Know your renters' rights: Housing laws in Salinas and California every tenant should know

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by Kate Cimini and Sebastian Hidalgo

Good housing can foster community, creativity, and room for children to play and grow into themselves. In Salinas, ‘home’ is threatened by overcrowding, unhealthy living conditions and a lack of affordable housing.  

Harvard's 2016 State of the Nation's Housing report listed Salinas as America's fifth most expensive place to live. Salinas Valley farmworker advocates say the city’s low-income farmworker community bears the heaviest burden.

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While renters are responsible to fix anything they damage, landlords must maintain a livable environment.

Who has rights as a tenant?

Every renter has certain rights, even if they are not U.S citizens. The Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 protect against discrimination in housing regardless of your:

• sex or gender
• sexual orientation
• race or ethnicity
• disability
• income
• citizenship or immigration status
• primary language 
• and more

Livable housing conditions

Unhealthy or uninhabitable conditions can be bad for your mental and physical health. By law, landlords must keep their property up to certain standards.

As a renter, government regulations protect your rights.

A few examples of what houses or apartments must have:

• A working bathtub or shower
• Hot and cold running water
• Proper heating
• Natural light (windows) 
• Unbroken windows and doors
• Electrical lighting
• Rooms must be free of  mold, garbage, infestation of insects, vermin, or rodents
• Sturdy floors and stairways

What do you do if you live in unlivable conditions?

Document the problems and write to your landlord, asking them to make the needed repairs. Keep a copy of the email, letter, or texts for yourself, and sign and date them if applicable. 

If your landlord makes the repairs, write to thank them. Keep a copy for yourself, as well.

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If they don't make the repairs in a month, ask again. Take photos of all the problems and keep copies for yourself. Seek legal advice from a lawyer or advocacy group to determine whether you have other remedies available, said California Rural Legal Assistance attorney Phyllis Katz.

You can also call your local code enforcement agency through your city or county government website. They will inspect the home and write a letter to the landlord, telling them what they need to repair or replace. 

Code enforcement officials do not ask about residents' immigration status. 

The Tenant Protection Act of 2019

Thanks to the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, some renters also have a new set of rights. 

These protections apply if you:

• Rent an apartment that is 16 years old or older, or
• Rent a single-family home or condominium that is owned by a corporation.

These laws took effect Jan. 1. They require landlords to show just cause to evict tenants and limit annual rental cost increases to 5% plus inflation and cost-of-living.

That means you can only be evicted if:  

• The owner intends to stop renting the home out
• The owner wants to move into the home themselves
• The owner plans to make substantial renovations to the home that can't be made with the tenant in the home
• The home is not in livable condition
• The tenant has violated the lease and made no attempt to solve the violation

As of Jan. 1, landlords are required to notify renters of certain violations and give them an opportunity to fix the problem before eviction.

If the owner terminates a renter’s contract in a “no-fault, just cause termination,” which meets the criteria listed above, the owner must pay the renters the cost of one month’s rent, or waive — in writing — the final rent payment before the rent is due. 

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If the landlord does not do so, then the lease termination notice is void and the tenant is free to remain in the home and continue paying rent.

If you qualify for the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 and your rent has been raised recently, you may catch another break. As of Jan. 1, the landlord must reduce rent back to what it was in March 2019, plus inflation and cost of living increases for the area.

More resources:

• Center for Community Advocacy - Salinas: (831) 753-2324, cca-viva.org
• California Rural Legal Assistance - Salinas: (831) 757-5221,  crla.org
• Salinas Code Enforcement - Salinas: (831) 758-7157, cityofsalinas.org
• Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Management - Seaside: (831) 582-5234, mandellgisnetcenter.org
• Cesar Chavez Public Library - Salinas: (831) 758-7345, salinaspubliclibrary.org
• Monterey County Law Library - Monterey: (831) 264-4207, co.monterey.ca.us
• Legal Services for Seniors - Salinas, Seaside: (831) 442-7700, lssmc.net
• ECHO Housing - Monterey: ​831-566-0824, www.echofairhousing.org
• Tenants Together - San Francisco: (888) 495-8020, tenantstogether.org

This work was produced as part of collaboration with the Bay Area visual storytelling nonprofit Catchlight, featuring work by Catchlight photography fellow Sebastián Hidalgo. Kate Cimini reported this story with support from the 2019 Impact Fund, a program of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.  Kate Cimini is a multimedia journalist for The Californian. Have a tip? Call her at (831) 776-5137 or email kcimini@thecalifornian.com. Subscribeto support local journalism.

[This article was originally published by The Californian.]