A mixed bag of news to report in Alameda County
Would you like the good news or the bad news first? Let’s start with the downer and lift your spirits later on.
With Oakland District 6 Council Member Kevin Jenkins abstaining, the rest of his colleagues passed still greater tenant protections. We go over them now.
No rent paid? No problem.
Tenants need not be current on rent to file or respond to a petition with the Rent Adjustment Program (RAP). On the other hand, there will be hell to pay for delinquent landlords who are not in good graces with the city by either not having filed for a business license, not having paid the city’s business tax and RAP fees, or not having registered their rental units.
Is there a decrease in housing services? Landlords may get socked with a huge bill up to three years later in the form of a mandatory rent rebate.
As it stands now, tenants can only get money for the past three months of lost services but now, they will be able to recoup up to 36 months of lost services, whether the housing provider is aware of a grievance or not. '
The current standard is that the “owner knew or should have known about the decrease in housing service.” Yet what if the property owner is kept in the dark? They may get a surprise when a disgruntled tenant goes after them 3 years down the road.
Is there a decrease in housing services? Landlords may get socked with a huge bill three years later in the form of a rent rebate.
As it stands now, tenants can only get money for the past three months of lost services but now, they will be able to recoup up to 36 months of lost services, whether the housing provider is aware of a grievance or not. The current standard is that the “owner knew or should have known about the decrease in housing service.” Yet what if the property owner is kept in the dark? They may get a surprise when a disgruntled tenant goes after them 3 years down the road.
The buzzer sounds after 6 minutes.
When the Oakland’s Rent Board hands down a decision, the appellant is now muzzled after six minutes of making their case. One reason articulated for this new rule is that, frequently, issues that were brought up in the initial hearing are then rearticulated or relitigated on appeal, and this is unnecessary because Board members already have all of the facts at hand and it’s redundant on appeal to go through all of the facts. Instead, an appeal should be reserved for, well, appealable matters.
We’re not so concerned with this change. With landlord-tenant disputes so emotionally charged, parties are prone to go on a rant and squander the time of everyone. If there is some sort of issue that needs to be reviewed, the appellant or their attorney should be able to articulate it in six minutes, and pare it down to the essential points.
The Rent Board has made it clear that despite the six minutes allotted to make their introductory argument, both parties will have ample time to respond to clarifying questions and so there will be more “air time” if need be. Certainly, the attorneys at Bornstein Law are frequent attendees on the rent board circuit throughout the Bay Area, and will dispassionately make a compelling case within six minutes.
Tenants, relax. No need to show up to articulate your arguments if there is an appeal to the Oakland Rent Board. Just cross it off your calendar.
It’s been said that everyone deserves their day in court, but Oakland tenants who have a dispute with their landlord don't have to bother with it. They get a free pass to skip the hearing.
If a landlord doesn't show up, they likely will lose the case, but a tenant's absence is excusable.
Another measure passed that extended the amortization period for mandatory seismic retrofits to 25 years from 20 years, but let’s not get lost in the weeds and move on to some good news for a change.
We have Barry Manilow’s Copacabana in our head. San FrTenants, relax. No need to show up to articulate your arguments if there is an appeal to the Oakland Rent Board. Just cross it off your calendar.
It’s been said that everyone deserves their day in court, but Oakland tenants who have a dispute with their landlord don't have to bother with it. They get a free pass to skip the hearing.
If a landlord doesn't show up, they likely will lose the case, but a tenant's absence is excusable.
Another measure passed that extended the amortization period for mandatory seismic retrofits to 25 years from 20 years, but let’s not get lost in the weeds and move on to some good news for a change.
We have Barry Manilow’s Copacabana in our head. San Francisco was a pioneer in enacting the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) and in a game of follow the follower, other Bay Area locales proposed TOPA and OPA.ancisco was a pioneer in enacting the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) and in a game of follow the follower, other Bay Area locales proposed TOPA and OPA.
While Bornstein Law is dedicated to educating the rental housing community on an ever-changing regulatory regime, we do not work on an island and thank our industry partners for their advocacy. Our friend Chris Moore, a housing provider and volunteer board member of the East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA), celebrated the growing resistance to these programs.
