Tenants and landlords both have rights and obligations.
When a landlord-tenant relationship goes bad, there are a handful of ways that a tenant can make the best of the situation. One of those is to report the landlord so that appropriate government agencies and future tenants will know about the bad experiences. There are several formal and informal ways to make complaints about landlords in Sacramento, including the Better Business Bureau, the Fair Housing Commission, and websites that allow users to review apartments.
Instructions
1. Your lease contains the details of the landlord's obligations.
Confirm your rights and the landlord's rights. Before making any reports, a tenant should double-check the landlord's rights and obligations. Not every landlord-tenant dispute is evidence that that landlord is breaking the law or the terms of the lease. Start with the California Department of Consumer Affairs, and their book summarizing landlord and tenant relationships which is available on their website and in the references below. Although the Tenant Book is a good general publication, you also need to review the exact terms in your lease before filing a report.
2. Make informal reports on the landlord. The least formal way to report on a bad landlord situation is to write a review of your experiences on a website. Both Yelp.com and ApartmentRatings.com allow tenants to rate their experiences with landlords by assigning a number of stars and writing comments. Telling future tenants about your experiences could be one of the most effective ways of getting the word out on bad landlords.
3. Report to the Better Business Bureau of Northeast California. If your landlord is a business, and not an individual, you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Many of the property management companies in Sacramento are members of the BBB, and they rely on a good reputation to continue attracting owners and tenants. The advantage to filing a complaint with the BBB is that the Bureau will follow-up with the landlord to get their response to a complaint. The BBB keeps complaints on their website, along with their evaluation of whether the complaint was resolved. However, there is no guarantee that this report will resolve your dispute.
4. Make a report to the Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission of Sacramento. In some limited circumstances, you can report a landlord to the Fair Housing Commission of Sacramento. This agency only takes reports of housing discrimination. If a tenant believes that a landlord discriminated on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, disability, or source of income, the tenant can report that allegation to the Fair Housing Commission. They will investigate and try to resolve the problem.
5. The Code Enforcement division will respond to reports of blight or unsafe conditions.
Report unhealthy or dangerous buildings to the Sacramento Code Enforcement Office. The city's community development department has a division that takes reports of blighted, unsafe, unhealthy, or abandoned properties. In addition, the city's residential rental properties are subject to inspection. Tenants can file a complaint through the website listed below, or can call "311" (916-264-5011 if calling from outside the city) any time of day to file a complaint.
