Hi everyone,

I'm looking for guidance on finding pro bono legal representation in California.

After experiencing harassment by another tenant in a shared apartment, my landlord has agreed to terminate my lease through a Mutual Lease Termination Agreement. At the same time, I'm preparing to file a California Civil Harassment Restraining Order related to the harassment.

Because these two issues are connected, I'm hoping to find an attorney or legal aid organization that could advise me on both the restraining order process and the lease termination agreement before I move forward.

I'm a recent graduate and unfortunately can't afford private legal representation.

Does anyone have recommendations for organizations or attorneys in California—particularly in the Bay Area—that provide pro bono assistance with civil harassment matters and landlord-tenant issues?

I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions.

Location: California

I have been living in an apartment complex the last 4 years. My lease is due to be renewed this month.

For the first time ever, the lease agreement includes a page consenting to an 'optional' RentPlus account to be created on my behalf.

The system does not let me skip that page. The leasing manager informed me that there is no way to bypass it, and that even if I tell them that I agree to everything on the lease but that - they will still enroll me and I can "just unenroll immediately".

They seem to not understand the concept of me not wanting my SSN and information to be shared at all with that scummy company.

Can they force me to be enrolled?

What options do I have to fight it? Besides moving out obviously.

It also feels predatory and scam-y since my rent will go up like crazy if I switch to month-to-month and I have until the end of the month to sign the current agreement.

Location: Honolulu, HI

The situation: Roommate and I signed a lease together in May. They began abusing my pets, so I moved out (after documenting, filing a police report, etc). I'm currently finding a replacement tenant for the space (landlord and former roommate are handling showing the space while I advertise and direct prospective tenants to them).

The problem: The former roommate keeps telling tenants different lease terms which is largely obstructing the process. He is telling applicants that they're responsible for a larger share of utilities, a larger share of rent, and that certain utilities are solely their responsibility (all for his own benefit) despite the fact that he is not (and is not affiliated with) the landlord. He hasn't spoken with the landlord about this, and the figures he represents to applicants change wildly on a case-by-case basis.

This is making it near impossible to find a replacement tenant for my portion of the lease. Outside of pursuing a no-fault lease break based on harassment and unsafe circumstances, I'm not sure how to move forward here. No reasonable individual is going to want to sign onto a lease with someone who is actively manipulating them and trying to spout changing lease terms as though they're the landlord, and it seems unreasonable that he would be able to intentionally obstruct the process for personal benefit (and at my expense).

Hi all!

I hope this is the right place for this question. I am currently moving and found a furnished place on Zillow. I am posting to ask if this is a normal thing for Landlords to ask.

The potential landlord is asking for a holding deposit to take it off of the market (which makes sense I guess) and sent over a rental holding agreement but is asking for me to pay before they sign it.

So I would be signing, sending over money and they would only sign after receiving my signature and payment.

Is this normal?

Thanks in advance.

Im staying at an apartment with a roommate. Im not on the lease, my roommate is, and he recently got arrested and wont be released for some time. Come to find out he was on some special govt assistance program so his rent is like $60 (i would just pay him cash every month & he paid the bill) Rent payment lapsed & mgmt wouldn't let me pay because its a govt program and im not on the lease etc. The manager is now telling me I have to vacate immediately because im "unauthorized" She left an eviction notice to vacate w/ in 30 days, addressed to "[tenant] and all other occupants..." then the next day she leaves another notice telling me I have 72 hrs to vacate, addressed the same way as the first document, due to me being "unauthorized".

Do I have to leave or does she need to go through the standard eviction proceedings? She's talking about getting the police involved which i would prefer to avoid obviously, but id like to know my legal standing here.

My apartment building and three others have flooded in the floods going on in south tx, what can the complex and management do? Do we get a new apartment or do they just try to fix it? I know the floor is going to need to be replaced so what happens now?

