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My Living Room Is Covered In Lead Paint Dust

My Living Room Is Covered In Lead Paint Dust

My Living Room Is Covered In Lead Paint Dust

I live with two roommates in a flat in a late-1800’s Victorian in the Haight, 3 units total. The flat below us has been under renovation for a couple of months now, and two Tuesdays ago, that work entered our apartment. Without warning, I came home to a 3′ wide floor-to-ceiling slot cut in our wall for a flue for a new heater in the apartment below. Not only was there no warning given, they left our furniture out to be covered in plaster dust, and did not seal the room so our kitchen and halls were covered in plaster dust, too.

The hole is still not closed up (waiting for the building inspector), and it looks like it will be at least three weeks total that the living room is ”non-occupiable space” as defined by the contractor. So far he has agreed to pay for a professional cleaner to come in after all the work is done, but I am concerned that the dust will not come out of our sofa, making it unhealthy to use, and that our health and that of our cats has been put at risk by all the dust (no asbestos but I’ve heard the old plaster is pretty hazardous, and there’s almost certainly lead paint somewhere in the layers).

What is our recourse? I’d like to ask for a rent reduction for the days the living room is off limits, but do I ask for 100% reduction those days? Or a portion of the rent? How do I determine if the upholstered furniture needs to be replaced, and how would I evaluate the cost? I don’t want to unjustly bleed the guy ’cause he’s usually pretty friendly and harmless, but not having any warning and everything been done so poorly is really enraging!

Your landlord is neither friendly or harmless. He acts friendly when he wants to con you to get what he wants or, as in this case, get away with something illegal. He’s certainly not harmless. Just look around your living room and take a deep breath of lead. Your landlord is a cheap Cheese Ball who is trying to get the work done for the least amount of money. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about your health or your belongings.

Buildings built in the late 1800s always contain lead paint. Lead was an additive to paint back then. People simply didn’t understand how harmful lead could be, especially in powder form. Lead is especially harmful to small children and swallowing paint chips or breathing lead dust can cause brain damage. If you have children, GET OUT NOW!

The Environmental Protection Agency has very stringent requirements for renovation projects that could be contaminated with lead. The EPA pamphlet, the Lead Safe Certified Guide to Renovate Right is a must read for tenants. Here’s the section about renovation protocols:

Federal law requires contractors that are hired to perform renovation, repair and painting projects in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 that disturb painted surfaces to be certified and follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination. The work practices the contractor must follow include these three simple procedures, described below:

 

1. Contain the work area. The area must be contained so that dust and debris do not escape from that area. Warning signs must be put up and plastic or other impermeable material and tape must be used as appropriate to:
• Cover the floors and any furniture that cannot be moved.
• Seal off doors and heating and cooling system vents.
• For exterior renovations, cover the ground and, in some instances, erect vertical containment or equivalent extra precautions in containing the work area. These work practices will help prevent dust or debris from getting outside the work area.

 

2. Avoid renovation methods that generate large amounts of lead-contaminated dust. Some methods generate so much lead-contaminated dust that their use is prohibited. They are:
• Open flame burning or torching.
• Sanding, grinding, planing, needle gunning, or blasting with power tools and equipment not equipped with a shroud and HEPA vacuum attachment.
• Using a heat gun at temperatures greater than 1100°F.
There is no way to eliminate dust, but some renovation methods make less dust than others. Contractors may choose to use various methods to minimize dust generation, including using water to mist areas before sanding or scraping; scoring paint before separating components; and prying and pulling apart components instead of breaking them.

 

3. Clean up thoroughly. The work area should be cleaned up daily to keep it as clean as possible. When all the work is done, the area must be cleaned up using special cleaning methods before taking down any plastic that isolates the work area from the rest of the home. The special cleaning methods should include:
• Using a HEPA vacuum to clean up dust and debris on all surfaces, followed by
• Wet wiping and wet mopping with plenty of rinse water.
When the final cleaning is done, look around. There should be no dust, paint chips, or debris in the work area. If you see any dust, paint chips, or debris, the area must be re-cleaned.

