Saturday, July 29, 2017
The Ultimate Liability for Negligent Master Tenant - Manslaughter
"Ghost Ship warehouse master tenant Derick Almena was arraigned Thursday on 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the fire that killed 36 people in Oakland’s Fruitvale district last December." Click here for full article published in the San Francisco Examiner.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Tenants Together Asks for Your Help
Tenants Together, a state-wide organization backed by leading non-profit organizations such as the National Housing Law Project, asks for your help to defeat a state-wide bill proposed by the California Apartment Association as described below:
The bill would raise the threshold for certain local ballot measures relating to real estate development. Under AB 943, a ballot measure that “would reduce density or stop development or construction,” would require a supermajority to pass – 55% of the vote – instead of the usual majority. Imagine the CAA filing lawsuits to argue that rent control should take 55% of the vote to pass at the ballot, pursuing frivolous cases against cities who agree...that rent control does not affect new construction.
AB 943 is so vague that, if passed, the CAA will use it to undermine pretty much any ballot measure it doesn't like, including inclusionary housing laws, rent control laws, and others that CAA regularly argues somehow deter development. The bill offers no guidance on what kind of ballot measures are covered, so local city attorneys would need to decide on a case-by-case basis, which ballot measures suddenly require 55% of the vote to pass.
AB 943 is a power grab by the real estate industry. The proposal is unnecessary, unfair and anti-democratic. The CAA simply seeks to change the rules to make sure the industry wins more often in local ballot fights. Urge your representatives to vote no on AB 943."
AB 943 is so vague that, if passed, the CAA will use it to undermine pretty much any ballot measure it doesn't like, including inclusionary housing laws, rent control laws, and others that CAA regularly argues somehow deter development. The bill offers no guidance on what kind of ballot measures are covered, so local city attorneys would need to decide on a case-by-case basis, which ballot measures suddenly require 55% of the vote to pass.
AB 943 is a power grab by the real estate industry. The proposal is unnecessary, unfair and anti-democratic. The CAA simply seeks to change the rules to make sure the industry wins more often in local ballot fights. Urge your representatives to vote no on AB 943."
Click here to send an e-mail to your representatives through Tenants Together.
Friday, July 21, 2017
Notorious Kenyan Landlord Fined $24 Million for Unlawful Evictions and Tenant Harassment - San Francisco
An excerpt of this article by Hoodline published on 5/3/2017 follows:
"In a statement, Judge Angela Bradstreet made a tentative ruling against landlord Anne Kihagi and her associates, accusing her of harassment, service reductions and unlawful and fraudulent evictions. The court also found more than 1,250 violations of California’s unfair competition law."
"San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s office sued Kihagi in June 2015. 'You can’t come to this city and lie, cheat and steal your way to massive wealth on the backs of residents,' he was quoted as saying. 'We’re not going to allow it.'"
"The judge’s decision voids Kihagi’s pending evictions—including a number of elderly residents who were in the process of being evicted from their residences on Guerrero Street—and prevents the landlord from communicating with any past, present or future tenants."
"She’ll instead have to hire an independent, city-approved property manager. Kihagi has also been ordered to pay the city $2.4 million for expenses associated with its cases against her."
Thursday, July 13, 2017
EASY BAY EXPRESS "Oakland Looks to Close Owner Move-In and Occupancy Loopholes, Reduce Evictions and Harmful Rent Increases"
An excerpt of the article follows:
"A key committee of the Oakland City Council approved the first step in drafting stronger protections against bogus owner move-in evictions today.
The Community and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously in favor of Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan's request to have the city's rent board study the problem and come up with solutions that will better protect renters.
According to tenants and tenant attorneys, there has been an uptick in the number of fraudulent owner move-in evictions in Oakland in the past half year, and some landlords have also pretended to live in small apartment buildings (under three units) to gain exemption from rent control and just cause eviction protections. This allows them to get rid of tenants they don't like and increase rents by any amount.
Councilmember Kaplan said at today's hearing that her office has received numerous complaints of fraudulent owner move-in evictions in recent months.