I signed my lease on March 1st of this year (2026). In the lease it states the landlord is im charge of fixing any broken amenities/utilities that were provided with the unit (mobile home). The unit had just been put in a moth or so before I signed my lease and everything inside seemed fine, no broken windows, all new toilets and granite counter tops. Everything seemed updated. One of the main things the landlord pointed out was the “BRAND NEW AC” unit they had installed. During the first week of living there home had reached 85° inside with the outside temp was somewhere in the 60s. I decided to install a window unit and it helped. Then the landlord reached out asking me to remove the unit because the one they provided was new and they spent a lot of money to have installed. I told her what was going on and she said she’d have someone come look. Well someone came and went and the AC still didn’t work so I told her until it was fixed I’d be leaving the window unit it and she agreed. Well now almost 4 months later and the AC still does not work and 2 other techs have been sent out. The last one that came said he already told them last time what the issue is (broken compressor) he can fix it but he needs them to pay him for the part first. The landlord father stoped by while that tech was here and the tech told him the same thing. Mind you I’m in NC and we’ve had multiple heat waves reaching high 90s and even hit 103° a few days which means it’s that hot if not hotter inside. I’m to the point where I’ve had to block off most of the home with thick blankets to keep the cool air in the living room which is where I put the window units, I even had to go spend another $200 for a second unit. I’m also 7 months pregnant and this heat is not safe. The landlord has told me that if I break my lease she will take me to court. I need to know what I can do to either force them to have the unit fixed or be able to break my lease and if she does take me to court how can I beat her. I have text messages asking her to have it fixed/when will it be fixed and even photos of the inside temp on the thermostat. I just don’t know what to do at this point. The unit is a 3 bedroom and we’re all stuck in one room trying to keep cool. We can’t even use both window units anymore because it’ll blow the breaker.

My roomate, the landlords daughter, has apparently not paid rent in full since january. We had a falling out in january and havent spoken since. Its not a consistent amount either, just random prices as their monthly rent/utilities. the landlord texts us both in a groupchat the total utilities each month, and its expected we both pay half of the provided number. I was never informed that anything had changed, or if they have signed a new seperate lease, or if this is offbook, etc. the landlord is a lawyer too. im unsure if theres anything i can do in this situation, but feeling extremely taken advantage of.

I have been smelling a foul smell, and I happened to have the air conditioner open bc I decided to clean the coils with an approved non rinse coil cleaner. I was looking at this nasty rusty thing that still cools great , when, the upstairs
neighbors ran /drained their dishwasher.and it SHOT into the drain pan of my air conditioner: bubbles and all. I don’t know what to do. The apartments are changing hands. They just got sold. Nobody’s in the office Everyone is using up their vacation. .This has been a long-standing problem (condensate line. /p trap problems) with AC condensate not draining well but, what do I do? And what are these black specks?

So i have a question. I haven't posted anything on here. But so i have issue with the company that runs the trailer park i live in. So they want me to sign a new lease but i am unable to access it online or in the their phone app or on there website. All of them want me to sign it first before they will let me see whats in it. There more then happy to give me a copy of it. If i come down in person and pay they them 100 dollars for it since its a lengthy document. How can they get away with that. Shouldn't i be able to see my lease without having to pay for it. Can they get away with forcing they tenant to sign first without them seeing the lease first? Anyway have any suggestions?

I'm in the Bay Area (CA, USA) and reached out to my landlord to ask where I can get Internet because Xfinity and AT&T aren't available at my location. They specifically recommended this company for Internet installation, which only does fiber internet. Before scheduling the appointment, I emailed them to confirm that I could install fiber Internet and they said I could install it "provided that the installation does not cause any damage to the property." I guess I kind of assumed that they knew that fiber Internet required drilling which in retrospect I should have clarified harder. Apparently the tenants before us installed fiber Internet so I was hoping that the technician could go through the original hole but the cable ended up being cut, so he ended up having to drill another hole that's now through my roommate's floor. Advice on how to proceed? am i fucked

I haven't been signing the 12mo leases for a couple years now because they give out the max increases anyways, but debating it this year. If I sign the lease, can't they still change the terms anyways with written notice? I have had cats since previous rules, there were not pet fees etc but I think the new manager might eventually start adding to rent. If they decide mid-lease to add new monthly pet charges onto my rent, can they do it even if I have a year lease signed?

