Where harassment meets retaliation
No. California law protects tenants from retaliation for exercising their rights, and harassing or trying to evict you because you complained is illegal.
Civil Code Section 1942.5 protects tenants who do things like report habitability problems, contact code enforcement, or otherwise assert their legal rights. If a landlord responds with harassment, a rent increase, reduced services, or an eviction attempt shortly after you exercised a protected right, the law may treat it as retaliation. In certain situations there is even a legal presumption that punishment following soon after a protected complaint was retaliatory.
Harassment and retaliation often go hand in hand — a landlord angry about a complaint may start intimidating the tenant to push them out. Both are unlawful.
Keep records of your complaints and the dates of any harassment or adverse actions that followed, since the timing can be important evidence. You have the right to assert your rights without being punished for it. If you believe your landlord is harassing or retaliating against you for complaining, a free, confidential review can explain your rights and options.
This is general information about California tenant rights, not legal advice. Every situation is different.