"I'm thrilled we are able to move forward on this important and growing problem of potentially false over occupancy evictions," said Kaplan after the hearing."
"WHEREAS, Oakland's Just Cause Ordinance (O.M.C. 8.22.300) exempts buildings with two or three units from just-cause protections if a property owner lives in one of the units_ as a, primary residence; and
"A key committee of the Oakland City Council approved the first step in drafting stronger protections against bogus owner move-in evictions today.
The Community and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously in favor of Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan's request to have the city's rent board study the problem and come up with solutions that will better protect renters.
According to tenants and tenant attorneys, there has been an uptick in the number of fraudulent owner move-in evictions in Oakland in the past half year, and some landlords have also pretended to live in small apartment buildings (under three units) to gain exemption from rent control and just cause eviction protections. This allows them to get rid of tenants they don't like and increase rents by any amount.
Councilmember Kaplan said at today's hearing that her office has received numerous complaints of fraudulent owner move-in evictions in recent months.
"I'm thrilled we are able to move forward on this important and growing problem of potentially false over occupancy evictions," said Kaplan after the hearing."
An excerpt of Ms. Kaplan's Resolution, which passed unanimously by the Oakland City Council, follows:
WHEREAS, this means that renters in buildings with two or three units risk no-fault eviction,
should an owner move into one of the units; and
should an owner move into one of the units; and
WHEREAS, this exemption has the benefit of helping mom and pop landlords, who live in
buildings with two or three units, but is susceptible to abuse; and
buildings with two or three units, but is susceptible to abuse; and
WHEREAS, false owner-move ins and owner-occupied exemptions are increasing in the City of Oakland as a tactic to push out existing tenants and raise rents; and
WHEREAS, such false owner-move ins and owner-occupied exemptions is exacerbating
Oakland's severe housing supply and affordability crisis, and threatens the public health, safety and/or welfare of our residents;
Oakland's severe housing supply and affordability crisis, and threatens the public health, safety and/or welfare of our residents;
RESOLVED: That the Oakland City Council requests the Housing Residential Rent and
Relocation Board to consider regulations to have property owners who [own and occupy] duplexes and triplexes to confirm owner-occupancy status through a certificate of exemption or other administrative process for exemption from the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance. . ."
My thoughts? Kudos to Kaplan for helping to close this loop!
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Reflecting on Master Tenants
It is on my solitary sojourns that I often do my best thinking. Today, I hiked in Tennessee Valley where cotton-tailed rabbits darted in and out of the grasses and the trails were adorned with native flowers. Today, I reflected upon a recent question from a landlord about why the “master tenant” is called a landlord.
I once rented from a master tenant in Berkeley. I leased a room and shared the common areas of the upper level of a house. My housemate was a highly intelligent woman from Bosnia, a single mother with a young child and a hot temper.
For nearly one year that I called Berkeley home, Mr. Master Tenant (MMT) was living in Italy. In fact, I never met him. I was asked to write out my monthly rent check to MMT while my housemate deposited our checks into MMT’s bank account and the rent was somehow timely paid to the property owner. In effect, MMT was my landlord since all my rent checks were made out to him.
As I became acquainted with the property manager, I learned more about MMT and the landlord's two attempts to evict him. The litigation spanned over eight years and culminated in a landmark decision in MMT’s favor in the California Court of Appeals.
Similar to Berkeley, San Francisco has a rent control and just cause municipal ordinance overlaid with additional rules and regulations, both of which must be read together to understand the housing rights afforded San Franciscan renters.
In San Francisco, the definitions of landlord, rental unit, and tenant are clearly set out in the municipal code in sections 37.2 h, r and t. A good definition of “master tenant” is provided by the San Francisco Housing Rights Committee which describes a master tenant as a “tenant who moved into the premises under a written or oral contract with the landlord or who inherited the apartment after the original master tenant left. S/he collects the rent from the subtenants and pays it to the landlord. [S/he] is also responsible for informing the landlord of repair and other issues.” San Francisco Rules & Regulations Sec. 6.15C describes a master tenant as "a landlord who is not an owner of record of the property and who resides in the same rental unit with his or her tenant (a 'Master Tenant.')"