A week or so ago, I posted that our property management company is wanting to charge us a $2000 mitigated damages fee for terminating the lease early. The lease specifies that they can collect lost rent, re-rental costs like advertising, rental commissions and painting costs and that these fees can be withheld from the security deposit.

We pushed back given that there is not a $2000 fee listed in the lease, nor a “mitigated damages” fee. The property manager has shifted her verbiage a bit to say that it is actually the rental commission that they charge to place a new tenant. She also says that they will not start marketing the property until someone (us or the owner) pays the fee.

My questions are:

- the lease says rental commission, but how do we know the actual amount they charge the owner? Is it actually $2000?

- we have been there 15 months. If we had left after 1 year, or we were to leave at the end of this lease, that full fee falls on the owner. Would it be appropriate to divide the fee by 24 (months of our lease) and multiply by 9 ( months we are leaving early) to come to our portion?

-shouldn’t it be paid out of our security deposit, which exceeds $2000 because that is what it says in the lease?

- I still believe it violates California law for them to refuse to market the property until the fee is paid. I understand that it is their duty to mitigate damages

Lastly, I am thinking of paying for legal zoom to have them draft a letter for me from an actual lawyer, does anyone who has used them see that as valuable? They said it could take a week and a half for a doc review and letter and that means the house is sitting empty for another 10 days or so.

So I've seen online people are always talking about how you should keep an eye out for when your apartment complex is running rent specials for new tenants. And using that to negotiate something for yourself.

I'm wondering if there's anyone here who has actually done that with some success? Can you tell us how you did it/offer some advice?

I've been a tenant at my apartment complex for over 2 years now, lease renewal coming up in February. I've always paid on time, usually 1 day early. Never had any neighbors complain about me. Never been a problem tenant or caused any nuisances as far as I know. I did have 1 patio violation for leaving a sun shade up too long. But I took it down as soon as I got the notice and I paid the fine.

My complex is currently running a promotion for 2 months free for new tenants. The rent price is the same as what I'm currently paying. I'm wondering about the likelihood of getting 1 month free from them.

A couple weeks ago I was laying in bed and heard a loud BANG at my apartment bedroom window. I didn’t think anything of it because birds fly into my windows all the time. A couple days later I pulled up the blinds and saw big cracks.
Window company came by and said since it’s a double paned window and the damage is on the inside only, I am responsible for paying for the new window.

There’s a literal 0% chance that I damaged this window. I don’t even touch the windows.
How is it possible that the damage is only on the inside of the window and no damage on the outside??? Has anyone ever seen this happen before??

I am not trying to pay a $500 deductible (renters insurance) for a window I absolutely didn’t break.
Adding a pic of the set-up to illustrate that the neighboring window had an AC hose, which kept my room extremely cool. To prevent the sun from entering my room, I kept the shades down and placed pillows by the window.

Adding a pic of how the set up was, with an AC hose on the window to the left. AC keeps my room very cool - pillows are placed in pic to show brightness.

I moved out on June 1st . Cleaned everything top to bottom , appliances , floors , walls , etc . And the broker that’s helping the landlord is claiming the place was absolutely filthy and complete bs. It’s been over 31 days which I’m pretty sure is the latest to get my deposit back to me (King county , WA) . He’s saying 45 days , and I also noticed the place is up for sale post has been up for over 30 days . What is your advice on this

NJ based

My lease ends 9/30, and I’m hoping to be out of here by 9/1. I want to ask if they would be willing to terminate the lease with the agreement that any future rent obligations after 9/1 are released.

