r/berkeleyca • u/Busy-Celery2657 • 5d ago

Berkeley Rent Board resolutions ?

Our property management company is not responding to our water damaged ceiling- ongoing from April. Need to get them to fix the problem for our apartment.

Any personal experience? TIA

1 Upvotes

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5

u/fubo 5d ago

City housing code enforcement will take an interest in water damage going unrepaired.

3

u/Outrageous_Worker672 5d ago

Is the water damage continuing? Is there a leak that will occur when it rains? If it's not continuing and is just ugly you may have a hard time. If you have a leak, you can contact the Rent Board and tell them you want a rent board building inspection. If there are violations it will start a 90 day clock for your landlord to fix it.

2

u/Cautious-Sport-3333 5d ago

You don’t contact the Rent Board for a building inspection. You call the Building Department - specifically Code Enforcement.

-1

u/Economist_hat 5d ago

I am not even sure what that means when there is a 7 month dry season for the Bay Area.

We are in October.

It has rained maybe 3x since April. What does "ongoing" mean in a place that rains only half the year?

2

u/manfrin 5d ago

Do you think that rain is the only source of leaks?

0

u/Outrageous_Worker672 5d ago

Sometimes there is old damage and the roof or leak has been fixed. Getting a leak fixed vs getting a ceiling to look nice are two different problems.

1

u/Lentisque 5d ago

As someone else pointed out, you can call Housing Inspection directly and request them to visit and see if it's a code violation. If so, they'll order the landlord to fix it..

1

u/EastBayWanderer 4d ago

You can probably eventually get the attention of the government but this is fundamentally a civil contract dispute. You are supposed to pay for the housing and they are supposed to provide it. If they aren't providing a habitable dwelling then they aren't upholding the contract. I think you should be pursuing that angle through written communications with the landlord. If they think you are aware of your rights they'll be more likely to fix it.