The brochure also provides a hotline to report contractors who are not following the protocols. Call EPA’s hotline 1-800-424-LEAD (5323) and report the landlord and the contractor. If the work is not completed, you should also call a Housing Inspector with the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection to issue a violation based upon the habitability of the unit. File a complaint against the contractor with the California State Contractors License Board. I’m not sure how effective this will be but it’s worth a shot.

File a petition for decrease in services at The San Francisco Rent Board. I suggest you ask for a rent deduction of 100% of the rent for the days you were forced to live in what was, essentially, an uninhabitable unit. (Refer back to the EPA brochure.) You should also include any breaches of your quiet enjoyment–noise, fumes, inconvenience, etc.–for the ongoing construction.

How many times do I have to say it? Your landlord is not your friend! Your landlord does not care about you. To your landlord you are livestock. Your complaints fall upon his ears like the lowing of dairy cattle. When you’re no longer productive, that is not paying enough rent, you’re a commodity to be tossed out and rendered into dog food.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
(415) 552-9060

How Do I Get My Landlord To Fix The Elevator?

How Do I Get My Landlord To Fix The Elevator?

How Do I Get My Landlord To Fix The Elevator?

My wife & I have been living in a rent controlled 1 bedroom in a large 5 story apartment building in downtown SF for about 6 years now. It is an old building (I believe it was built in the 1920s) but in fairly good shape, except for the elevator. It is one of those classic ‘otis’ elevators that never seems to work.

In the 6 + years I’ve lived here, the building has changed hands numerous times (from citi apartments, to laramar and now to Prado). Through all these changes of ownership, one thing has remained constant, the lack of attention to tenant needs (the exterior of our windows haven’t been cleaned since before I moved in, etc).

Anyway, needless to say, having an elevator frequently out of order is a huge hassle. Fortunately for us, we are healthy and 30 years old, so climbing 4 flights of stairs isn’t a huge burden. However, there are plenty of senior citizens living in the building and this I’m sure is a serious issue for them.

In the management’s defense, they do have people that come and try to repair the elevator but their ‘band-aid’ repair jobs rarely last more than 2 or 3 weeks. The last time they were here was Friday morning for repairs.

By Friday night, there was an actual fire caused by the elevator motor and a fire extinguisher had to be used to extinguish the fire and hasn’t been working ever since. My estimate is that the elevator is down about 4 or 5 days a month on average for the past several years. Starting this month we are starting to record the exact dates of malfunction.

My main question to you is how do we get our elevator fixed properly, once and for all? And secondly, doesn’t all of this inconvenience entitle us to a decrease in rent?

Unfortunately, I can’t provide an easy solution to this issue because, absent an injunction from the court, the landlords can’t be forced to properly fix the elevator once and for all. Elevators are very expensive to repair and/or replace. Most landlords would rather use a duct tape and bubblegum approach than spend the dough to do the job correctly.

Given your longstanding complaints, I assume that you have informed the owners about the elevator, in writing, many times. If you haven’t done so, begin to write letters to the management company each time the elevator is out of service.

You should also encourage your neighbors, especially those who are most vulnerable, to document their complaints in the same manner.

The next time the elevator breaks, call a Housing Inspector from the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) to issue a notice of violation. You and your neighbors should be prepared to show the inspector any other potential violations–leaking roof and windows; cracks and holes in the walls; peeling paint; security issues; heating issues, etc.

When you have all of your evidence together you can and should file a petition for substantial decreases in housing services at the Rent Board. If you prevail, you will be entitled to a reduction in rent that may remain permanent until the elevator is fixed.

I think that you should call the City Attorney’s office, (415) 554-4700, to alert them about the ongoing issue with the elevator. As you said, this is a serious safety issue, especially for senior citizens trapped on upper floors. Given the past litigation and settlement with CitiApartments, the City Attorney may also be interested to understand that things haven’t changed that dramatically for many of the Lembis’ former tenants.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
(415) 552-9060

How Do I Figure Out The Interest My Landlord Owes Me For My Deposit?

