Content Library

WHAT DOES THE MEASURE DO? Empowers tenants to buy their own homes at a substantial discount. Protects tenants from uncontrolled TIC conversions and Ellis Act evictions Provides new revenues to the City for maintaining and expanding its affordable housing programs. Restores balance to our City: ... Continue Reading

Pieri v. City and County of San Francisco: Round Two for the SF Tenants' Union At various times in these pages we have speculated whether Berkeley's laws regarding owner move-ins and Ellis Act evictions would be upheld by the courts. The issue, you may remember, is that state law guarantees an... Continue Reading

By David M. Wilson This article is provided for your education and is not intended as legal advice. Consult an attorney for legal advice about your specific needs. This is the first of a series of articles designed to provide a quick and dirty summary of the laws of California and Berkeley that... Continue Reading

[President's Message, September 2005] Rent control in Berkeley is a rapidly turning into a relic. With each passing day and each new vacancy, a smaller and smaller number of apartments are subject to the strictest form of control. New construction is everywhere, and not a single unit is... Continue Reading

We regularly receive panicked phone calls at the BPOA office, from landlords who are at the receiving end of a tenant’s threat to “repair and deduct.” Many tenants, it seems, believe they possess a unilateral right to “fix” problems that may or may not really exist,... Continue Reading

By James Kilpatrick of Kilpatrick & Company A common question among owners of buildings heavily burdened by rent control is how much the law affects their ability to sell at a reasonable price. There is no question that a building burdened by many substantially below market rents generally... Continue Reading

Once upon a time, …there was a building, rented by a landlord to an artist who lived on the premises and occupied himself with paints, acrylics, metal sculptures and the like. One night, the tenant locked himself out. Looking for a way to get in through an open window, he climbed on top of... Continue Reading

The Rent Board recently told readers of the Berkeley Voice that a landlord whose long-time tenant was at death’s door would continue to be bound by the existing rent ceiling following the tenant’s demise. Why? The Landlord, prior to 1999, had allowed the man’s son to move in as a... Continue Reading

BY: DAVID M. WILSON Elsewhere in this issue, Jim Smith tells the story of Claire Morrison, an elderly homeowner who returned from the hospital only to find her house occupied by tenants that had been invited in by assumedly well-meaning relatives. Though her case would seem airtight, Claire died... Continue Reading

Over the past few months, this series has summarized California landlord tenant law through the lens of Berkeley’s idiosyncratic laws and regulations. We have covered the following subjects: Lease Agreements Security Deposits Permissible Rents Eviction Procedures All of the above are... Continue Reading

During the past few months we have summarized landlord/tenant law in Berkeley and in California as it relates to (a) lease agreements, (b) security deposits, and (c) permissible rents. We now turn to eviction procedures, an inevitability that nearly every landlord must face. As is the case with... Continue Reading

By David M. Wilson Prior to the 1970s, California law generally treated landlord/tenant agreements like other contracts. The lease or rental agreement (which could be oral or written) established initial and subsequent rents, which could be payable on a monthly, quarterly or most any other basis.... Continue Reading