Tania Luviano-Hurwitz with NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 Responds explains tenant rights after she helped a Linda Vista family who says they were forced to live in the dark for more than a month when their landlord didn’t fix an electrical issue at their home.
A Linda Vista family says they were forced to live in the dark for more than a month when their landlord didn’t fix an electrical issue at their home
Juan Alejandro Garcia and his wife, Claudia, said they felt helpless, so they contacted NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 Responds.
The couple said their daughter saw sparks from a circuit breaker inside the home before it broke. Garcia said he called his landlord to report the issue, but she didn’t answer. He called an electrician, who changed the breakers, but days later, they said, the outside breakers went out as well.
Claudia said she was scared the little they have was going to burn. They texted the landlord, and, days later, she sent an electrician to the house. The couple said he told them the circuit breaker needed to be replaced, but that never happened.
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NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 called the landlord, and she said she thought the issue had been fixed. Thirty minutes after the phone call, she sent someone to the house, and the circuit breaker was finally fixed the next morning.
So what can you do to avoid running into the same problem as the Garcias?
“We recommend that you pay the rent and file a complaint with city code enforcement,” Gilberto Vera, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, said.
NBC 7 Responds
Vera said that landlords are responsible for maintaining all utility hookups.
“When you involve code enforcement, they will come out, will inspect the unit, and if they find code violations, they will issue the landlord a notice of the code violations and give them a date to repair it," Vera said.
Vera said if the repair is not made by the deadline, code enforcement can start fining the landlord $100-$150 a day.
As a renter, be sure to keep all communications with your landlord, including text messages and emails, and make some notes about any phone calls. The documentation helps in case you need to contact NBC 7 or Telemundo 20, Legal Aid or anyone else for help. And don’t just send one message and give up — stay on top of your landlord to fix the issue.
“Thank you to Telemundo and Tania,” Juan said.
Juan believes that, without our help, they may still be without electricity. But now he knows to contact code enforcement in case he runs into the problem again.
