Rats in the walls. Roaches in the cupboards. Mice in the pantry, bed bugs in the mattress. In California, your landlord must keep your home free of vermin and rodent infestation, and a serious infestation can make a unit legally uninhabitable. You do not have to live with it, and you do not have to pay to fix it out of pocket without trying the steps below first.
Put it in writing
A phone call or a chat in the hallway with the manager is almost impossible to prove later. Send a letter, email or text that says what you are seeing, where you are seeing it, and when it started. Ask for it to be fixed and ask for a date. Keep a copy, and if you mail it, keep the receipt. Take dated photos and keep a simple log of each sighting. If this ever ends up in front of a judge, that paper trail is your case.
Let them in to fix it
Your landlord is entitled to enter with 24 hours written notice to treat the problem. If you turn away the exterminator, the landlord will use that against you. Ask what prep is needed beforehand, and ask if a follow-up treatment is planned. One spray rarely ends an infestation.
Call code enforcement
If the landlord ignores you or the problem keeps coming back, you can call your city or county code enforcement office or the local health department and request an inspection. An inspector can cite the property, and a written notice of violation carries real weight with a landlord. It also matters if things get worse later. Tell the inspector everything you have already done to notify the landlord.
Repair and deduct
Under Civil Code section 1942, you may be able to hire a licensed exterminator yourself and subtract the cost from your rent. Always give the landlord written notice and a reasonable chance to fix the problem first. Thirty days is generally presumed reasonable, though a worse problem can justify a shorter wait. The amount you can deduct is capped at one month’s rent, and you can do it no more than twice in a 12 month period. Keep every receipt and every piece of paper. If you get this wrong, you can end up with an eviction notice for unpaid rent, so talk to someone before you do it.
Withholding rent
You may have heard that tenants can simply stop paying rent when a landlord will not make repairs. Legally, a habitability problem can be a defense to an eviction for nonpayment, but it is a last resort. You carry the burden of proving the problem, a judge decides how much rent is excused, and you can lose your home if you get it wrong. Please do not withhold rent without talking to an attorney first.
Know your protections
It is illegal for a landlord to raise your rent, cut services or try to evict you in retaliation for a good faith habitability complaint. The one real exception is when the tenant caused the infestation, for example through unsanitary conditions inside the unit. That is the landlord’s most common response, which is another reason to document everything from day one.
If you are a senior in Contra Costa County dealing with pests and a landlord who will not respond, contact Contra Costa Senior Legal Services.