My partner and I are HIV positive, and we rent an apartment here in San Francisco.  We only have heat for a few hours a day, and I’m concerned about the upcoming winter months.  There are also other ongoing problems in our unit, such as roaches and a window that won’t close.  What should we do to have him make the necessary repairs?   Do we have to pay rent when the conditions are so bad?  I’ve heard that you can refuse to pay rent when the landlord fails to make repairs, but I am afraid because I can’t afford to get evicted.

 

Landlords are required under state law to maintain apartments in habitable condition.  In addition, the San Francisco Housing Code requires that your apartment have heat during certain hours of the day. There is no reason why you and your partner have to put up with the type of conditions that you describe.

Your first step is to put your complaints in writing.  Let your landlord know that it is his legal responsibility to provide safe and habitable housing.  Explain that you will give him a reasonable amount of time to address these problems, or else you will be forced to take further action. 

You should also call a San Francisco Housing Inspector at (415) 558-6220 to schedule an inspection.  If the Inspector issues a citation and your landlord still refuses to make repairs, he may eventually be sued by the City Attorney’s Code Enforcement Division.  However, if you live in an illegal unit, do not call the Housing Inspector, because the landlord may be required to shut the unit down and you would be forced to move out.  

While it sounds like your building has serious code violations, withholding rent is generally a bad idea.  If you don’t pay rent, your landlord may start eviction proceedings against you.  Even though you can bring up the repair issues in your defense, it is unlikely that a judge will find that your living conditions are so bad that you are justified in not paying any rent at all. 

However, you may be entitled to a refund of some of your rent money if you have been paying your rent.  If your unit is covered by the San Francisco Rent Ordinance, you can file a petition with the Rent Board for a “decrease in services.”  Because you have lived with code violations and have complained to the landlord, you can ask the Rent Board for a retroactive rent rebate, and have your rent lowered until the problems are repaired. 

To file a petition, you must provide proof that (1) the problems exist, and (2) you complained to the landlord about it.  Photographs, letters, and inspection reports are helpful.  The Rent Board will hold a hearing to review your evidence, and determine if you are entitled to a rent decrease.  The process may take a couple of months, but with adequate evidence you can get some of your rent money back. 

If your building is not covered by the Rent Ordinance, you may want to sue your landlord in Small Claims Court.  This process allows you to sue for up to $7,500 in a courtroom where neither side is allowed to have a lawyer.  You can learn more about the Small Claims Court at 400 McAllister Street, where there are advisors available to help you fill out the necessary forms.

 

My partner and I rent an old Victorian flat in the Mission District.  We have been here for 20 years, but our home has many problems, from leaky faucets to broken floorboards.  I complained to our landlord, and when he didn’t respond, I had a Building Inspector come by to issue a citation.  Now my landlord says that because he has to make repairs, he will raise my rent, which he said the Rent Board allows him to do when he makes “improvements.”  This seems unfair, as the repairs are long overdue, and it wouldn’t cost him so much money if he had taken good care of the building over the years.  Is there any way to fight this?

 

Dear Mad,

It sounds like your landlord is threatening to do a Capital Improvements pass-through.  When a landlord does substantial work on a building, he may file a Capital Improvements petition with the Rent Board, which allows him to pass on some of the expenses to tenants in the form of higher rents. 

There may be a way to fight this.  First, you can challenge the petition on the grounds that the work was made necessary by the landlord’s deferred maintenance.  However, the deferred maintenance must have been caused by the same landlord who is trying to get a rent increase for making repairs.  If your landlord recently purchased the building and is now trying to “fix it up,” you would not be able to argue deferred maintenance.   

Second, the Rent Board will not allow a Capital Improvements rent increase to repair a code violation that remained unresolved for 90 days.  However, an exception exists for repairs that are so substantial that they will necessarily take more than three months to complete.