when and where can we hold the rent legally for repairs needed

I live in CA we are renting a home through an agency. The Owner (LL) came to the house he went around to see what needed to be fixed. He said he was going to fix a lot of stuff including the pool. almost nine months passed and he has not fixed anything.. what can we do to hold the rent legally until he fixes repairs and/or gives us a credit for what we fixed?

Did you WRITE a repair request and send it to the LL about what needs (not what you want) to be fixed? Did you send it by a method that gives you a receipt upon delivery? You need to do this BEFORE you are entitled to any rent withholding or repair and deduct remedies. If you have not done this yet, you are not entitled to reimbursement for any work you have done to this point. The law says you need to notify the LL and give him a chance to repair before you may take either remedy.

Rent withholding is only available for habitability problems. If you have lived there for 9 months with the needed repairs, they are not habitability problems. The rental can not be uninhabitable if you have lived with the needed repairs for that long. So you will not be able to rent withhold unless the problems escalate.

Send the letter to the LL about repairs that are needed. Keep a copy. Send it so you get a receipt when it is delivered. If repairs are not started within 30 days, you may be able to repair the problems yourself and deduct the amount from the rent (giving your LL receipts for the work done). CA Civil code 1942 explains what you can use this remedy for. There are usually limits on how much and how often you can use this remedy. If no repairs and made within 30 days and the repairs are for NEEDED work, not cosmetic things, or items that you are responsible for in your lease, then read the statute to get the info you need to do this. Good luck.

we havent written letters just e mails. and the things that are messed up are a leaking sink (we have to put a bucket under thie sink), im not sure what its called but its in the sink and u push the light switch to make the water go down ( we have to un plug it our selves manually), the pool was disgusting with frogs and mosquitos that made our neighbors complain (it was ike a swamp) ect. . do you think this count or probably not? thanks.

You need to send a WRITTEN notice for repairs. You can't prove e-mail requests ever got to him (his server could be down, they could have been filtered out by SPAM filters, etc.) Mail a written notice certified, RRR, and keep a copy. Ask for the leak under the sink to be fixed, the garbage disposal repaired, and ask about the pool (that may be your repsonsbility if this is a single family residence and you have the task of lawn care). Keep a copy and give the LL 30 days to reply and state when repairs would be done. If no answer, read the statute cited on how to get the sink and garbage disposal fixed. Have them repaired, deduct the costs, and send the receipt (keep a copy) for the repairs to the LL with the rent.