What this site is,
and what it isn't.

The longer version follows. By using this site you agree to the terms below. If something is unclear, the firm would rather you ask than guess. Contact information is at the bottom.

Everything on this site (the Know Your Rights library, the city guides, the FAQ, the blog, every section heading) is general information about California landlord-tenant law and the laws that apply in Los Angeles. It is not legal advice for your situation. It is not a substitute for talking to a lawyer who knows your facts.

Two cases that look the same on the surface often turn on a small detail (the date on a notice, the specific language in a lease rider, what your landlord said in writing the day after the rent was raised). The law treats those details as load- bearing. The site cannot.

Using this site does not create an attorney-client relationship. Reading the pages does not create one. Submitting the contact form does not create one. Calling the firm to ask whether we can help does not create one. Sending an email to the address published on the site does not create one.

An attorney-client relationship is formed only when:

1. The firm has run a conflict-of-interest check and cleared it.
2. The firm has agreed in writing to represent you on a defined matter.
3. You have signed the firm's engagement letter.

Until all three of those have happened, treat the firm as a potential lawyer, not your lawyer. The reason this matters is the next section.

The protections of attorney-client privilege and the lawyer's duty of confidentiality kick in once a representation begins. Before that, information you send to the firm through the website, by email, or by voicemail may not be protected in the same way. Two specific risks worth understanding:

• Conflicts. If the firm already represents (or has represented) a person whose interests are opposed to yours, the firm cannot represent you and may have to set aside what you sent. We try to catch this up front, but a small amount of information may pass through our intake before the conflict check completes.
• Privilege. Information shared before an engagement is signed may not enjoy the full protection that information shared after the signing does. That is a doctrine of California evidence law, not a firm policy.

The practical version: keep the first message short. Say who you are, where you live, the name of your landlord, and one or two sentences about what is happening. Save the detailed documents, the names of other people, and the sensitive context for after you have an engagement letter, or for the phone call where the firm can walk you through the safer way to share them.

Do not include another person's confidential information (a co-tenant's medical history, a child's school records, a neighbor's statement they have not authorized you to share) in your first message.

The site is published from California, by a California law firm, about California law. Most of the material focuses on Los Angeles County. The firm is licensed to practice law in California only.

You may use the site if you are at least eighteen years old (or a parent or guardian using it on behalf of a household that includes minors), if you are using it for personal, non- commercial purposes related to a housing situation, and if you agree to these terms.

The site is not directed at people outside California. If you access it from another state or country, you do so on your own initiative, and the firm makes no representation that the information on the site is appropriate or available outside California.

When using the site, you agree not to:

• Submit information you know to be false in the contact form or any intake field.
• Send the firm content that infringes another person's intellectual property or violates another person's privacy.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the site, its server, or any database connected to it.
• Interfere with the operation of the site, probe it for vulnerabilities without written permission, or use it to distribute malware.
• Scrape, copy, or republish the substantive content of the site (the guides, the FAQs, the city pages) without the firm's written permission. A reasonable amount of quotation with attribution is fine.
• Use the site or any communication channel offered on it to harass, threaten, or intimidate any person, including firm staff.

The text, photographs, illustrations, design, code, and arrangement of the site are owned by the firm or licensed to the firm by their creators. The firm's name, the “Tenant Protection Group” wordmark, and the typographic treatments associated with them are the firm's.

You may read the site, print pages for your personal use, and share a link to any page with anyone you like. You may quote short passages with attribution back to the page you took them from.

You may not republish a substantial portion of any page on another website, in a publication, or as part of a commercial product without the firm's written permission. References to specific California statutes and court decisions on the site are quoted from public sources and are not the firm's property.

If you believe content on the site infringes a copyright you hold, contact the firm using the information at the bottom of this page. The firm reviews infringement claims and removes material when the law requires.

The site links to government pages (city housing departments, the State Bar, court self-help portals), tenant rights organizations, and statutes hosted on third-party platforms. Those links are provided because the underlying material is useful, not because the firm endorses everything else those organizations publish.

The firm does not control third-party sites. Their content changes. Their terms and privacy practices are their own. If you submit information to a third party through a link from this site, you are dealing with that third party directly.

The site is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. The firm makes reasonable efforts to keep the site accurate and current, and the firm cannot guarantee that every statute reference, every deadline, every dollar figure, or every city ordinance citation is up to date at the moment you read it. Laws change. City programs change. The firm rewrites pages when it learns something has shifted.

To the fullest extent permitted by California law, the firm disclaims all warranties of any kind related to the site, whether express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement.

Past results described on the site (case outcomes, recoveries, settlements) are specific to the facts of those matters and do not predict the outcome of any other case. Every situation is different. Nothing on the site is a promise about what would happen with yours.

To the fullest extent permitted by California law, the firm, its attorneys, and its staff are not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising from your use of, or inability to use, this site, even if the firm has been advised that those damages were possible.

Where California law does not permit a full disclaimer of liability, the firm's total liability arising from your use of the site is limited to one hundred dollars. This limitation does not apply to attorney conduct in the course of representing a client, which is governed by the engagement letter and by the California Rules of Professional Conduct.

You agree to indemnify and hold the firm harmless from any claim that arises out of (a) your violation of these terms, (b) your misuse of the site, or (c) content you submit to the site that infringes the rights of a third party. This applies to reasonable attorneys' fees and costs that the firm incurs in connection with such a claim.

These terms are governed by the law of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these terms or your use of the site will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California. You and the firm each consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

If any provision of these terms is held to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in effect, and the unenforceable provision is treated as modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable.

The firm updates these terms when the law changes or when the way the site operates changes. The “updated” date at the top of the page reflects the most recent revision. If a change materially affects your rights, the firm will say so on the home page for a reasonable period.

Your continued use of the site after the “updated” date means you accept the revised terms. If you do not accept them, stop using the site.