Understanding Habitability Rights for California Renters

[00:00:05]hi welcome I see we've got people joining us we're going to wait just about a minute to make sure everybody gets signed on in the meantime I am Lisa from San Diego law library and with me today is our speaker attorney Stephanie germani who works with San Diego volunteer lawyer program and she will be sharing this information with you today about habitability attendance rights to a safe and habitable home so we're so glad you're joining us today I think it's a really hot topic from what I can tell here at the library and some of the reference questions we get so I think it's very timely a couple of housekeeping things that I wanted to mention for those of you joining us I think most people are starting to get familiar with zoom but I never assume that everybody is so I like to mention that this is an interactive program and there's a way for you to post questions today what you need to do is use the Q a function if you're one of our attendees you'll see that there's a button that says chat but that's not the one that um is for questions it's q a and if you click on that there's a place for you to type a question in and you can choose to do that either with your name or anonymously uh perfectly fine either way one thing that we would ask you though is that this session today is not for individual legal advice it's for general information so please keep any questions General rather than about your very specific situation and then hopefully Stephanie uh should be able to get to those closer to the end of the program after she's gotten through her material the other thing I wanted to mention is you will see a link to a online survey with just a few questions at the end of the program and we would appreciate if some of you would take a few minutes and take the survey for us and give us some feedback we always like that um for planning for future programs so I think right now just about everybody who's going to be here is here so I'm going to disappear myself and turn things over to Stephanie thank you hello everyone thank you for being with here with me today um as Leslie said I'm Stephanie Germany I'm an attorney in San Diego County and today I'll be discussing the habitability of residential rental properties in California please note nothing I present here is legal advice we are not forming an attorney-client relationship and nothing you say here today will be considered confidential yeah California is home to some of the most expensive and competitive housing markets in the United States with high demand for rental properties as a tenant it is important to know your rights and what your landlord is required to provide in terms of livable conditions and as a landlord it is crucial to understand your responsibilities in maintaining a safe and healthy environment for your tenants so the relationship between landlords and tenants gets a bad rap most see it as adversarial pitting landlords and tenants against each other and blaming each other when problems arise but it really is a partnership landlords provide housing and tenants provide a means of income to the landlords in this relationship each has responsibilities to the other tenants have the responsibility spelled out in their lease agreement like to pay rent and landlords also have responsibilities spelled out in the lease agreement and even if the lease does not say it California landlords are bound by the implied warranty of habitability this is the duty for all California landlords to provide their residential tenants with a rental unit that is fit to live in or what we call habitable so in California habitable means that the rental unit is fit for occupation by human beings and that it substantially complies with state and local building and health codes that materially affect tenants health and safety California law makes landlords and tenants each responsible for certain kinds of repairs although landlords ultimately are legally responsible for ensuring that their rental units are habitable all residential leases in California contain an implied warranty of habitability it applies to every residential lease and it cannot be waived or Limited in the lease any attempt to do so is unenforceable so before renting a property to a tenant a landlord must make the rental property fit for humans to live in or as we just learned habitable safe sanitary and fit for human occupancy this includes basic necessities such as working Plumbing Heating and electrical systems as well as a safe and sanitary environment while the unit is being rented the implied warranty of habitability dictates that landlords are legally responsible to repair problems that make the rental unit unfit to live in or uninhabitable so the landlord must repair substantial defect defects in the rental unit and substantial failures to comply with state and local building and health codes however the landlord is not responsible under the implied warranty of habitability for repairing damages that were caused by the tenant or the tenant's family guests or pets tenants also have responsibilities when it comes to maintaining the habitability of their rental property tenants are required by law to take reasonable care of their rental units for example tenants are responsible for keeping their living space clean and disposing of garbage properly tenants are also responsible to repair all damage from their neglect or their guests or their pets the damage they do tenants should also report any maintenance issues to their landlord in a timely manner the sooner the