How Do I Figure Out The Interest My Landlord Owes Me For My Deposit?

How Do I Figure Out The Interest My Landlord Owes Me For My Deposit?

I thought this might be a good question for people like me who sublet temporarily in SF for a couple of months to give themselves more time to look for more permanent housing.

I am subletting an apartment in a 5 unit old Victorian in the Mission District of San Francisco for about 3 months from the original tenant who I met off Craigslist.  The tenant was temporarily leaving to take care of an ill family member on the East Coast.  I offered to write up the sublet contract because she was leaving for the East Coast in 5 days and was clearly distraught and still had a lot of things to take care of.

The tenant asked for an initial payment of the rent for the first month and the last month and an additional security deposit of a month’s rent of $1700 (in cashier’s check), plus utilities of about $60 in addition to rental reference and credit check.  She also asked me to include an option in the contract letting her move back in a week earlier and she promised to pay me back the prorated one week’s worth of rent before I vacated the apartment.  She has 30 days to return my security deposit.  She told me some other things to put in the contract about her plants and keeping the place clean and we agreed on the final version over phone and by email before meeting in person.

Before I moved in I asked to meet her landlord but she assured me she already talked to him.  We met the day before she left, went over the contract together and signed it then she gave me her keys.  A month into the sublet I ran into the landlord who was surprised to meet me and asked if I was living in that apartment.  I explained to him that I was subletting for about 3 months and was equally surprised that he didn’t know about it.  He told me the tenant had previously sublet to another people without telling him and he was unhappy about it but that generally she was an okay tenant who had lived there four years.  After some small talk, we exchanged contact information and he told me to let him know if there were any problems or anything that needed to be fixed.

Since that time, the tenant has exhibited more worrisome irrational behavior. 

1.     She called me trying to change the move back date in the contract to a much earlier date (not what we agreed to) and then promised both over the phone and by email to mail me the payment for the week’s rent plus utilities before my move out date in March (it’s been two weeks and I have not received it).  There is a specific provision in the contract saying that she needs to pay me that amount before I vacate.

2.     When we discussed the security deposit she was cagey saying that she would mail it back to me but she needed to hang on to it for the 30 days. Honestly, there is nothing in her apartment repair or otherwise that would be $1700.  I’ve kept everything the way she left it, watered her plants for her, and I don’t use her dishes or cookware because I have my own

3.     When discussing move out the date, she asked me to vacate the apartment and leave the keys in an envelope in her mailbox because she was going to “emotional” coming back to her apartment and wanted to be alone.  I objected saying that I felt more comfortable handing her the keys in person to make sure she received them, also that we should inspect the apartment together before I left so she could point to things that were “broken” she would use the security deposit to fix.  She reluctantly agreed but I have the feeling she wanted to avoid me.

I am worried that she is going to try to keep both my security deposit and also my week’s rent.  What can I do?  Refuse to vacate the apartment until she pays me at least the week’s rent?  Should I ask for a cashier’s check?  Get her landlord involved in this?  If she doesn’t pay me my security deposit what would I be able to do?  Small claims court?

Do I have any rights as a subletter?  What can I do to protect myself at this point?

I feel bad thinking this way but she has given me the impression that she is hanging on to my money because she’s not doing so well financially.  I don’t think she’s working right now.  Of course, I am hoping for the best but in our interactions with each other she has given me a negative impression of her in a short amount of time.  At first, I felt bad for her and thought this arrangement was mutually beneficial but now I feel like she’s trying to take advantage of me. 

Cases like this drive me crazy. It’s not enough that we in the tenant defense business have to deal with unscrupulous and/or uninformed landlords, we have to deal with tenants who decide they own their units and rent them out like landlords.

Master tenants who sublet in this manner rarely obtain the landlord’s consent to sublet. I write thousands of words complaining about landlords who don’t give a rat’s ass about their tenants. It’s always money. money, money, me, me, me.