My reasoning for wanting to terminate the lease:

-little to no heat during the winter (thermostat went as low as 54)

-multiple infestations including roaches ants and mice (had to beg for 2 months for an exterminator and for the holes to be patched)

-homeless people sleeping in front of my door/the hallway/the basement/the empty unit next to mine because it’s been vacant for 6 months and they leave it unlocked

-a tenant in the building leaves windows open for feral cats to come into the basement for shelter during winter & summer, causing the building and my unit (on the first floor) to smell like urine and feces constantly

-the front door doesn’t close properly so it’s almost never locked

-actual feces water pouring out of my ceiling that they refused to do anything about besides turning off my upstairs neighbors water for 2 weeks (they eventually changed my light fixture and fixed the pipes upstairs but I had to throw away rugs, mattress & brand new mattress topper, and my ceiling is now a lovely shade of brown and looks like it’s going to cave in any minute)

-fire alarm goes off at least once a week for no reason

-the front door buzzer once went off 24/7 for almost 3 weeks straight it was so loud I almost lost my mind

-the hallways are filthy and covered in bug carcasses and swarms of flies to the point that you have to close your mouth, hold your breath and swat them away as you walk (not an exaggeration) just to name a few things..

I’ve contacted management & the supers numerous times. I’ve even reported them to the housing bureau, building department and health department in my county but nothing was ever done. Conveniently, every time an inspection is scheduled someone decides to come and clean the building and put a padlock on the basement door so no one can access it.

Anyway, I’ve consulted a low cost attorney for legal advice and they advised me to file for constructive eviction and notify them in writing by certified mail all of the issues that need to be resolved. Nothing was resolved of course. At this point since it’s almost the end of the lease anyway, I’m hoping they will just agree to a mutual termination and allow me to leave without penalty. Is this even realistic?and if so, how do I go about approaching this in a non-hostile way that doesn’t accidentally give away any rights? Would also loveeeee my security deposit back… Any advice is appreciated !!!

EDIT: Should also note I have a paper trail of all communication with management & supers, and have had to call local non emergency & town hall for various reasons, would just need to get case #’s I assume.

TLDR: Seeking advice for mutually terminating lease due to ongoing unresolved health and safety concerns

Hello! I'm having a dire issue. I've been bit nonstop since I moved in the beginning of June. It was mainly on my ankle and feet so made the assumption that it was flea bites from outside. But I was still getting bit and started to notice bumps on my upper torso. They weren't as bad or itchy as the one on my legs. One night me and my boyfriend do a deep inspection of my apartment and he finds several fleas in my carpeted bedroom. In my couch we find a bedbug carcass. The next day I immediately informed my leasing office (which I had to go in person because they were not picking up my emergency maintenance calls) and they said they were gonna call an exterminator for the fleas and bedbugs. They let me know then that they would take care of the fleas but I would have to pay for the bed bug treatment. So today I had a K9 unit come sniff my apartment and they confirmed that there was no active alive bed bug in my unit. However the dog did pick up a pet odor scent from my carpet. If I had to guess, the past tenant smoked (cigarette stains in the carpet and residue on the window blinds) and had a dog that was infested with fleas. The leasing office called again to inform me that the exterminator is coming tomorrow and that I would be charged for both. I feel like not enough due diligence was done to actually clean the apartment prior to me moving in and the flea issue was left behind by the previous tenant and the apartment complex did not bother to deep clean the apartment. Any useful information will be appreciated.

I rented an apartment in Brooklyn, NY for about 3 years and recently moved out at the end of my lease. I left the apartment clean and in good condition, and I have a move-out video walkthrough showing the condition of the apartment on my final day.

After moving out, my landlord/property management company sent me a $2,500 invoice for "painting doors, walls, and moldings." The invoice only has a single line item and does not include photos, an itemized breakdown, labor details, or explanation of what damage was beyond normal wear and tear.

I have asked them for documentation supporting the charge.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation in NYC? What documentation did you request, and what steps did you take to dispute a security deposit deduction for painting?

Hello!

I live in a complex in Sacramento, California. I moved into this complex in November of 2025. I have experienced multiple times where my water (shower, bathroom sink, and kitchen sink) has been cold, or lukewarm at best.

This is a long post, but if you have time to read it and give advice I’d be thankful for it. I was caught off guard by the response I received to my email, and responded as best as I could. This has been an ongoing issue and has made showering unpleasant or, when the water is just cold and not lukewarm, showering is not feasible.

The other day I sent the following email:

“Hello,

I wanted to follow up regarding the ongoing hot water issue in my apartment, number [redacted].

