by Mark Tarses
Gluing a picture of a window on a wall is also not a legal alternative to a bedroom window in California.
In California, an apartment must have an entrance door. It is not legal to rent an apartment in California if the only way in and out of the apartment is through a window, as in the apartment below.
The bathroom below is not a legal 'half bathroom' in California
When developing a bathroom that is below grade, remember that upflush toilets and sewage ejectors are legal in California. You do not have to rely on gravity alone to flush sewage. The people who built the bathrooms below did not know that.
In California, the kitchen in an apartment cannot be the same room as the bathroom.
When advertising a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment in California, remember that the bedroom and the bathroom cannot be the same room.
In California, a bedroom is not just a room with a bed in it. This was advertised as the apartment's '4th bedroom.'
In California, stairs inside an apartment must be free of decorative obstructions and have a handrail.
The cheapest contractors are usually the cheapest because they pay the lowest wages and the quality of their work is poor. This job was done by a cut-rate tile setter.
In California, fire escapes must lead to the ground.
And fire stairwells must lead outside.
Don't create attractive nuisances. Under California law, a landlord can be held liable for creating an attractive nuisance, something that might attract small children onto the premises but that could be dangerous for them.
Do not put carpet in halls or stairs that are likely to lead to falls or injuries.
In California, simply placing a picture of a wheelchair on a door does not make the apartment 'wheelchair accessible.'
In California, simply placing a picture of a wheelchair on stairs does not make the stairs 'wheelchair accessible.'
In California, parking spaces for disabled people cannot have telephone poles, lampposts, or trees in the middle of them.
A wheelchair ramp should have a slope of no more than 4.8 degrees. That is equal to 1 inch of rise to 12 inches of length. A wheelchair ramp that is steeper than that is not compliant with the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) and might be unsafe.
