recognized an implied warranty of habitability in residential leases, a promise the law adds that the unit will stay fit to live in, and held that a tenant sued for unpaid rent can raise the landlord's breach as a defense. It covers only serious defects that threaten health or safety, after notice and a reasonable time, and not problems you caused.

No law sets the amount you may withhold. The state guide says most courts cut the rent by the share of the unit that is unusable, so with one of four rooms unusable you would withhold 25%. Deposit the withheld money in a separate bank account and tell the landlord in writing where it is and why. The account is not legally required, but judges rarely excuse all of the rent and often ask whether you set it aside.

The landlord can respond with a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit and then an eviction case, so file your response by the deadline on the court papers. At trial, the judge decides whether there was a substantial breach, meaning a failure to meet building and housing code standards that materially affect health and safety:

Code enforcement and the Los Angeles REAP program

If the landlord does not act, ask your city or county building, housing, or health department to inspect. In the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) investigates complaints about unsafe conditions and code violations at multifamily rentals. The state guide notes that an inspector's report documenting the conditions helps if you later have to defend withholding rent. If the inspector notifies the landlord in writing to fix a serious defect you did not cause, and it is still unfixed 35 days after that notice was mailed with no good cause for the delay, Civil Code section 1942.4 bars the landlord from demanding or collecting rent, raising the rent, or serving a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit. Your right to habitable housing in California explains the damages you can recover when a landlord breaks that rule.

Los Angeles adds the Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP), set out in the city's municipal code. Tenants do not apply to join it: LAHD can place a property in the program after it cites health, safety, or housing code violations that the owner fails to correct in the time allowed. The owner can contest the placement at a hearing and appeal, and the escrow account opens only once the decision is final. From then on:

• Your rent drops by 10% to 50%, depending on how serious the violations are, and LAHD mails you a notice stating the reduction.
• You choose whether to pay the reduced rent to the landlord or into an escrow account, a holding account that LAHD manages.
• Money in the account can be released, through an application, to pay for repairs, utilities, or relocation.
• When inspectors sign off on the violations and the City Council removes the property, full rent resumes 30 days after LAHD mails you the restoration notice, and the escrow account closes 30 days from the notice date.

If your unit is covered by a local rent control ordinance, that ordinance may also let you petition for a rent reduction until missing amenities your lease promises are restored.

Protection from retaliation

Under Civil Code section 1942.5, if you are not behind on rent, a landlord cannot evict you, force you to move, raise your rent, or cut services in retaliation within 180 days after the latest of these:

• You gave a repair-and-deduct notice, reported a suspected bed bug infestation, or complained to the landlord about the unit's condition, in good faith.
• You filed a good-faith complaint with a government agency about the unit's condition that the landlord knew about, or an inspection or citation resulted from such a complaint.
• You started a lawsuit or arbitration over the unit's condition, or won one.

You can rely on this 180-day protection only once in any 12-month period. The landlord can still act within the window by stating a good-faith reason in the notice and proving it if you dispute it. Outside those limits, the law still bars retaliation for lawfully exercising your rights or organizing with other tenants, but you carry the burden of producing evidence of the landlord's motive. A landlord who retaliates owes your actual damages plus $100 to $2,000 for each act done with fraud, oppression, or malice. Retaliation protections for tenants shows how the 180-day rule compares with other states.