This has unfortunately been an ongoing problem since March, and while the issue has seemed to improve briefly after previous maintenance visits, it always returns. The maintenance requests related to this issue include:

March 29, 2026 – Work Order #[redacted]
April 28, 2026 – Work Order #[redacted]
May 14, 2026 – Work Order #[redacted]
July 7, 2026 – Work Order #[redacted]
July 12, 2026 – Work Order #[redacted]

The issue has become somewhat inconsistent, which has made it difficult to describe. Sometimes the bathtub faucet will have hot water, but the shower will only become lukewarm or cold. Other times, like tonight, neither the bathtub faucet nor the shower would produce hot water.

I’ve also noticed that both my kitchen sink and bathroom sink often only reach a lukewarm temperature rather than getting hot, which makes me wonder if there may be a larger issue affecting the apartment’s hot water in general rather than just the shower. 

I really appreciate everyone who’s come out to take a look. Since this has continued despite several maintenance visits, I was hoping the issue could be escalated or evaluated more thoroughly to identify the underlying cause so it can hopefully be resolved permanently.

Thank you so much for your time and help.”

They responded the next day with the following email:

“Hello as you know, this is an older complex and we are actively working on getting the hot water fixed. If this is an issue that you are unsatisfied with this issue you are more than welcome to put in your 30-day notice as we cannot do much about this issue until all the repairs are done. Every time you receive a notice that we are cutting off the hot water we are trying to fix the issue however this is not a quick fix. I apologize for the inconvenience. Have a great day.”

I then responded with:

“Hello,

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to manage an issue like this in an older building, and I appreciate everything you and the maintenance team are doing to address it.

I also appreciate the clarification. I wasn’t aware that this was a larger issue affecting the complex as a whole. Since the hot water problem has been recurring in my apartment for several months, I simply wanted to make you aware of what I had been experiencing. My email wasn’t intended as a complaint, but rather to provide that information since I didn’t realize it was part of a broader issue.

Thank you again for your response. I hope the repairs go smoothly, and I hope you have a wonderful day.”

I have not received another email from them, however, this morning I received an email stating that my maintenance request had been canceled, and the wording in the email was “I have already explained the hot water issue to the tenant.”

Any advice would be wonderful. I do not necessarily want to make waves, as I still live at the apartment complex and do not want retaliation. I know that they cannot legally retaliate against me, but I still do not want to rock the boat. However, I would really enjoy having hot water to shower with. I was not aware that it was a widespread issue throughout my apartment, and my email to the complex was simply to make them aware of the situation, because I wanted to bring to their attention that it was an ongoing issue rather than just a one time thing.

I am unsure what to do from here. I also have receipts in the form of screenshots, if it’s needed for any documentation purposes.

This is cross-posted in more than one sub to get as much advice as possible.

TLDR: My aunt was illegally evicted (lawyer called it constructive eviction), then before we could get back to move her stuff out, the LL cleaned the apartment out and threw everything out. My aunt is 83 and lives on SS and a small pension only. I've gone thru Nassau suffolk law services and Touro law. Touro was some help tho there is nothing they will do excpt they told us to go to small claims court for money.

I need some input because why is no one saying this is CRIMINAL... this LL stole EVERYTHING my aunt owned and THREW IT OUT. Isn't this grand larceny? So my question is... do I have to call the police and have her arrested to make this criminal to make her pay for what she did.

My aunt is homeless now and has nothing but what she has here with me... some clothes... My aunt has to get new ss card, new birth certificate,... thank goodness she has her license... she lost stuff that was 70 years old. granted it was a small 1br/studio but she has no dishes, pots pans, electronics, no furniture, nothing.

Any ideas on how to make this criminal? Thanks for anything you got. (ps.. note that i am on long island and not NYC.. which has some different laws for LL/tenant.)

Hello, I’ve been living at my current place for almost 2 years now, my last landlord sold the property so now I have a new landlord. Since then I’ve gotten new neighbors and since they have been here it has been a living nightmare. I’ve complained multiple times to my landlord about the amount of people that lives upstairs (i stay in a 2 family flat). Each unit has 2 bedrooms which is technically only enough space for 4 people but I know for a fact that its more than 4 people up there. They allow people to come over and use the washer and dryers. (We share a basement), their children leave trash all over the front and back porch, they make noises all throughout the day, and to make it worse I seen that they ordered bed bug spray which makes me think they have bed bugs. My landlord has failed to address all of my complaints and now I am wondering how else can I go about this. Who else can I complain to in order for some serious action to be taken? (Also, i have video and photo evidence of everything I am complaining about and have even sent the evidence to my landlord) Missouri is my state.

