Re: DIrty Tenant - Landlord Forum thread 132145

Re: DIrty Tenant by Terry on October 23, 2006 @03:37

Are you overpaying the legal rent?
You signed an agreement or otherwise started paying rent for your rent controlled unit at a rate which was advertised and you agreed to pay. However, that may be an illegal rent, and your remedies are powerful, including getting a drastic rent reduction and recovering triple the amount of any overcharge from the correct rate. It's like being paid less than minimum wage for work you do -you might agree to it, but the employer is breaking the law and deserves to be punished. The landlord is required [LAMC 151.05(C)] to tell you as the current or prospective tenant if you are being charged more than legally permitted rent, but they never do, and the job is up to you to find out if they are, and use their failure to disclose as a ground for fraud. (Not disclosing what he is required to disclose is legally the same as lying, and therefore the basis for a fraud lawsuit, including severe punitive damages.)

There are several reasons from which the rent you agreed to pay may still be higher than is legal under rent control, and here are only those that rent control provides.

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