The master tenant here is no different. She didn’t bother to consider that she could be subjecting you to a costly lawsuit that could ultimately effect your credit rating to the extent that future landlords won’t rent to you, not to mention that this could be a scam. She’s a Bad Master Tenant.

Luckily you’re not presenting the worst case scenario. The landlord could have served a notice to cure or quit alleging illegal subletting. Then the master tenant and you could spend the next couple of months defending an unlawful detainer (eviction) action–a lawsuit that the landlord would likely win. I have to say , your landlord gracefully handled the news that you were the new subletter.

The master tenant is either oblivious to the Rent Ordinance or she is relying on your naiveté. Bad.

To understand the scope of your rights as a subtenant you should first read Rent Board Rules & Regulations §6.15C. The regulation is very specific. Unless the master tenant has informed you in writing, before you sublet, that you are not subject to the just cause eviction provisions of the Rent Ordinance, the only way the master tenant can evict you is by alleging one of the just causes like nonpayment of rent, nuisance, habitual late payment, etc.

Even if you have been informed that you are not subject to “just cause” eviction, the master tenant would have to serve you a 30-day notice to quit.

Essentially, you have obtained most of the rights of a subtenant and you could tell your new “landlord” that you plan to live in the unit forever.

You also have to ask yourself if she’s simply scamming you. Believe me, that’s more common than one might think. Is she charging you more rent than she pays? What’s with the $5,100.00 charge for a temporary sublet? Did she use the dough to finance her trip? Check the Superior Court website to see if she has been sued for this before.

And here’s a thought for you: It’s not usually a good idea to give a stranger you’ve met on Craiglist over $5,000.00 unless the services are performed immediately.

So what do you do?

The landlord won’t want to get involved and he doesn’t have any duty to you anyway. He might get fed up and evict the entire household, but that does you no good.

I think you should simply tell the master tenant that you will move out, if she returns all of the unused rent  including the security deposit. (BTW, Civil Code §1950.5 provides that the landlord must return the deposit in 21 days, not 30.) She needed to hang onto to it for thirty days? Bad.

When you move out, the transaction should be a “cash for keys” exchange. That’s cash or a cashier’s check, not a rubbery gotcha note.

If the master tenant balks, you’ll know she spent your money. As distasteful as this may be, you may have to tell her that she just acquired a new roommate until she pays you.

You can also move out and sue her in small claims court, but the likelihood of ever collecting is small. The master tenant is unemployed and, think about it, her only source of income may be the next sucker she finds on Craiglist.

Why am I so freaking nasty when it comes to master tenants like this? They screw it up for the rest of us. Ironically, whatever the internal justifications master tenants sublet in this manner–ineptitude, desperation or greed–those justifications provide the fodder for landlords to demand the repeal of rent control. Of course, the repeal of rent control would further subject tenants to landlords’ greed, desperation and ineptitude.  Bad, bad, bad.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
(415) 552-9060

A Neighboring Restaurant’s Rats Are Attacking My Apartment

A Neighboring Restaurant’s Rats Are Attacking My Apartment

A Neighboring Restaurant’s Rats Are Attacking My Apartment

I live above a restaurant in a one-bedroom I’ve had for over four years. There are two other residential units in the building. Lots of stuff breaks all the time in my place, and I’m sort of embarrassed to tell you that I’ve just gotten used to it over the years. The people who manage our building “fix” things pretty quickly, but stuff is never fixed for very long.

Anyway…while the constant plumbing leaks and appliance crap-outs are a nuisance, the latest problem is one that is, to me, downright dangerous. It appears we have mice or rats living in our walls (or, at least, traipsing through on a regular basis), and they have chewed through the wires of our doorbell buzzing system (more on that in a minute).