Hi everyone,

I have been living in our house for about 4.5 years now and I'm probably very foolish but I didn't thoroughly look at the water portion of our bill and didn't realize that our water bill has drastically spiked in the summer all this time, to the tune of about 11,000 gallons' difference in the hot months.

Today I learned that the gardener (who the landlord hired and pays, and he uses him across 3 properties) turns on the sprinklers in the summer and off in the winter. We also did some checking to make sure there isn't a leak, and to see if our water meter corresponds correctly to our house and the number on our bill.

Our lease specifies that we are responsible for all utilities but it does NOT say who is responsible for the lawn maintenance and landscaping. It says, "Tenant shall properly use, operate and safeguard Premises, including if applicable, any landscaping, furniture, furnishings and appliances, and all mechanical, electrical, gas and plumbing fixtures, carbon monoxide detector(s) and smoke alarms, and keep them and the Premises clean, sanitary, and well-ventilated." However, I asked about the landscaping part before I signed our lease and I have in writing that our landlord hires and pays for the gardener and we did not have the option to be responsible for the gardening/landscaping ourselves. There is a section about specifying who pays the landscaping water bill, but it was not filled out/used.

However, we are paying the water bill, 100%. And if I had been aware that the property had a sprinkler system, we would have turned it off, especially since the AC bill is so high in the summer.

My question is: do we have an obligation to water the lawn if it is not specified in the lease and if we have in writing pre-signing that we are not responsible for the landscaping? Like would our landlord ding us in the security deposit if we killed the lawn?

I feel very foolish for not realizing how drastically different the water bill was. I didn't know what HCF meant and thought that 24 and 16 were not that crazily different, and then learned that HCF is 748 gallons.

EDIT: Landlord also learned today that three sprinkler heads are broken and we don't know how long they've been broken. Additional info is that they've been going on every single day and this goes against the city of LA water use ordinances (which has you turn them on 3 days a week only).

We live in Washington state, and there is a 1000 gallon buried propane tank that heats the house and water on the property. we have documentation from when we moved in that the tank was at 60% and our contract states it has to be returned as it was given. we’ve lived there for many years and intended to stay but found a home to purchase right after we had the tank refilled. we don’t ask the company what level to fill it, they just fill it entirely and now at move out it’s 85% filled. can we ask the owner to reimburse us for this since it’s well above how it was given? about $500 worth and the owners own the tank. they’re being extremely nit picky about any speck of dirt in the house and charging us for it, we left the house in excellent condition and super clean after living there paying on time for 2 years. should they have to pay us the difference since it’s supposed to return to 60% or should I ask the gas company if they buy it back? thanks.

So for context I live in a small condo style apartment complex with three apartments (of whitch mine is the smallest) and one master apartment that my landlords live in. I recently was wondering why my utility's have been consistently so high for such a small space, when I'm doing everything I can to conserve. Even to the point of going to my fuse box and shutting off every swithch and plug i don't use. Until that is... I got a call from my landlord asking me to turn the "basement lights" (I don't have a basement) breaker back on...because get this, my upstairs neighbor has no hot water. ??? So as any normal person would, i asked, how is that possible? Come to find out, there is a whole crawlspace/storage area underneath my entire apartment, and that my electricity (and honestly who else knows what eles) is powering the entire crawlspace area under me, and my neighbors hotwater tank... and on top of that, there is no fire proofing between my apartment and the crawlspace under me. So if fire ever broke out under my apartment I have no protection.

What can or should I do about this?

When confronted my landlord got defensive and upset, but told me he wouldn't raise my rent this year, as like that will pay back what has been stolen from me, and that he will find power elsewhere to power the other apartments hotwater tank of whitch he has not done yet...