Landlord responsibilities for major repairs.

By incagirl

Sorry, this is a long story with a bunch of legal questions.  I live in a rent controled area in Los Angeles.  The apt. is 100 years old and several months ago I complained that the wood floors in my hallway were splintering and dangerous (yes, in writing).  Management company sent someone in and they basically just added some nails.  One month later, sure enough, I ended up with some big splinters in my foot that eventually became so infected I have had to see a podiatrist.  My medical insurance will cover most of this, but not all. 

At first the landlord was only going to replace the hallway floor, even though it wouldn’t be the same height as the rest of the apt.  But, once they pulled up the boards, they realized the subfloor needs repair and the rest of the floors in the apartment are in horrible condition (due to previous neglect by landlord and termite damage).  They are now waiting for another bid on replacing all floors (the hallway is still torn up, covered with heavy paper and tape). 

Here are my questions.
1).  Does the management company/landlord have to cover any of my medical bills?
2). Am I entitled to reduced rent while my apartment is torn up (based on the square footage that is torn up?)
3). If the floors are replaced room by room, who has to move all the furniture?  Me or landlord’s company? 
4). The floor repair man did basic clean up after tearing up the hallway, but there is a fine layer of dust all over my entire apartment.  Who is responsible for cleaning that up?
5). If the landlord decides to replace the floors with carpet because it’s cheaper, how does this effect my damage deposit?  I have a dog and specifically rented an apt. with hardwood floors because they are easy to keep clean.  If the entire apt. is now covered in carpet, it will be impossible to keep them pristine with a dog (even a small one).
6). At what point can I request alternate accomodations while the repairs are being done?  And does the landlord have to reimburse me for boarding my dog during that period?

I probably need to talk to an attorney, but I don’t want to file any complaints or anything, I just want to know the answers to my questions.  If the landlord/management company follows all the laws, that’s fine, I just want to make sure they don’t take advantage of me (I’m a pushover…sigh…  and had racoons living in the ceiling and walls for over 6 months despite repeated requests to have them removed.  Eventually I had to file a complaint, but I don’t like to do that).

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