I happened to hear the rats last week, just as I was getting ready for an out-of-town trip for work. There was definite gnawing and scratching so loud from between my bathroom wall and the wall on the outside of the building that I was expecting to see an animal break through my wall at any moment. As soon as I heard it, I thought about our doorbell system, which has been “fixed” three times this year, and is broken again. Hmmm…

The property managers don’t have email, so I called them (I know you like to have everything in writing, and going forward I will do just that, but I was hoping you’d have some tips for me on things I definitely need to say in a forthcoming letter to the managers). They sent out an exterminator who determined that the rats/mice/whatever were coming up from the restaurant that makes up the bottom floor of our building. Our property managers told me they have “no control over commercial space,” and that the best they could do was send a “strongly worded” letter to let the restaurant know that someone would be calling the Health Department (and then they told me I would have to be that “someone”).

When I got home, I did call the Health Department, twice. I have not heard back yet, though it was Thanksgiving week, so maybe Anita (the person who I was supposed to speak with) was away. Anyway… At the same time that this was going on, PG & E pink-tagged my heater, saying it was unsafe due to a valve that was leaking gas, so I got a new heater. This meant contact with an electrician–the same electrician who has determined that, at long last, our doorbell system does not need fixing, but rather complete rewiring. When I asked him if, by chance, the wiring was shot from rodent damage, he replied, “Oh, most definitely. You can see it.”

1. While the rats may be coming from the restaurant, shouldn’t my landlord be doing something to ensure that our building is safe?

2. How can I make sure the Health Dept. responds to my complaint, if this coming week goes by and I still don’t hear back? Should I be making a paper trail for those conversations, too?

3. What are the “must-says” in my first letter to the property managers (besides recapping what has happened on my part–and not happened on theirs–so far)?

4. If nothing gets done once I start a paper trail with our property managers, what can I do?

A last bit of info that may or may not be relevant: The building owner lives in another city; the people I deal with are the property managers, whose office is near my apartment.

You can sign me “Frustrated and Out of Ideas,” ’cause that’s what I am.

Dear Frustrated,

I am frustrated too, frustrated with so-called property managers who refuse to do their job. What? Your property managers don’t manage the entire building? I find that hard to believe. Of course they have control over the commercial space. They should be relaying your complaints to the restaurant, as should you. They should be made understand that the landlord, their client, could eventually be sued. They could also be sued as the landlord’s agents.

Rats and mice are a well known public health problem. The San Francisco Department of Public Health has a special Rodent Abatement Program which is both proactive and complaint based. One can complain to the DPH about a variety of public health issues including rats mice and bedbugs. You have already called them but note that you can email them as well.

You didn’t mention if you contacted the restaurant. I think you should write them a letter as well. You should also look into “reviewing” them on Yelp, Urban Spoon, CitySearch, and any number of internet review sites out there. Remember if the rats made it up to your place there are plenty more in the restaurant downstairs. I frequent many restaurants and I don’t want to have to guess if that thing in my salad is a currant or a turd.

You should also copy all of your correspondence to the owner of the building. He or she may not know the whole story given the sloppy management.

Stay vigilant with DPH and also complain about the restaurant if they refuse to take steps to abate the problem.

Given the condition of the building and the inadequate repairs, you should also call a Housing Inspector at the Department of Building Inspection. Make sure that you are able to show the inspector everything you think may be a problem. If there is evidence of rats or mice, the Housing Inspector will note that too.

Take photographs. If you can trap a rat and snap a photo, there isn’t much more dramatic evidence. See for yourself at my blog post, Every Tenant Has One.

As you develop evidence make sure the managers and the owner get copies. Continue to press them to repair and exterminate. You should also demand that they partially credit your rent for decrease in services.

Finally, if the landlord’s response is inadequate or nil, file a petition for decrease in services at the Rent Board.

As usual, I recommend that you bring all of your documentation to the San Francisco Tenants Union to develop your overall strategy.

Living above a restaurant is never easy. One always runs the risk of rats, cockroaches and other vermin attracted by the food. There’s also noise and ventilation grease and late night activity. I would never live above a restaurant unless the establishment and my apartment were separated by several stories. And the rent would have to be cheap.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
(415) 552-9060

My Landlord Wants To Jack Up My Rent Because I’m Getting A New Roommate

My Landlord Wants To Jack Up My Rent Because I’m Getting A New Roommate

My Landlord Wants To Jack Up My Rent Because I’m Getting A New Roommate

Jack up the rent.

