Walk It Through: The Complaint
No retaliation after a code complaint, a hearing within five days, and an unlawful detainer.
A tenant reports a broken heater to the city housing inspector, and soon after the landlord sends a notice ending the tenancy.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One apartment and one complaint. Rent escrow, the replacement escrow and retaliation sections, and unpaid rent are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Pay or quit noticeThe written notice for rent unpaid when due, stating that the agreement ends if the rent is not paid within 14 days.
- Unlawful detainerThe court summons by which a landlord seeks possession. For a residential tenancy the first hearing is as soon as practicable and not more than 21 days after filing, and the summons is served at least 10 days before the return day.
- RetaliationA landlord's raising rent, reducing services, or suing or threatening to sue for possession after learning that the tenant complained to a code agency, complained or sued under the landlord and tenant law, joined a tenant organization, or testified against the landlord.
- Tenant's assertionA filing in the general district court over a condition such as no heat or running water, by a tenant who gave the landlord written notice and pays the rent into court within five days of each due date.
- Security depositA deposit of no more than two months' periodic rent, applied at the end of the tenancy only to unpaid rent and late charges, damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, other charges in the agreement, and actual damages for breaking it.
- Unlawful exclusionA landlord's willfully, without court authority, removing or excluding the tenant, interrupting an essential service, or making the premises unsafe. The court can put the tenant back in and restore the service.