I just moved into an apartment on Broadway Street in downtown Los Angeles. My apartment has a small refrigerator and microwave included. The...

Question

I just moved into an apartment on Broadway Street in downtown Los Angeles. My apartment has a small refrigerator and microwave included. The landlord pays the utilities. I plugged in my new single-cup, 1300 watt coffeemaker the next morning after moving in and the circuit breaker tripped, the power going out. I went downstairs to the lobby (I'm on the 3rd floor) and told the guy on duty and he came upstairs and reset it, telling me to unplug anything else plugged in and try it again. I went back to my apartment, unplugged everything except for the coffee maker, the fridge and the microwave and tried it again. Again the circuit breaker tripped and the power went out, so I went back downstairs and told him again.

The second time, obviously annoyed, he reset the circuit breaker and told me to unplug EVERYTHING, even the microwave and the fridge, and try again. I did and again the circuit breaker tripped. This time, since I'd seen where he went to go reset the circuit breaker and to avoid bothering him again, I reset the circuit breaker. Then I kept everything unplugged and tried using a different outlet for my coffee maker, but again the circuit breaker tripped. I tried every outlet in the apartment, with everything else unplugged, but still it tripped. So finally I sought out an outlet in the hallway outside of my apartment, plugged my coffee maker into the outlet in the outdoors hallway, and finally it worked.

Every morning now, I have to take my coffee maker out into the hallway to make my coffee. Then I began to notice that sometimes when I'd use the microwave, it would trip the circuit breaker also. I faxed a letter to my landlord asking him to please put in a new circuit breaker or at least a stronger one, explaining that I was planning on purchasing a T.V., and a desktop computer and I was worried the current circuit breaker wouldn't be able to handle it. I waited over three weeks and heard no response from the landlord, so I went to his office one Saturday and asked him if he'd received my fax...

"I don't have a fax machine," he replied, saying he hadn't had a fax machine for well over twenty years, even though a fax number is present on the lease. So I told him the problem and he said he would get to it by Monday.

Monday came and went, so I brought in the copy of the fax and gave it to a front desk monitor to give to the landlord. It has now been a week since he's been notifed in writing and still nothing. I am diabetic and after I take my Aspart Insulin, need to eat within five minutes, but when I try the microwave and all it does is trips the circuit breaker, I end up having to run out onto the street and find a place in which to eat quickly.

Do I have any legal recourse here? What do / can I do? I don't want to have to move again, but will if I have to, but it's expensive!

Answer

Contact the health department and the local rent control board and report the problem. One or both of them might help.