I am a tenant in a two-bedroom apartment. There are two units in the building and it was certainly built before 1979. I do not have a Section 8 lease with the Housing Authority. The unit is not a condominium. I have been renting this apartment for 5 years with my housemate. We are both on the lease. My housemate is moving out and I want to have another friend move in. I told my landlords this and they said that they want to jack up the rent from $1700 to $2250. I don’t think this is allowed under San Francisco ordinance.

The landlord insisted that he could increase the rent. I resisted. Now he thinks I have to move out with my roommate, writing:

Per your Addendum to Residential Agreement dated 07/22/2005, provision 4: ‘All tenants shall move in and out together as one tenancy.’ Therefore, per the agreement signed by you and (name redacted), both of you have to move out and the lease is terminated. Please vacate the property within two weeks. Thank you.

P.S. For your knowledge: I contacted San Francisco Housing Authority and it stated that the Landlord can increase the rent if the new tenant/roommate moves in.

Does my landlord have any justification to evict me?

No, no, no!

Before I go off on your landlord I want to point out to my readers that your opening statements about the facts of your tenancy tell me everything I need to know to answer your question. I can tell that you live in a unit that is subject to both the rent control and just cause provisions of the Rent Ordinance. That means the landlord can only increase the rent as much as allowed under the ordinance and that he must have a “just cause” to evict you. I know that you are an original tenant on the lease. I also know that the landlord is not going to get any information from the Housing Authority other than, “Call the Rent Board.”

To be fair to your landlord, if he called the Rent Board and asked the question, “Can we raise the rent for a new tenant moving in?” without anything else, the Rent Board might tell him that he can raise the rent.

But you are not a new tenant. If the landlord forgot to mention that important fact, he is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Of course sending an email with an illegal notice to vacate isn’t very bright either.

The other possibility is that the landlord thinks he can lie about his call and expect you to rely on his information. All in all, I think it might be fair to characterize your landlord as a stupid liar.

What should you do?

First become familiar with Rent Ordinance Rules & Regulations §6.15A and §6.15B. As you may know the Rent Board provides “Information to Go” on subletting and many other topics.

Follow the applicable rule to the letter. Write the landlord(s) to request permission to sublet to your friend before he or she moves in. Your friend should be willing to provide all the necessary credit information to the landlord(s).

If they fail to respond or they unreasonably withhold their consent, you can petition the Rent Board to reduce your rent by half. In this case it might be wise to provide the landlords copies of the applicable laws and procedures.

It’s best not to allow your friend to move in until the dust settles. You don’t want to defend an unlawful detainer (eviction). Even when you are in the right, defending an eviction is often too costly to justify. Landlords rely on that and file meritless lawsuits all the time.

If your landlord insists upon requiring you to vacate, you should point out that the clause in the addendum (likely penned by the landlord and their imaginary lawyer) is void as against public policy. It’s an attempt by the landlord to arbitrarily remove themselves from Rent Ordinance Jurisdiction. It’s like putting a clause in the lease that allows the landlord to raise the rent whenever he wants, regardless of the law.

Join the San Francisco Tenants Union. Bring all of your documentation and discuss the issue with them. They will explain the applicable law in detail and help you draft a letter or letters to your landlord. They can also inform you about filing a petition at the Rent Board.

Readers: This was an easier question to answer because the reader is an “original tenant” named on the lease. The issues get murky when dealing with unnamed tenants, “co-occupants”and “subsequent occupants” as defined in Rent Board Rules & Regulations §6.14 and the Costa Hawkins Act (which should be repealed.) There are many scenarios when the landlord can, in fact, increase the rent to market rate. This is not such a scenario. The point is: don’t read this and assume that your landlord may not have a valid rationale to increase your rent.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
(415) 552-9060

My Sink Stinks

My Sink Stinks

My Sink Stinks

I live in a very old building (circa 1924) and like many old buildings it has problems. Right now I’m having one where for some reason, my sink is bubbling up water and sludge like a geyser every few hours.