better I suggest immediately and always in writing so the landlord's responsibilities generally the landlord also must complete maintenance work which is necessary to keep the rental unit livable this means that landlords are responsible for providing tenants with a living space that is free from health hazards that is structurally sound and equipped with basic amenities such as heating plumbing and electricity this means that all pipes faucets and toilets must be in good working condition and electrical outlets must be installed and functioning safely furthermore landlords must ensure that their rental properties are free from any health and safety hazards additionally landlords must provide tenants with proper ventilation and lighting to ensure a safe living environment if uninhabitable conditions exist landlords must take steps to fix the issue this does not mean that lesser inconvenience such as a dripping faucet reach the warranty of habitability but let's talk about what does so there are many conditions that can make a rental unit legally uninhabitable California civil code specifically section 1941.1 which you can read on the internet outlines the requirements for habitable living conditions this law states that landlords must provide tenants with effective waterproofing and weather production of the roof and exterior walls including unbroken windows and doors plumbing and gas facilities in good working order heating facilities in good working order electrical lighting wiring and equipment in good working order clean and sanitary buildings grounds including elevators if those are in the building how to put trash receptacles floors stairways and railings in good repair so we're talking about a roof that keeps the weather out regular access to hot water a working heater sturdy floors and walls absence of significant dangers from toxins toxins sorry such as lead and asbestos um absence of vermins and insects such as rats and mice the implied warranty of habitability is not violated merely because the rental unit is not in perfect aesthetically pleasing condition so you don't like the color of the walls that's not what we're talking about nor is the implied warranty of habitability violated if there are minor housing code violations which standing alone do not affect habitability it is important to understand that the list I just ran through describes issues that are major and not minor so a defect is considered minor not because of the cost of the repair but because it renders the property uninhabitable so it might take five dollars to fix the electrical system but it could be a major issue um that affects your health and safety living in that property um so that's major and minor a big difference uh when a California landlord refuses to provide these basic requirements or fails to make repairs when necessary then the implied warranty of habitability has been breached if you believe your landlord is providing you with an uninhabitable home it is best to document those conditions with photographs video and written repair requests with descriptions and the date of the problem and how long that petition has been occurring now let's discuss what tenants can do if their landlord is not meeting their habitability obligations if a tenant believes that their rental property is uninhattitable and they properly notify their landlord of the issue and the landlord does not address the issue tenants have a few options tens can withhold the rent until the issue is resolved they can make the repair themselves and the deduct the cost of the repair from the rent they can move out and terminate their lease or they can sue their landlord for damages it is important to note that tenants cannot be evicted for taking action to enforce their habitability rights also you're going to hear me say this a lot proper notice to the landlord this is the method required by law to inform the landlord of the needed repair in most habitability cases proper documentation of notice to the landlord is an issue so I suggest put everything in rating and keep copies of everything as we go through the tenant options I'm going to use a real life example that happened to me to help illustrate the points of each option so in my situation I was living in a tiny 240 square foot Casita in Claremont and I was paying a thousand dollars a month in rent I had the best landlord who's a very nice guy he took care of everything right away until my power went out uh it wasn't a neighborhood outage it didn't affect the other house on his property it was just my tiny Studio so I notified him I sent him an email he came out right away like he always did um he fiddled with the electrical panel and the power was back on for about 20 minutes and then boom power went out again so my landlord he got an electrician out the very next day the electrician said oh well the panel is old and the problem is the wires keep coming loose so my landlord tells me Stephanie a new panel is nine thousand dollars and I just don't have that in my budget right now so if the power goes out again he tells me to just walk the the 40 feet from my little Studio to the electricity box on the house and tied in The Wire I said okay I can tie it in a wire um my landlord has been awesome so far he got the electrician out the next day and you know it's just a little loose wire I can tighten that so the next day after walking to this panel about 20 times because that's how many times the power went out I called my landlord and I said no you need to fix this this is my electricity I can't be fixing it 20 times a day this is just