Breaking Lease for crime in the neighborhood

[compustrat]

I've posted here recently regarding some repairs that turned into renovations...which, ultimately, were done poorly. The landlord is quite defensive and retaliatory in nature, and there is a fair amount of bad blood because of our respective positions on both sides of that fence. And, of course, this forum has provided a great deal of information in dealing with any future repairs.

Now I just want to leave and move to a better environment. Aside from the repairs, the environment is outright hostile. I believe I can break my lease under CA Civil Code 1942, citing the hostile environment and the large amount of crime in the neighborhood, which has escalated in the last several months.

The environment is 4 housing complexes lining the sides of a long cul de sac. Three are apartments, one (mine) is a condominium complex. The police are called to one of the four complexes every single day, often several times a day.

There is a large gang presence, often with groups of 4-6 identically dressed youths gathering along the sides of the street. They panhandle, drink, and scout parked cars along the street for unsecured car doors. I've seen kids enter vehicles on many occasions, and urinate on them in broad daylight, to the laughter of their friends.

When the police are called, they always respond with a minimum of "three" squad cars, and sometimes with a tactical truck, K9, etc. In most cases, they completely block traffic in the cul de sac. It's no surprise that drug dogs are around, since you can find those small "crack baggies" on the ground on any given day.

Most recently (within the past three weeks) the police had to brandish weapons to disarm a suspect within 10 yards from my door. The suspect turned out to be a Federal Agent, who is the brother of the HOA president. For what it's worth, there has been a lot of in-fighting with the HOA here, culminating in the ousting of an entire HOA board of directors last year.

At any rate, the following week (circa last week), the HOA president was followed and beaten within an inch of his life. Hospitalized with multiple broken bones, including his ankle.

Last year, one of the condos was broken into, robbed and ransacked. Signs have been posted for missing laptops and other devices that were stolen right from within their homes, while the residents were home, because their screen door was not locked while they went to the bathroom.

We are accosted by youths looking for money. I say accosted because they are quite pushy, reacting negatively when a request is denied. And they don't ask for 25 cents, they ask for $50 and the like. We've not been beaten up, but it certainly means we have to be afraid of going out in the dark.

Even the pizza delivery places are no longer allowed to enter the complexes after dusk, due to the danger risk for delivery personnel. It follows (at least to me) that the same danger exists for residents.

There is a palpable hatred of whites here, which I've experienced myself. Though, I have not been the victim of racial hate crimes. But it makes for a very inhospitable environment, and we're genuinely afraid to be out after dark.

We cannot avoid going out after dark in many cases due to our parking. We have a garaged spot, but another unsecured spot that is not protected. My partner often arrives home after dark and it is on the way into the complex where the gang kids appear seeking money.

So, in the end...do I have "grounds" for an assertion under CA Civil Code 1942? If I make this assertion, can I just go? or does he have to agree? Must it go to court? And, does it have to be superior court?

I'm worried about the courts because a CA lease (at least mine) includes a clause that, if we go to court, I'm responsible for his legal fees.

Also, my landlord is deathly afraid of the "written word". The core of any disagreement with him revolves around my unwillingness to discuss rental issues verbally. I'm sure a registered letter, citing CA CC 1942 will "not" be met with it's own welcome mat. LOL

After reading this...you'll probably want to ask me why I didn't move at the end of the original lease. That was largely due to the extreme trauma of moving, the cost of gas, and me naively believing my landlord would do some renovations around the time that lease ended. Plus, he ignored the standard 3% rent increase to entice me to stay. It's difficult to find good housing in LA without enduring an arduous commute, and he was promising things like an air conditioner, etc. None of that ever came to me. Also, it may sound nuts...but I keep my unit closed off, don't make any noise, and have a very short walk to our garage (good for me, but not for my partner). Anyway, it's a way of "blocking out" the environment to make the best of a bad situation.

It's just that the situation has gotten beyond my ability to cope with it.

No. Once again, the LL is only responsible for your unit. He is not responsible for the common grounds - the HOA is. If the gang violence is within his power, in his unit, he can take steps to end it by evicting, giving notice to quit, or some other steps. He has no power to control what happens outside of the property he owns. In this HOA community, he only owns the inside of your unit. He does not own, nor can he control, crime outside of that. Since he has no power to control that crime, he is not negligent for not being able to stop it. That is the HOA's responsibility and the police's job. Feel free to petition the HOA for extra lights, security officers, or any other measures you feel they could take to lower the crime rate. Ask police for extra patrols. Start a crime watch in the community. (BTW, crime in a neighborhood is never a reason to break your lease. The LL cannot control anything off his property. The only way you could use this was if the LL owned the entire complex, the crime was occurring on his proerty, and he took no steps to mitigate and prevent crime after it was reported to him.)

In order to use the hostile environment section of this law, you need to be able to prove that the LL is making your unit so hostile with his behavior as to be unlivable. Since you have nothing in writing, the chances of being able to prove this to a court are slim to none. Sorry.

The attorney fee clause is standard in most leases. It doesn't always stand up in court depending on what your law states. The judge decides who will pay the attorney fees. If you attempted to take this to court and lost, you would most likely be ordered to pay the fees. If you had just cause and won, the judge may ignore that clause.

I'm sorry that this LL turned out to be such a poor one and the community turned out to be a bad area. You could ask the LL to allow you out of your lease for a termination penalty (usually 1-2 months of rent). Get a statement that you are no longer under any obligation of the lease if he agrees. In future, check out the area you intend to rent during different times of the day and night for crime, noise, activity, etc, and ask local police about the area. It is your responsibility to do due dilligence to check out the area before you sign. And always get all agreements in writing, never verbal promises. Those become he said-she said arguments in court that you cannnot prove.