I had a similar problem at a similar vintage building. I called the management company, they had someone on the way within hours, and made sure the problem was fixed (it has to do with the vent system for the pipes.) No problem.

Here, however, the manager on site is taking longer to get this fixed. In the meantime I can’t use my sink to do dishes and the smell is awful. It’s not entirely the manager’s fault – the landlord (who lives far away) does not like to hire good contractors and has to approve big projects (in this case requiring the roofers to unblock the vent they accidentally blocked) thus dragging out what the manager has said is a fairly easy problem to solve.

Question is this: if this keeps up I’ll haven not had the use of my sink or my kitchen for at least a week. Do I have any recourse, financially or otherwise? It seems a bit much when I’m paying over $1000/month for a studio to have to put up with this too.

(and yes, I’ve taken photos, etc. and documented all of this).

Back in Florida, or wherever, your landlord thinks he has done enough. He reroofed the building for christsakes, what else do you want? He’s pissed that he had to spend the money, but he also thinks, “Hey, I’m a hero.” After all, how many landlords ever reroof their buildings? For more on this feel free to read my blog post, “A Cave By Any Other Name.”

This issue is more common than you might think. It happens with new tar and gravel roofs. The vents for the sewer pipes usually rise a couple feet over the roof. Yet somehow, either during the removal of the old roof or the application of the new, tar and gravel gets into the vents and falls to the bottom of the pipe assembly. The drains become clogged in the manner you describe. I don’t understand why this happens. Perhaps one of our roofer readers can help me out.

The stinky sink could become a health issue as well as a breach of the warranty of habitability. You have to get into “making a case” mode. It’s good that you have documentation. You should also begin to communicate your frustration to the manager or owner or both in writing. As I’ve said before, emails will do the trick. Tell the manager that you will be calling a Housing Inspector at the Department of Building Inspection if the problem isn’t solved in a couple of days.

You might consider hiring a plumber to repair the clog and deducting the cost from your rent, but that can get dicey. Civil Code §1942 governs the process, but you must make sure you have ample documentation to prove the landlord unreasonably delayed or refused to repair the problem. The code also provides that you cannot deduct more than one month’s rent. This remedy could come back to bite you because the landlord could try to evict you for nonpayment of rent. You don’t want to be a defendant in an unlawful detainer lawsuit, because, even if you’re right, it will cost an arm and a leg to defend the suit. And I rarely think it’s good idea to try to represent yourself in an eviction.

The better, although slower, approach is to call a Housing Inspector. She will definitely write a Notice of Violation for the problem you describe. Usually that gets the landlord to act because he could be fined by the City if he waits. An NOV also starts the clock for you to consider not paying your rent. Civil Code §1942.4 essentially provides that you can refuse to pay your rent 35 days after the NOV, if the landlord hasn’t done anything to fix the problem.

Join the San Francisco Tenants Union. They can help you evaluate your case and decide upon the best strategy to get the drain unclogged and to recover your damages. Good luck.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
(415) 552-9060

Buyouts

Buyouts

Buyouts

“It’s a game of chicken”—Ted Gullicksen

If you negotiate a buyout with your landlord, you don’t want to be the person plummeting off the cliff. That is why we will help you if you decide to take a buyout.

What are buyouts?

A buyout is simply a negotiated settlement before litigation in which the tenants are paid money to vacate and all of the parties release all of their rights. In rent controlled jurisdictions like San Francisco, landlords often offer tenants money to vacate their unit and waive any future tenants’ rights they have. A landlord who offers a buyout is literally purchasing a tenant’s future rights to the unit.

Landlords offer buyouts to tenants for several reasons.

A couple of years ago when property was hot, developers bought buildings to turn them into TICs with the eventual plan to convert the units to condominiums. A TIC (tenancy-in-common) is a shared ownership of a building. In these cases developers sell shares in a building. Each of the shares includes a right to exclusively occupy a given unit in the building. Often developers used the infamous Ellis Act to clear buildings of tenants. I’ll save the sordid history and diastorous consequences  of the Ellis Act for another post.