not reasonable so to his credit he replaced the panel but I know not all landlords would do that so we're going to go through the options I just mentioned and we're going to use my example to see how we would handle the situation I was in okay so option number one repair and deduct the repair and deduct remedy allows a tenant to deduct money from the rent to pay for repairs of defects in the rental unit if the repairs would not cost more than one month's rent this remedy covers substandard conditions that affect the tenant's health and safety and that substantially breached the implied warranty of habitability examples might include a leak in the roof you know during the rainy season no hot running water or a gas leak so as a practical matter the repair and deductment remedy allows a tenant to make needed repairs of serious conditions without filing a lawsuit against your landlord the basic requirements and steps for using the repair and deduct remedy are as follows one the defects must be serious and directly related to the tenant's health and safety the repairs cannot cost more than one month's rent the tenant cannot use the repair and deduct remedy more than twice in any 12-month period the tenant or the tenant's family guests or pets must not have caused the defects that require the repair the tenant must inform the landlord either orally or in writing of the repairs that are needed you know I suggest always use written requests and the Tenant must give the landlord a reasonable period of time to make the repairs before undertaking the repairs themselves what is a reasonable period of time glad you asked okay this depends on the defect and the type of repairs that are needed the law usually considers 30 days to be reasonable but a shorter period may be considered reasonable depending on the situation for example if the furnace is broken and it's dead of winter you know maybe not California winter but you know maybe up north California you get some snow Big Bear or something um then maybe just one or two days may be considerable considered reasonable um if the landlord does not make the repairs within a reasonable period of time the tenant May either make the repairs or hire someone to do them the tenant May then deduct the cost of the repairs from the rent when it's due so let's go back to my example I have my thousand dollar a month little apartment my electricity is on the fritz um could I have used the repair and do dock method probably not because if the only way to fix the problem was to replace the whole electrical panel which costs nine thousand dollars and I was paying one thousand dollars a month in rent then the cost of the repair exceeded my monthly rent and so this wouldn't be an option for me um you know note even if the repair is a viable option tenants face the risk that the repair may not be serious enough to justify using the repair and deduct remedy remember the defect has to be substantially affecting the habitability of the property so this is a subjective standard so you want to be sure you know I'm going to give you some resources at the end people you can consult with if you're not sure anyone said okay because if you use this method and you were not justified in using it or didn't give your landlord proper notice the landlord can sue you to recover the rent you didn't pay or serve you a three-day notice to pay or move out which could lead to an unlawful detainer lawsuit to evict you so we always want to be careful all right option two withholding the rent by law a tenant is allowed to withhold or stop paying some are all of the rent if the landlord does not fix serious defects that violate the implied warranty of habitability again the defects must be substantial they must be serious ones that threaten the tenants health or safety so an example there was a court case green versus Superior Court and this court case gave Californians the implied warranty and habitability these are the defects it found serious enough to justify the tenants withholding rent the collapse and non-repair of the bathroom ceiling the continued presence of rats mice and insects lack of any heat in four of the apartment's rooms Plumbing blockages exposed and faulty wiring and illegally installed and dangerous stove so in the green case all of these defects were present and there were also many violations of the local housing and building codes in other situations the defects that would justify rent withholding may be different but the defects would still have to be serious ones that threaten the tenants health and safety okay so the basic requirements and steps for using the rent withholding remedy are the defects or the repairs that are needed must threaten the tenant's health and safety the tenant or the tenants family guests or pets must not have caused the defects that require repair the tenant must give the landlord proper notice of the repairs that are needed the tenant must give the landlord a reasonable period of time to make the repairs if the landlord does not make the repairs within a reasonable period of time the tenant can withhold some or all of the rent and the Tenant can continue to withhold the rent until the repairs are made so I know you're all wondering if this is my situation how much rent can the can I withhold as a tenant so of course the law does not provide a clear task for determining how much rent is reasonable for the tenant to withhold but um judges in rent withholding cases often use the following method there are a few methods I'm going to give you the most commonly used it's called the percentage reduction