Your home, while not perfect, has been your sanctuary for years.  You’ve paid your rent, you’ve taken care of the unit, despite its many imperfections.  You’ve even abstained from lodging complaints for its numerous habitability defects to preserve your relationship with your landlord.  At this point, your landlord really should have figured out that your home is dilapidated, but they will claim total ignorance if you confront them with a list of dilapidations.  You’ve previously pondered commencing civil action against them for breach of the warranty of habitability, but, again, you wanted to preserve your relationship and remain in place.  Recently, the habitabitly defects have become too severe.  You now want to complain and, if your landlord doesn’t make the necessary repairs, you intend to file a lawsuit in court. You begin to wonder; How soon must I notify my landlord of a habitabitly defect?

To assert a claim for breach of the warranty of habitabitly, one element the tenant must prove that they tendered, “notice…to the landlord within a reasonable time after the tenant discovered, or should have discovered the habitability defect.”  Quevedo v. Braga, (1977) 72 Cal. App. 3d Supp, 1, 7-8 (Overruled on other grounds by Knight v. Hallsthammar, (1981) 29 Cal. 3d 46, 53, 55) (emphasis added); Erlach v. Sierra Asset Servicing, LLC, (2014) 226 Cal. App. 4th 1281, 1298.  While no specific law or judicial opinion have ever explicitly addressed the matter, our view is that the tenant should promptly notify the landlord about the issue upon discovery.  Generally, we find that most trial courts will consider timing on a case-by-case basis with reasonable posed to the trial judge as a factual question.  The trial judge will likely consider several factors such as the severity of the issue, and prejudice to the landlord.  However, the tenant cannot satisfy this prong where the landlord can prove, “unreasonable delay.”  Pollard v. Saxe & Yolles Development Co., (1974) 12 Cal. 3d 374, 380 (Four (4) years after discovery is unreasonable.).  For this reason, we reaffirm our position that you should notify your landlord about habitabitly defects promptly (without delay, and preferably in writing).  The sooner you document and report the problem, the less room there is for a dispute over the timing of your notice during your claim for breach of the warranty of habitability.

However, you may be able to avoid this issue entirely where you can prove your landlord already had notice of the uninhabitable conditions at issue in the case.  Knight v. Hallsthammar, (1981) 29 Cal. 3d 46, 54-55.  You can easily prove that your landlord already has notice for any habitability defects that existed when you took possession of the rental unit, or that were observable upon reasonable inspection whenever your landlord, or their agents such as property managers and vendors, entered your unit during your tenancy.  Although this evidence is not as strong as direct notice, it can support your breach of the warranty of habitability claim, when proven to the satisfaction of the trier of the fact (judge or jury).  Thus, evidence that your landlord knew or should have known of the defects may support your claim even without proof that you personally reported them.

When substantial habitability defects persist and requests for repairs go unanswered, pursuing a habitability claim may be an important step toward holding those responsible accountable and seeking compensation for the harm you have suffered. Your complaints, photographs, inspection reports, and records of losses can help tell that story, and help you as you litigate your timely filed breach of the implied warranty of habitability claim (not making repairs) in a court of law.