My landlord Illegally rented me a unit (San Francisco: for sale, renters)

[Jamber707]

OK so here's it is...

About a year ago I rented one side of a duplex which turned out to be a single family dwelling that was illegally split in to two (with no permits I might add) with a locked friendship door inbetween the 2 units and the garage turned into a separate studio. the other side of the duplex is rented by another tenant. And the "studio" by the landlords brother. When we moved in the landlord was set to be married (which she had in our back yard) and was moving out of the unit I moved into and into her future husbands home in a nearby town. I should have known something was up when I was only allowed to pay in cash. With that being said I've never been late on my rent I even paid extra (at her request) to help with utilities that according to my handwrittin lease are included. I kept up the yard never complaind even when she unscrewed my light bulbs while I wasnt home cause I "left them them on". Even though I'm am technically on a month to month lease she has told me since the very beginning that this was long term and she hopes to have me here for at least five years and despite the b. S I felt grateful to have that security. So tell me why here I am a year later dead of winter the renters market expensive and Slim to nil in the valley with all the resent fire activity and she wants me to move out exactly a year to the day that I moved in because she is tired of the commute and I get that and sympathize but like I said the housing market right now is really tough and I haven't been able to find anything affordable I have a 3 yr old son and don't want to be homeless with him in the middle of winter because she doesn't want to drive as much. Is there anything I can do to get an extension from here I asked and she said no...i gave her 24,000.00 dollars this year and that's just my half the illegal duplex.

[reenzz]

So you’re ok with living in an illegal unit as long as you can remain there but you’re not ok if you have to leave? Since your a month to month tenant, you are only entitled to a 30 day notice to vacate.

[Jamber707]

Well thank you for your sensitivity. Captain obvious. And I'm super glad it's completely black or white to you. Must be Interesting to live with such conviction. I however am stuck between a rock and a hard place and was hoping to find a little advice that was grey. Have a blessed day

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by Jamber707

Well thank you for your sensitivity. Captain obvious. And I'm super glad it's completely black or white to you. Must be Interesting to live with such conviction. I however am stuck between a rock and a hard place and was hoping to find a little advice that was grey. Have a blessed day

actually it is black and white
its her home she has a right to move back in. you and your child are not her family. why do you expect her or anyone else to have an emotional response to what is bottom line a business relationship situation. contact your family or the childs father for help.

[eastwestcoast]

You didn't mention where you were located, but if you are in San Francisco (and some other communities) you have a lot of tenant protections, even if the unit was illegal. If you are not in SF you may still have protections but would need to look up local ordinances, potentially with the help of the local tenants union, for specifics.

[alliance]

Originally Posted by eastwestcoast

You didn't mention where you were located, but if you are in San Francisco (and some other communities) you have a lot of tenant protections, even if the unit was illegal. If you are not in SF you may still have protections but would need to look up local ordinances, potentially with the help of the local tenants union, for specifics.

Yep, in SF it’s almost impossible to get tenants out even if they stop paying rent, regardless of what sort of lease they’re on. Maybe you can just refuse to leave and could even get another 6 months out of her for free.

[reenzz]

It’s very easy to get a tenant removed from an illegal unit. Even SF does not want nor need a liability lawsuit against the city for allowing a known illegal unit to house tenants.

[bmw335xi]

People think they are entitled to everything. If you are on a month to month, you can't expect to live there forever or long-term.

[marcopolo666]

If you are on month-to-month, then they can tell you to leave with 30 days notice. End of story. Sometimes life sucks - get a long-term lease next time. Lesson learned. Heck, it sounds like even if you HAD signed a one year lease that they could ask you to leave (most year leases revert to month-to-month at the end).

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Well, if you report the unit as an illegal unit while you're living in it - you'll have to move out, because the unit is illegal. Then, it's possible the landlord would have to pay your relocation costs.

But, since she's already given you notice, I don't see how you could use the above to work for you. The reason being that if she starts an eviction proceeding, even if you won it, your name would end up in a database of tenants who have had eviction procedures started against them. That database is what landlords use to do an eviction check. The results don't care whether or not you won - just that it was filed.

Then next, you'd have to show the court that you lost money because the unit was illegal. But, you can't because you got value for your money. And the fact that you don't want to move out, says a lot.

So, your landlord gave you proper notice (30 days is all that's required as long as it is before you've lived there for a year), and you haven't lost money. So, what do you sue for? I can't think of anything, based on the criteria required in CA to sue.

What's left? Revenge. You can tell her you want a glowing reference, find a new place - and then report the place as illegal to the city building department.

I do understand your frustration. I actually learned, before I studied law, the same lesson. Had a landlord who promised me a 5 year lease verbally, with nothing in writing. My landlord asked me to get the yard nice and green, and gave me permission to do a bunch of painting (which I did myself and I bought all the paint) - and then after everything looked great - he put the place up for sale and kicked me out, and I had no recourse.

So, I filed a lawsuit I was pretty sure I'd lose, for the maximum allowed under CA small claims court law, which was $5,000, and sent a copy of my court filing to the people who kicked me out, delivered via Federal Express on Christmas Eve, knowing the courts were closed until January 6th.

At least I could ruin their Christmas.

And yes, they "won" in court. But, they also paid a lawyer for advice, as well as spent their Christmas eve and Christmas day worrying about a $5,000 lawsuit and no doubt their lawyer wasn't available.

So, as we walked out of the courtroom and the jerks were smiling as if they just won some big coup, I looked at them and smiled and winked.

And yes, the $50 court fee I spent to file in small claims court, along with the Fed Ex charge were well worth it. And, of course, they both had to take time off of work to talk to their lawyer (they had obviously been coached by a lawyer when they were in court), and to appear in court, so they had to use up some vacation or sick days, too.

Yeah, they "won," but it wasn't without some cost. I made sure it also cost them something.

So, I'm not above revenge and I still don't feel bad about it. They deserved worse. It's up to you to decide if you want to make things hard on your landlady. If her unit is truly illegal, you could sure report it.