in rent so the percentage of the rental unit that is uninhabitable is determined and the rent is reduced by that amount for example if one of the rentals four rooms is uninhabitable the tenant could withhold 25 of the rent the tenant would then have to pay the remaining 75 percent of the rent so you have four rooms in your apartment one is inhabitable so a quarter of your space isn't usable they're saying 25 would be reasonable to withhold um if you do with withhold your rent money um suggest not spending it because as we talked about in the repair and deduct method there's always a risk that you aren't Justified to withhold the rent and if that's the case you may be required to pay the landlord some or all of the withheld rent so remember there's always risks involved um so in my example with my electricity could I have used the rent withholding method I think I could have um how much rent would have been reasonable for me to withhold that's the harder question um what I would have done is I would have talked to my landlord and said I'm willing to wait until you can replace the electricity panel and not report you to code enforcement um for the violation of the implied warranty of habitability but during that wait we need to negotiate a rent reduction uh and if we couldn't have come to an agreement there are a few more options I could have exercised one of those options is the abandonment remedy so where a tenant can abandon or move out of a seriously defective rental unit um is one option a tenant might use this abandonment remedy when the defects would cost more than one month's rent to repair but it's not a requirement of the remedy the abandonment remedy has most of the same requirements and basic steps as the repair and deduct remedy in order to use the abandonment remedy the rental unit must have substandard conditions that affect the tenant's health and safety and that's substantially breached the implied warranty of habitability if the tenant uses this remedy properly the tenant is not responsible for paying further rent once they have abandoned the rental unit the basic sorry the basic requirements and steps for lawfully abanding a rental unit are the defects must be serious and directly related to the tenant's health and safety the tenant or the tenants family guests or pets must not have caused the defects that require the repair the tennis must give the landlord proper notice of the repairs that are needed and the Tenant must give the landlord a reasonable period of time to make the needed repairs for example if tree roots lock the main sewer drain and none of the toilets or drains work a reasonable period of time might be as little as one or two days so if the landlord does not make the repairs within a reasonable period of time the tenants should notify the landlord and rating of the tenants reasons for moving and then actually move out the tenant should return all of the rental unit keys to the landlord as well again there are the same risks sorry risks with this method that we've discussed previously now if I had complied with notice requirements do you think I could have abandoned my rental unit with the uh electricity issues I think I could have electricity is one of the conditions required for a habitable home but what makes the issue difficult is something I talked about at the beginning of the presentation the California rental market I was renting a tiny house with a washer and a dryer and a patio and they had a nice closet it was a thousand dollars a month in Claremont I didn't want to give up that place so while I think I would have been reasonable if I abandoned the rental property because of the electricity issue substantially affecting the home's habitability I wanted my landlord to fix the issue so I can continue to live there so that's something you know if you might face you have a great property you have this issue the rental market is tough right now so you know sometimes you're between a rock in the heart space and you have to make a tough decision okay so the last option I'm discussing today is one I hope you never have to do it is filing a lawsuit okay so a tenant can file a lawsuit against the landlord to recover monetary damages if the landlord does not repair serious defects in the rental unit in a timely manner for damage is less than ten thousand dollars the tenant can file a lawsuit in small claims court in the county where the rental property is located if the tenant wins the lawsuit the court May award the tenant his or her actual damages plus special damages an amount ranging from a hundred to five thousand dollars special damages are costs that the tenant incurs such as the cost of a motel room because the landlord did not repair defects in the rental unit the party who wins a lawsuit is entitled to recover his or her costs of bringing the suit for example the cost you paid to file the lawsuit plus reasonable attorney fees as awarded by the court pursuant to any statue or the contract of the parties so what does your lease say about attorney Beats now while attorneys cannot appear in small claims court with you a tenant may still have attorney fees for example you could hire one to draft your demand letter to your lawyer I'm sorry to your landlord or to fill out the small claims um complete form the court may also order a landlord to stop or eliminate um the issue causing the habitability breach um for example a court could order the landlord to repair a leaky roof um they could what we call retain jurisdiction over the case until the roof is fixed meaning they're not gonna dismiss the