Master Tenants sometimes take advantage of their subtenants as in the infamous case of German Maldonado who was not only a master tenant but a property manager for the landlord. Maldonado took $41,000 in rent payments from tenants and subtenants and failed to pay the rent to the landlord. His actions eventually resulted in the evictions of all the tenants residing in a building on 26th Street in San Francisco and a $780,000 judgment against Maldonado from a class-action lawsuit filed against him by some of the evicted tenants.
Concerning my own experience in Berkeley, I learned that the landlord spent over $100,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs in his two attempts to evict MMT. After losing his case at the appellate level, the landlord resigned himself to leaving MMT alone even while MMT was not actually living in his “castle,” a castle that he had won for life with all the benefits of Berkeley rent control and just cause eviction ordinance.
For nearly one year that I called Berkeley home, Mr. Master Tenant (MMT) was living in Italy. In fact, I never met him. I was asked to write out my monthly rent check to MMT while my housemate deposited our checks into MMT’s bank account and the rent was somehow timely paid to the property owner. In effect, MMT was my landlord since all my rent checks were made out to him.
As I became acquainted with the property manager, I learned more about MMT and the landlord's two attempts to evict him. The litigation spanned over eight years and culminated in a landmark decision in MMT’s favor in the California Court of Appeals.
Similar to Berkeley, San Francisco has a rent control and just cause municipal ordinance overlaid with additional rules and regulations, both of which must be read together to understand the housing rights afforded San Franciscan renters.
In San Francisco, the definitions of landlord, rental unit, and tenant are clearly set out in the municipal code in sections 37.2 h, r and t. A good definition of “master tenant” is provided by the San Francisco Housing Rights Committee which describes a master tenant as a “tenant who moved into the premises under a written or oral contract with the landlord or who inherited the apartment after the original master tenant left. S/he collects the rent from the subtenants and pays it to the landlord. [S/he] is also responsible for informing the landlord of repair and other issues.” San Francisco Rules & Regulations Sec. 6.15C describes a master tenant as "a landlord who is not an owner of record of the property and who resides in the same rental unit with his or her tenant (a 'Master Tenant.')"
Master Tenants sometimes take advantage of their subtenants as in the infamous case of German Maldonado who was not only a master tenant but a property manager for the landlord. Maldonado took $41,000 in rent payments from tenants and subtenants and failed to pay the rent to the landlord. His actions eventually resulted in the evictions of all the tenants residing in a building on 26th Street in San Francisco and a $780,000 judgment against Maldonado from a class-action lawsuit filed against him by some of the evicted tenants.
Concerning my own experience in Berkeley, I learned that the landlord spent over $100,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs in his two attempts to evict MMT. After losing his case at the appellate level, the landlord resigned himself to leaving MMT alone even while MMT was not actually living in his “castle,” a castle that he had won for life with all the benefits of Berkeley rent control and just cause eviction ordinance.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Sunday, July 2, 2017
What is the Maximum Amount that a Landlord Can Charge for a Security Deposit in California?
The maximum amount is two-times the monthly rent if the rental residence is unfurnished and three months rent if the residence is furnished.
For more details, check out this article from NOLO press.
For more details, check out this article from NOLO press.
Rent Control Registration Fees can be Passed Through to Tenants
OAKLAND
"Each year property owners are required to pay a fee, currently $68, for each rental unit they own that is covered by the Rent Adjustment Ordinance or the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance (Measure EE). If the fee is paid on time, property owners are entitled to collect 1/2 of the fee ($34) from the tenant(s) of the rental unit for which the fee is paid."
BERKELEY
In Berkeley, the registration fee is $270 per year and $11.00 per month can be passed-through to tenants whose tenancy began before January 1, 1999. Reimbursement for this pass-through fee may be available for low-income tenants. Read more about it here.
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