“East Palo Alto property owners, rental housing providers, and numerous renters expressed relief as the city joined Richmond, San Jose, and Berkeley in voting against the OPA Opportunity To Purchase ordinance. This decision was driven by concerns that the ordinance primarily benefits special interest not-for-profits, which, as observed in Berkeley in September 2023, have a track record of filing a larger number of eviction notices compared to private owners.”
East Palo Alto was somewhat of an aberration because traditionally, the second reading of legislation is just a formality. More often than not, when lawmakers get together and give the first nod to pass legislation, it sails through the full City Council. But our industry partners and the East Palo Alto community were able to tip the balance.
We’ll have to put an asterisk on Berkeley. One thing we can say about militant tenant activists is that they are a resilient bunch and won’t take no for an answer. Although Berkeley City Council has put calls for TOPA on ice for the time being, it is likely to return to the City Council chambers in February, according to Krista Gulbransen, who heads the Berkeley Property Owners Association.
It should be noted that Berkeley City Council has considered and voted down TOPA in four prior efforts. Rather than listening to their constituents, politicians are more concerned with appeasing special interests.
What about unincorporated areas of Alameda County?
Thus far, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors has resisted calls for increased tenant protections, with good –reason: there is an abundance of guardrails already in place with AB 1482. Unsuccessful efforts have been made to overhaul the law, but except for a few tweaks relating to substantial rehabilitation, it remains intact.
Yet tenant activist groups like My Eden Voice wield enormous influence in shaping the political future of lawmakers.
Previously, we recounted a stunt pulled off by tenant activists who came to the table with landlord groups in a meeting moderated by Supervisor Nate Miley. The purpose of the meetup, ostensibly, was to address the concerns of both camps and reach a compromise on the legislative agenda moving forward.
Rather than meeting in good faith and hearing out what rental housing providers had to say, tenant advocates made demands, walked out, and then held a press conference with the extraordinary claim that landlord groups – and not the tenant advocates – were unwilling to compromise.
There is a flicker of hope that tenant groups are willing to negotiate, with there being talk about requiring mediation between landlords and tenants when there is conflict. This may be a nice middle ground, in our view. Rather than installing a new set of unnecessary, duplicative, and onerous regulations, housing providers and residents might be compelled to sit down and air out differences to a neutral party.
There’s also some chatter about the county finding money to give to distressed landlords who are owed a mountain of COVID-related rent debt. By Supervisor David Haubert’s estimate, there is upwards of $600 million in rent arrears, and others put the number north of that. Whatever the amount of rent debt owed, rest assured that whatever relief funds can be squeezed out will only be a drop in the bucket. If a million bucks can be scraped up somewhere, Alameda County is at least $599 million short.
Yet tenant activist groups like My Eden Voice wield enormous influence in shaping the political future of lawmakers.
In an earlier article, we recounted a stunt pulled off by tenant activists who came to the table with landlord groups in a meeting moderated by Supervisor Nate Miley. The purpose of the meetup, ostensibly, was to address the concerns of both camps and reach a compromise on the legislative agenda moving forward.
Rather than meeting in good faith and hearing out what rental housing providers had to say, tenant advocates made demands, walked out, and then held a press conference with the extraordinary claim that landlord groups were unwilling to compromise.
There is a flicker of hope that tenant groups are willing to negotiate, with talks about required mediation between landlords and tenants when there is conflict. This may be a nice middle ground, in our view. Rather than installing a new set of unnecessary, duplicative, and onerous regulations, compel housing providers and residents to sit down and air out differences with a neutral party.
There’s also some chatter about the county finding money to give to distressed landlords owed a mountain of COVID-related rent debt. By Supervisor David Haubert’s estimate, there is upwards of $600 Million in rent arrears and others put the number north of that. Whatever the amount of rent debt owed, rest assured that whatever relief funds can be ferreted out will only be a drop in the bucket. If a million bucks can be scraped up somewhere, Alameda County is at least $599 Million short.
Finally, there is informed speculation that after years of soul searching, rent and eviction controls will be coming to Concord. Palo Alto, meanwhile, has saddled landlords with a new rent registry requirement. These rent registries haven’t gone out of style and Palo Alto is the latest locale to be fashionable.
That’s our Reader’s Digest version of what’s going on in the East Bay. Bornstein Law is committed to keeping our eye on the big picture while it skillfully manages the details of landlord-tenant relationships in your units.