case um so this type of relief is called injunctive relief and it's something you usually can't get in small claims court but we have a civil code section 1942.4 that allows for it uh I want to make special note that local code enforcement officials can also order the landlord to correct violations by way of a notice of violation in order to Abate in fact that is a necessary step for this type of lawsuit in order for a tenant to Prevail in their lawsuit and recover both actual and special damages against their landlord all of the following sorry all of the following conditions must be met um note attendant can still Prevail on your claim without needing these conditions but you won't recover actual and special damages so these are our lawsuit remedy steps uh the rental unit has a serious habitability defect that endangers the health Life Safety property or welfare of the occupants of the unit or the public a housing inspector has inspected the minimum requirements for habitability or has been or has declared the unit substandard because for example the structural Hazard inadequate sanitation um and the landlord has been given by the housing inspector written notice of the landlord's obligation to repair the substandard conditions um the substandard conditions continue to exist for 35 days after the housing inspector mailed the notice to the landlord and the landlord does not have a good cause for failing to make the repairs um I can't afford it is not a good cause the nuisance or substandard conditions were not caused by the tenant or the tenants family guests or pets and the landlord collects or demands rent issues and notice of rent increase or issues a three-day notice to pay rent or quit after all of the conditions I just met mentioned have been met so we'll go back to my electricity example with my little tiny house um but I have sued my landlord well there was a serious habitability issue neither I or my family or my pets caused it but I failed to have a housing inspector or code enforcement inspect the problem but let's say I did that and code enforcement had issued a notice to the landlord to make the repair and he didn't make it for 35 days after the notice was sent by code enforcement then could I have sued him still not yet because he needs to either accept my rent payment or demand rent so if I then mowed him my monthly rent payment then could I sue him yes I could sue him for the rent I paid to him for the uninhabitable apartment the money I paid to file the lawsuit and serve it on him any money I paid to an attorney to help me file my lawsuit and since I met all of the requirements I could ask for special damages such as if I stayed at a hotel because I didn't have electricity or maybe the cost of an external battery for a medical device like a sleep apnea machine or even if I had to buy ice for ice chest to keep food cold because my refrigerator didn't work because I had no electricity those are all things I could have sued for um so this is nearing the end of the presentation and I hope I provided you with information that will help you if you're ever in such a situation um landlord tenant law is complex and I know the hour we have here today isn't enough time to cover every aspect of it so I'm providing you with a list of resources um that you can check out we covered a lot of information today and there is a lot more I know everyone's situation is unique so if you're facing a possible breach of the implied warranty of habitability I encourage you to read civil code 1941 it's available on the internet you can go to the San Diego Law Library they can help you find it read your City's health and safety codes and talk with one of The Advocates at the many organizations such as San Diego volunteer lawyer program Legal Aid Society of San Diego tenants together um housing help SD are also great resources to read uh the California Department of real estate um website so I think this I didn't have time for questions anyone has them oh we have a lot of time um put them in the Q a huh looks like we have one let me see what it is here so this question is from Jana and she's asking can you provide some information about the landlord's responsibility to pay for temporary housing while significant repairs are being made does the landlord pay or does the tenant pay and get reimbursed so most leases will have a provision saying if the tenant has to move out because of repairs that the landlord will pay um there is also a wonderful thing called renters insurance it's about nine to Fifteen dollars a month and if a tenant has a situation let's say the roof has leaked and they can't live in their apartment mold and no do is building up renters insurance will usually pay to house the tenant in a hotel for a few days um while the repair is being made and then the renters insurance company can sue the landlord to get those costs back so there's a lot of different options um so you want to always look to your lease um if you have renters insurance look to your policy um and always talk with your landlord like it's you know I have to leave my home because you're making repairs you used to be paying the landlord should be paying for them yeah good question Jonathan yeah and and Stephanie Jenner was asking for some clarification on this same subject um she was asking it is there any state or local statute you know that covers this or is it just about the lease um let me pull up my notes I have this going on with the with the client right now um if the repair is um dictated by the code enforcement um I believe there is like I said every situation