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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 complained about habitability defects profusely, for years.  Despite your prudence, the landlord has not made repairs, and your home remains uninhabitable through no fault of your own.  It has been dilapidated for years.  Despite this, you continue paying rent.  However, you begin to feel that it is not fair.  Why should you, the upstanding & rent paying tenant, have paid rent for a home that even squatters would reject.  You begin to wonder; Can I recover rent paid while my home was uninhabitable?

Yes, in a landlord-tenant lawsuit, after the court determines the “reasonable rent” that should have been due while your home was not habitable, the court will award damages in the form of retroactive rent abatement.  Here, you will be “refunded,” an amount of rent already paid to the extent the payment exceeds the adjusted rental value determination.  Quevedo v. Braga, (1977) 72 Cal. App. 3d Supp. 1, 9 (disapproved on other grounds by Knight v. Hallsthammar, (1981) 29 Cal. 3d 46, 55, fn. 7.).  Ultimately, a retroactive rent award compensates you for the difference between the rent you paid and the reduced rental value of your home.

Repeated complaints and broken promises should not define your experience at home. When 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.  In the event you pursue a habitability claim in a court of law, one of the measures of damages you may obtain is a retroactive rent abatement (return of rent previously paid) for the period your home was uninhabitable.