Abuse of the Ellis Act

Clients of mine received an eviction notice under the Ellis Act, which stated that the landlords were moving into their home. Sometime later, their home was listed on Airbnb for almost $10,000 per month. Another client, who had lived in his apartment for over 20 years, was also evicted under the Ellis Act. It looks like his home will be posted on Airbnb as a rental as well.

Do you live in a neighborhood that would attract tourists? Then it’s possible that the same may happen to you. The Ellis Act was created to help landlords get out of the rental business,  but abuses are mounting as landlords try to grab more money through listing their properties as vacation rentals.

The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project has developed a map showing the proliferation of vacation rentals in San Francisco in January of this year. It’s worth looking at, if only for the shock value. The map shows red dots thick like as flies, representing both entire apartments and rooms for rent. You can expand the map to look more closely at your neighborhood.  Moving your mouse over the dots, you’ll get a sense of how many entire apartments are available for vacation rentals. It’s likely these had long-term tenants who have been evicted.

Have you received an eviction notice citing the Ellis Act but suspect you are being evicted for a vacation rental? You should consider talking to an experienced tenant attorney. Learn about your tenant’s rights.