I want to go look at my code I don't want to give you any real wrong information um but look to your lease first um there should be a provision in there that they have to provide you with a reasonable accommodation so I have um you know one lady you know she has a four bedroom house she has like five kids um and the landlord said okay well I'll give you the rent for the time you're out um and she's like well I can't find anything comparable to what I'm renting at this price that you're giving me on such short notice so that's the time where the landlord would have to step up and help her get something that's you know it doesn't have to be exactly the same as what you're renting you know that four bedroom house but in that exact neighborhood but you know you gotta like I said it's this partnership you got to work with each other and um sometimes you gotta not get exactly what you want um because it just might not exist out there yeah I'm sorry that's not the best answer Jenna let me if I could access my laptop I could um pull up a code maybe for you and you know I'll make a plug for the library for anyone wanting information about you know specific statutes codes you know we're looking for Legal Information you can always contact us uh you can call us or email our reference desk 619-531-3900 or refdesk r-e-f-d-e-s-k at sdlawl library.org and uh we'll do our best to try to help you find that information maybe even save you a trip into the library if it's something really simple like you're just looking for a copy of a specific code section so another attendee has a couple of questions his name is David and he is living or was living in a condo with a condo association and had a landlord that was refusing to take care of a health and safety issue and even contacted the city and they refused to get involved and so do you have any wisdom or comments on that situation and just being in a in a condo with an association affect this subject at all so um that should in effect whether code enforcement comes out or not um what I might be able to guess is maybe um they didn't understand the severity of the situation or maybe it wasn't a situation that was substantial um so maybe that's why they didn't come out um you know if I sent them a a request that said I saw a spider in my bathroom you know they're not gonna come out um but if you know I said there are significant rat droppings and I see rats every day um you know that would be more um likely to get them to come out so it might just be what you said but yeah that's usually they they follow up so we've still got time for more questions if anyone has any okay here's another one um regarding the temporary relocation costs and this is from an anonymous attendee mostly since I've seen limit the landlord's obligation to a pro rata reduction and rant that's too that that's true yep yeah okay but again I I have a I have something written on this I just can't access it right now but uh the landlord does have a requirement to provide you reasonable accommodations if they are um even temporarily removing you from the property but again it's it's you know it might not be the exact same thing you're renting in the exact same location um just because that might not exist um so you know if the oh I would say if the landlord isn't being reasonable you know push back a little bit um but yeah they can't just push you out into the street kind of thing yeah again specific situations and um it's a little bit a little bit off topic but it it's a good question yeah there's another one from Rosanna she's asking could an arbitration clause in a lease prohibit the tenant from going to court so not small claims court so if you have a claim for ten thousand dollars or less um you should still be able to bring that claim and small claims court um another great option we have here in San Diego is the court provides free mediation so you don't even have to file a lawsuit you call their free mediation line you tell them your situation you give them the other party's contact information and the mediation group will contact the other party and ask them if they want to mediate um so you know try to work out your differences and come to an agreement before a court case is even filed and it's completely free for San Diego County residents it's an absolutely fabulous First Step because you know it might be the last step and you know a problem when you do go to court is the judge gets to decide and you know you you kind of are giving out control of the situation but in mediation you still have some control um so I just want to plug that program I think it's terrific yeah so is that I assume that mediation program is um something someone could find on the San Diego Superior Court website if they looked there if you just Google San Diego Superior Court they have a great website it has a lot of resources on it but you should be able to find information about the mediation program there and again if you look and you're having trouble finding that you can give us a call or email us at the library and we can help you find that information so let's see here's another question If part of a residence part of a residence is legally uninhabitable say one bedroom in a multi-bedroom house does the one tenant who is most effective have different rights than the other tenants that's a good question what what do you have to say about that one [Music] all right you have multiple tenants in a multi-bedroom house but one bedroom is most affected so I'm as good as assume well does everyone have a different lease are we in a um situation where all the