Real Estate Law Blog
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Don’t Be Fooled into an Eviction
You get a letter from your landlord in the mail or find one stuck to your door. With a sick stomach, you read that it’s a notice to terminate your tenancy. It looks official.
The letter my clients recently received from their landlord was just like that. It even said, “Landlord’s Notice to Terminate Tenancy,” in a very official-like manner at the top. My clients thought it was good.
The Ugly Side of Short-Term Rentals
A few of my clients rent all or part of their homes through short-term rental companies like Airbnb. They say it’s a good way to supplement their income, especially if they live in desirable neighborhoods like the Mission, Haight, or South of Market.
As I have written in previous blogs, as a tenant, you need to read your lease to ensure you can use your home as a short-term rental. Otherwise, you are opening up the possibility of an eviction.
Fighting to Block Rent Jumping to $8,000/mo
Neil Hutchinson is my client. His landlord increased his rent from $1,800 to $8,000 per month. That’s a rent increase of more than 400%. In all my years as an attorney fighting for tenants, I have never seen such a steep rent hike.
Neil lives in an apartment in North Beach, on the corner of Columbus and Scotland streets. His building is famous for being in Clint Eastwood’s 1988 movie “The Dead Pool.” When his landlord tried to raise his rent from $1,800 to $8,000 per month, his apartment became famous for another reason.
Eviction, Short-term Rentals, and You
Nuisance, Notices, and Eviction
“Don’t make me homeless again.”
That’s a heartbreaking plea from a client who said it to me when we were talking about the best way to fight her eviction. This fear, which could happen, keeps me fighting for my clients. Some clients have few options if they are evicted.
What’s an Eviction, Really?
Many of my clients are confused about what an eviction really is. They have received unofficial notices, “casual” chats, and many other such attempts by landlords to get them to move. These type of maneuvers aren’t evictions.
I don’t want you or any tenant to be fooled by attempts to get you to move out of your home without proper notification.
What You Need to Know about Fires in the Mission District
It seems like a lot of fires are happening in the Mission District. Some of these tenants will face the equivalent of an eviction. If this happens to you, what are your rights?
I’ve handled a number of cases involving fire, and I’ve seen the devastating effect it has when your apartment goes up in flames. So I’ve been watching the fire issue in the Mission District.
How to Provide Affordable Housing?
Evictions are a hot topic among tenants. And rightly so. The fear is that once you get evicted, you won’t be able to find another affordable home in the Bay Area.
I wrote in my last blog about the City of Oakland’s effort to answer the question about how to provide housing. Oakland’s city leaders considered the question (but ultimately did not pass) a proposal to ban no-cause evictions for 90-days.
San Francisco Evictions by the Numbers
As most tenants know, it’s been a tough year to be a tenant in San Francisco. The news covering landlord/tenant evictions has been extensive. We have heard stories after stories in the media of tenants suffering hardship.
Now the annual statistics from the San Francisco Rent Board are out. The numbers support these hardship stories. The numbers show that it’s still bad.
That’s no surprise.
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Mary Catherine Wiederhold
Real Estate Attorney
1458 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 533-0735
(415) 843-0496Our offices are conveniently accessible to public transportation.
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