Another scenario occurs when an owner wants to move into a given unit in a building. A landlord could be entitled to evict a tenant using the just cause of owner-move-in eviction (OMI).  In San Francisco an owner must jump through several procedural hoops and have the intent to live in the unit as his principal place of residence for three years.

Sometimes landlords are out and out lying about their intentions. They serve Ellis notices and OMI notices as a pretext to evict rent-controlled tenants to simply raise the rents. As you can imagine, there have been many documented abuses of these landlord rights resulting in many wrongful evictions. But unfortunately there are many other tenants who shrug their shoulders and move.

If you are offered a “cash for keys” buyout by a foreclosing bank or a sleazy real estate agent who claims to represent the bank, never take it unless you consult with an attorney or a tenants’ rights group.

Finally there are landlords who offer tenants buyouts just to get them to move to raise rents. Think the notorious CitiApartments and their tactic of tenant harassment with buy-out offers ten times a day. You should almost never consider a buy-out when you are offered one by a big landlord you know can’t even come up with a pretext to evict you.

When can you expect a buyout?

Usually buyout offers come with changes in ownership. A new landlord purchases the building or the greedy children inherit the building from your nice old landlord who immediately made repairs when you requested them and who brought you cookies at Christmas. If there are no changed circumstances in ownership a buy-out offer can indicate a landlord’s future intent to sell the building.

Most legitimate buy-outs are offered to tenants in buildings with six units or less in San Francisco because condominium conversion is prohibited in buildings with more than six units.

Get as much information as you can about the landlord.

Like almost all other decisions you will make regarding your tenancy, this is a business decision. Gather as much information as you can. Talk to other tenants in the building to see if they have been approached by the landlord. Has the landlord evicted tenants like this before?

In one case we represented a long-term tenant with an OMI threat from the landlord. He did excellent research and found that the landlord had served an OMI notice to another tenant in another building a year previously. Clearly the threat to our client was bogus because the landlord couldn’t live in two places at the same time.

So take some time to find out what other properties the landlord owns. Property ownership is a public record available through the Assessor-Recorder’s office. Does the landlord claim he wants to move into your one-bedroom, when in fact, he lives in a mansion in Forest Hills? You want to know this before you negotiate.

Eviction notices are also filed with the San Francisco Rent Board. Sometimes you can determine a landlord’s true motives by understanding his past eviction pattern.

Think it through and do the math.

Remember, if a landlord tells you he’s thinking of moving in or removing all the tenants in the building using the Ellis Act, in San Francisco, you will be entitled to relocation payments pursuant to Rent Ordinance §37.9C—as of this writing, approximately $5,000 per tenant up to three tenants, $3,300 for each disabled or elderly tenant and $3,300 for families with minor children. Check the linked chart. Notice that Ellis payments and qualifications are slightly different. That’s your bottom line. If the landlord offers less, he’s a Cheese Ball, too cheap to hire a lawyer and too stupid to read the law.

Next, think about the additional rent you will be paying if you move. You should factor that in, especially if you think the landlord might be offering you a buyout because the eviction threat is a pretext.

Finally think about how much time you will need to find another place to live and remember the more time you request the less money you will be offered.

Citistop, the tenants’ organization that played a huge role in the demise of CitiApartments, has some very good advice about buyouts from the perspective of tenants whose landlord never had a basis to evict them.

Tenant buyouts, especially those designed to empty units for TICs, deplete rent controlled housing stock. Yet, in some cases, notably Ellis Act eviction threats or quasi-credible OMI eviction threats, a tenant may not have any defenses to a future eviction if they stay and fight it out.

For some tenants, a buyout may be preferable to suing for wrongful eviction in the future, especially if the landlord’s rationale to evict may be sound. I believe it is extremely important to develop a strategy that considers all of your options and all of the pitfalls before you negotiate a buyout.