roommates are on the same lease or is it a uh like a lodger situation where each roommate has their own separate lease that's what I would ask first um because if you're all on the same lease you are all jointly responsible together so things that happen to one of you happen to all of you um so our attendee did respond Stephanie she says same lease joint and several okay um so then it's it's an issue for everyone on the lease um maybe if you do do the um withholding of rent um remedy so let's say you know only your bedroom is affected you work out with your fellow roommates like hey this is really only affecting me so you guys aren't going to share in the rent reduction I'm just going to be the one to reduce the rent something like that that's a that's a good question yeah so many variations on these landlord-tenant situations we should have a roommate presentation because yeah so roommate situations in San Diego too yeah I'm still waiting for someone to ask you how do you find a thousand dollar rental in San Diego I don't know how long ago that was Stephanie but I was shocked when you said that this was like 2016.

[00:46:39]yeah it was so small like I said it was only 240 square feet um it was like a little Casita off a little mean house um but yeah so you know you price space but um yeah I was not leaving that place for as long as I could so we have an attendee um Stephanie asking which uh you've listed a number of agencies here that potentially help with landlord tenant issues which is the best organization to contact to follow up in a situation regarding health related issues not resolved by the landlord so you know Stephanie probably because she's affiliated with San Diego volunteer lawyer program may not be objective but what's your answer to that question um so I'll tell you the California Department of real estate that I listed because they have a lot of Publications you can read um Legal Aid Society of San Diego you have to meet um an income requirement um I'm not so sure about the other requirements for tenants together and housing help at Steve but I do very much like San Diego volunteer lawyer program um so it's also who who has time to help because a lot of people are trying to access these resources so you might want to reach out to multiple ones and whoever can help you first yeah I think that's good advice and and right now unfortunately I know both legal aid and San Diego volunteer Awards program is getting a lot of calls regarding landlord tenant issues of all types including evictions so they're they're busy you know for someone really trying to get help it may be best to contact multiple service providers and that way you know try to figure out you know who can help or who might be available remember that free mediation by the San Diego and Remediation yeah that actually sounds like a a great resource and I'm glad you mentioned it um so we have an attendee asking what is the best way to get a code enforcement inspection and if it's in the city of San Diego is contacting the city the best way to do that there is actually um on the city's website you can make it complete to code enforcement and I I find that to be just the simplest way yeah I think if you go on San diego.gov it's just San Diego like it's one word.gov and search for code enforcement or Code Compliance you should be able to find you know where to make a complaint online yeah or a phone number to contact that agency yeah and it's nice because it also gives you a little um you know kind of like a receipt that you made the complaint because like I said if you have these issues you know keep good documents um keep copies of everything you you know submit to the landlord to the city um you know take photos videos um just in case the problem isn't resolved and you have to take other action you have that documentation um so we still have a few minutes no questions pending if anyone else is thinking of any don't be shy you know take advantage of Stephanie being here today I will do my very best to answer the questions I know I can't answer all of them maybe but I'll absolutely try my best um I I focus on housing because it's something that affects all of us and um I know some terrific landlords I know some terrific tenants and you know like I said in the beginning uh you really want to develop a good relationship with your landlord and with your tenants because it's a partnership um you know repairs happen um and and some of them can't be fixed immediately you know maybe there's not a repair person that can come out they're also very busy lately um so it's all about having reasonable expectations um and knowing that you're both there working to solve the problem and you're not just trying to blame each other um because something happened I think that's good as you mentioned earlier take photographs you know keep documentation of what is going on so if unfortunately you do end up having to do repairing deduct or go to court or something like that you have your your documentation and you can back that up yeah okay well I think we're out of questions um so thank you so much for being here Stephanie I appreciate everybody attending to and asking such great questions and uh please reach out to these agencies that are listed here maybe take a snapshot with your phone real quick before we wrap up if you you want to do that or you can always contact again the San Diego Law Library we can if you forget the names of these agencies or need your contact information we can help you with that too so thanks everybody thank you for coming everyone have a great rest of your day