The go-to survival guide for California tenants California tenants have many rights, especially those lucky enough to be in a community with rent control. But knowing and enforcing these rights can be difficult. Fortunately, California Tenants' Rights, the leading tenant guide for more than 45 years, provides all the information and key forms tenants need to: find a good apartment in a competitive market learn whether you can be turned down because you have kids, are a student, or have too many roommates understand the rules regarding service and support animals deal with a problem roommate or noisy neighbor stop landlord intrusions of privacy get your landlord to make repairs or deal with mold or bedbugs fight illegal discrimination, harassment, or retaliation break a lease with minimal liability respond to a late rent or termination notice get as much of your deposit back as possible, and fight an eviction, with line-by-line instructions on completing required forms. The 21st edition includes updated information on state eviction rules and forms, local rent control ordinances, and tenant rights to sublet on Airbnb.

Author Biography

Nolo's Executive Editor, Janet Portman oversees editorial work on all Nolo books, articles, and websites. She specializes in residential and commercial landlord/tenant law, legal issues related to courts, and criminal law. She is the author or a coauthor of Every Landlord's Legal Guide, Every Landlord's Guide to Finding Great Tenants, First-Time Landlord: Your Guide to Renting Out a Single-Family Home, Every Tenant's Legal Guide, Renters' Rights, Leases & Rental Agreements, The California Landlord's Law Book: Rights and Responsibilities, and California Tenants' Rights. Portman received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University and a law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. Before joining Nolo in 1994, she practiced law as a public defender. Attorney J. Scott Weaver has been a San Francisco tenant and housing activist for over 40 years. He's spent the last 30 years exclusively representing San Francisco Bay Area tenants. Scott has litigated several hundred tenant cases involving eviction, wrongful eviction, and habitability issues (including mold, asbestos, and bedbugs), and has brought tenant class action lawsuits. He has taught landlord tenant law at various legal education seminars.