1
1 California. According to the agreement, the Carters were to begin their tenancy at the property
2 on August 1, 2012, with rent set at $1,640 per month. The Carters paid a $2,000 deposit, moved
3 in, and began paying rent. According to the Carters, they were asked to and did perform repairs
4 on the house and were promised that they would be reimbursed for these repairs.
5 On November 20, 2012, the Carters requested in writing reimbursement for work they
6 had performed on the house and further requested that reimbursement take the form of
7 deductions from rent. On November 27, 2012, the Carters complained in writing about the
8 condition of the property, again requested reimbursement for the cost of repairs they had made,
9 and indicated their intention to withhold rent to cover those costs.
10 On December 3, 2012, an official from the City of Sunnyvale Department of Public
11 Safety conducted an inspection of the property at the Carters‟ request and issued a code
12 enforcement letter to Boyd as the property owner. The letter cited two code violations—dry rot
13 and water damage from a bathroom-sink leak and a damaged shower/tub. It demanded repair of
14 these conditions and set a compliance date of December 17, 2012. On December 6, 2012, the
15 same official from the City of Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety wrote another letter to
16 Boyd, this one confirming a telephone conversation with him in which the compliance date was
17 extended to December 31, 2012.
18 On December 12, 2012, Boyd served the Carters with both a 30-day notice to quit, by
19 which Boyd attempted to terminate the tenancy, and a three-day notice to pay rent or quit, as
20 they had apparently withheld some portion of the December 2012 rent consistently with their
21 previously stated intention to do so as reimbursement for repairs. The Carters apparently paid
22 this portion of the withheld December rent Boyd after receiving the three-day notice. In early
23 January 2013, they then paid by check the full month‟s rent due under the lease for that
24 month—$1,640—in spite of having been served the previous month with the 30-day notice that
25 would, if valid, have ended their tenancy in the middle of January. Boyd did not cash this
26 check. Instead, on January 4, 2013, he “served” the Carters with another three-day notice to pay
27 rent or quit, this time demanding that they pay not the full month‟s rent, which they had already
28 tendered by check, but $765.38, representing rent for the period of January 1 to 14, 2013,