Is my landlord harassing me?

Read through these. If you answer yes to two or more, this page applies to you.

• Is your landlord doing things they didn’t do before you complained about something?
• Has your landlord entered your home without proper notice, or repeatedly?
• Has your landlord threatened to call the police, immigration, or another agency on you for reasons that don’t make sense?
• Has your landlord shut off your water, gas, or electricity?
• Has your landlord refused to make repairs, or started them and then stopped?
• Is your landlord sending you notices, forms, or letters that feel designed to scare you out?
• Is your landlord pressuring you to sign a buyout or "cash for keys" deal you didn’t ask for?
• Are you being treated differently than other tenants in the same building for reasons that don’t make sense?
• Has your landlord made comments about your race, national origin, family status, disability, immigration status, or other characteristics that aren’t their business?

If two or more of these apply, keep reading.

California Civil Code section 1940.2 makes it illegal for a landlord to:

• Use force, willful threats, or menacing conduct to influence a tenant to vacate.
• Cut off utilities or remove fixtures (locks, windows, doors) to influence a tenant to vacate.
• Prevent the tenant from gaining access to the unit.
• Threaten to disclose immigration or citizenship status to influence a tenant to vacate.

The Los Angeles Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance (TAHO) covers more. Under TAHO, a landlord cannot:

• Knowingly serve false notices.
• Threaten or take action based on a tenant’s race, national origin, immigration status, family status, disability, or other protected characteristics.
• Take action against a tenant in retaliation for asserting any tenant right.
• Make false statements about the unit or building.
• Engage in a pattern of conduct designed to push the tenant out.
• Refuse to perform repairs in a manner designed to force the tenant out.

TAHO has its own penalty structure, including civil penalties paid to the tenant and to the City of LA. Many tenant harassment cases combine state law claims with TAHO claims.

Honest answer: not every miserable landlord situation is harassment under the law. The law doesn’t generally cover:

• A landlord who is rude or unprofessional but isn’t doing any of the specific things above.
• A landlord who legally raises the rent within the legal cap, even if you can’t afford it.
• A landlord who serves a valid notice without retaliation.
• A landlord who refuses to renew a month-to-month lease, if no just-cause ordinance applies.
• A neighbor who is harassing you (unless the landlord is enabling it).

If your situation is uncomfortable but doesn’t fit, you may still have non-harassment claims (rent overcharge, repair obligations, retaliation). Worth a call to find out.

The strongest tenant harassment cases are the ones where the tenant kept records. You can start tonight.

• Save every communication. Texts, emails, voicemails, written notices. Don’t delete anything.
• Keep a log. Date, time, what happened, who was there.
• Photograph evidence. Visible conditions, served notices (with envelope).
• Get witness contact info. Names and phone numbers of neighbors.
• Save medical records if the harassment is affecting your health.
• Save receipts for anything the harassment is costing you.

If your landlord punished you within 180 days of you exercising a tenant right, that’s retaliation under California Civil Code 1942.5. It’s its own claim and it often goes alongside harassment claims.

The 180-day window is presumptive. If a landlord raised your rent, served a notice, or stopped doing repairs within 180 days of you filing a complaint, asking for a repair, or contacting a lawyer, the law presumes that’s retaliation unless the landlord can prove a legitimate reason.

Retaliation claims often strengthen harassment claims because they show pattern and motive. Don’t separate the two in your head.

Call a tenant attorney when:

• You answered yes to two or more questions in the diagnostic above.
• You’ve been documenting for at least a couple of weeks.
• The behavior is escalating, not de-escalating.
• The landlord retaliated against you after a complaint.
• Your safety is at risk. (For immediate physical safety threats, call the police first, then a lawyer.)
• Multiple tenants in your building are experiencing the same behavior.