Los Angeles Tenant Lawyer

WHY DO I NEED A TENANT LAWYER?

The Southern California and Los Angeles area has a vast amount of rental properties, both business and residential. When you’re a renter, you may face a number of issues that require the attention or assistance of a tenant lawyer. These can include:

• Accidents and injuries due to poorly maintained properties
• Violations of your rights as a renter
• Fires, floods, or other incidents that render a property unlivable
• Infestations of rodents, roaches, or bedbugs
• Significant and widespread mold contamination
• Illegal or unethical behavior on the part of a landlord
• Dangerous conditions on a rental property
• Wrongful or constructive eviction

Regardless of how simple or complex your legal case may be, our tenant lawyers are able to help. At the Brinton Firm, we have experience representing diverse clients seeking civil protection for their legal rights.

Protect your rights: Sometimes, a renter facing a difficult situation may not realize that their circumstances are, in fact, illegal. Illegal or unethical behavior from landlords, wrongful eviction and illegal rent increases are all things that a tenant lawyer can stop from happening.

Enforce habitability requirements: All renters in Los Angeles have the right to a safe, clean, healthy living space. If a landlord or property owner engages in neglect, this can lead to dangerous conditions such as mold, vermin, garbage, or hazards. A tenant lawyer can bring a landlord to court and require them to make necessary repairs.

WHAT THE BRINTON FIRM CAN DO FOR YOU

Our legal team and attorneys will ensure that you understand your tenant rights and are being treated fairly and within the legal requirements by your landlord.

Here are some examples of the types of cases our tenant lawyers handle:

• Breach of implied warranty of habitability – In the state of California, habitability laws are legal and civil protections that require landlords to maintain a minimum level of maintenance and pest control. A landlord should provide basic maintenance – including necessary repairs and pest control – at any properties that they own to ensure that tenants can live comfortably. If a landlord allows a property to become uninhabitable, the tenant can sue and may be entitled to considerable damages.
• Fires and floods – The Brinton Firm helps business and residential tenants in the Southern California area who have been impacted by a fire in their rented property. Let us help you recover damages, replace lost property, pay medical bills, and hold landlords accountable. We can expertly navigate the legal system on behalf of fire victims to protect your rights to a safe, healthy, habitable home.
• Infestations of rats, roaches, or bedbugs – If you’re a tenant in Los Angeles facing a rodent infestation, you have options. A lawyer can help make sure your landlord restores your rental home to a safe, comfortable, pest-free environment, and that you get fair compensation for any damages.
• Constructive or Wrongful Eviction – Sometimes, the conditions in a rental unit are so bad that you are forced to move out of your home. Other times, a landlord may try to force you out by changing the locks, shutting off the power, failing to fix serious problems, or even tearing the rental unit down or setting it on fire! If you have been forced to leave your home through no fault of your own, you may have suffered a constructive, wrongful, or forcible eviction. We have helped many tenants to recover damages, often significant damages, under these circumstances.
• Violation of local rent control laws. In SoCal, this includes LARSO, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica rent control ordinances. With the current housing shortage, many landlords will do whatever it takes to drive rent-controlled tenants from their homes. They do this in order to raise the rents or to put the units on Airbnb. We can put a stop to this practice, or help you sue the landlord for damages.
• Illegal or substandard construction claims. These may also fall under our habitability cases. The landlord is required to provide housing that is structurally sound and safe, with working utilities.
• Illegal or Dangerous Units. Throughout LA County, many landlords decide to “create” their own apartment units, live-work spaces, or other residential dwellings by illegally converting warehouses, garages, or office space into housing. Illegal units are usually built without permits or any government inspection whatsoever, so they represent a significant danger to the tenant. Under these circumstances, the landlord generally has no legal right to collect rent. Additionally, the City or County of Los Angeles may red-tag the building, thus forcing all the tenants to move out on five minutes’ notice. If you believe you are living in an illegal unit, call us today. We may be able to help.