[California] No hot water in showers

[Hank Sun]

Hi all, 

I'm currently a tenant in an apartment in Los Angeles, California. About a month ago we stopped receiving hot water in our showers. I called our landlord the third day of the issue, probably about the first day of February if not end of January. Initially our landlord (or representative from the real estate organization our building is owned by) was responsive and told us that she would send out a maintenance repair which didn't arrive until I followed up with her a little less than a week later about an update. The plumber replaced a screw or two in the hot water tank and told us that because out unit was far from the heater that may be the issue. Unfortunately the issue was not fixed and the landlord has stopped replying to all forms of communication. I was wondering what my options would be? My roommate and I are very reasonable renters, we always pay our rent fully on time, we take very good care of the unit in terms of cleaning. We have also been really patient and polite to our landlord in all forms of communication, but the issue still arises that we have no hot water. We served our landlord with an official written notice  a few days ago (with no response). Can we have our own plumber come and deduct the services from next month's rent legally? I really don't want to find our stuff on the street the next day because of that. I have notified the landlord that we plan on doing that if there's continued inaction on their part but no luck. Thanks for your time all

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by @Hank Sun:

. . . About a month ago we stopped receiving hot water in our showers. . . .

If the hot water was OK before and suddenly "went cold" a month ago, something changed a month ago. The distance between you and the water heater didn't change. Either the hot water heater is on the verge of failing or someone turned down the temperature at which the gas or electricity kicks in to reheat the water. Tampering with the thermostat might be grounds for eviction (it is in the rental agreements I've signed), so this would be a risky proposition.

If the thermostat was turned down, it's possible the landlord representative knows nothing about it. A "good Samaritan" maintenance person may have done it to reduce energy consumption and didn't realize the tenants would be so severely affected. Large organizations often work this way -- the left and right hands don't know what the other one is doing.

If a technical solution won't fix the problem (such as letting the hot water run for a few minutes), Plan B is working with the landlord to get the issue resolved and Plan C is finding another place to live. If the landlord is not being responsive (and I'm not good with people skills and negotiating, so I don't know what I would do), then I'd quietly work on my Plan C and solve the problem by finding a new address elsewhere.