If you are unable to pay rent during the State of Emergency because of COVID-19, you cannot be evicted in the future for failure to pay that rent. In Oakland, a debate is heating up about how pandemic protections against eviction should come to a close. Tenants will not owe back rent for what went unpaid in the time since the eviction moratorium first took effect in March 2020, as long as they can demonstrate financial losses due to COVID. pass a law that says otherwise. The proposal, introduced by Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and Council Member Dan Kalb, who is running for state Senate, is an amended version of a proposal they introduced in March. Am I a despicable, horrible corporate being? A limited Bay Area eviction ban remains in place, but for how long? Under state law, if your landlord files an eviction lawsuit against you, even if the lawsuit is not for a legally valid reason, you still have to respond in order to protect your rights. I applaud the leadership of Council President Bas and Councilmember Kalb. You should also collect and keep Bans evictions for nearly any reason during Oaklands State of Emergency. Currently, Oakland landlords are prohibited from evicting tenants overCOVID-related rent debt per an eviction moratorium passed in March 2020 to protect people from losing their homes if they couldnt pay rent due to job losses or other economic hardship spurred by the pandemic. Latest California Snow Survey Shows Plenty of Snow Still in the Sierra Nevada, How to Watch Warriors vs. Lakers Game 1 Second-Round Playoff Series, 25-Year-Old Makes $200/Hour Without a Bachelor's Degree: I Work Less Than 6 Hours a Day', San Jose Police Arrest 3 Suspects in Robberies Targeting AAPI Community, Aerosmith Farewell Tour: Band to Play 2 Bay Area Shows. if you can show that you couldnt pay because of the COVID-19 crisis, you can win that lawsuit. After an eight-hour meeting, the Oakland City Council voted 7-1 at midnight Wednesday to approve a proposal that ends the moratorium on July 15 and also adopts new tenant protections. You could use pay stubs, a Oakland will consider winding down over the next year an eviction . Official Website for the City of Oakland | Mayor Sheng Thao. ICYMI: Oakland City Council votes 7-1 on end-date for eviction moratorium. Your landlord cannot charge late fees for that rent. late fees, as well. If none of those are an option for you, you could have a friend or coworker testify in court. "We hope that the CED committee will do the right thing Tuesday when it comes to Oakland tenants, but we have reason to believe that it may not happen.". document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. In recent weeks, political drama around the eviction ban engulfed Councilmember Carroll Fife, who at a previous meeting rebuked several landlords for suggesting they had effectively become slaves to their tenants because of the moratorium. This allows people to get evicted for not covering 75% of their floors with carpets I had that in my lease, said William Wilcox, an Oakland resident who works in affordable-housing services. Beelers order is in response to a court hearing in late September, where lawyers for the landlord group sought summary judgment, asking the judge to declare the moratoriums unconstitutional without having to proceed to trial. If youre thinking of altering your workout routine, youre probably looking for new exercises and equipment to help you reach your fitness goals. The exception to this requirement is ground-up new construction units that received a Certificate of Occupancy within the past 10 years, on a rolling basis. The hearing was a significant step in a lawsuit filed by a group of rental property owners against the city and county in March, arguing that the pandemic eviction bans constitute an illegal "taking . "Before they ask any further owners to take on this responsibility, there has to be funding, because were all going to be homeless if the banks get our property,said Oakland resident and landlord Michelle Hailey. Watch "evictions protest Oakland landlords moratorium", a video on CBSNews.com. When City Council ends the Oakland COVID-19 State of Emergency. The moratorium applies to all tenants in the City of Oakland who are covered by Oaklands Just Cause forEviction Ordinance. This mean all tenants, unless one of the following applies to you : Your donation makes this and all our other local reporting possible. Los Angeles County's What Types of Evictions Does the Moratorium Cover? letter from your current or former employer, a letter from your childs school, or medical records. After outcry by landlords, City Council president announces discussion next month. Oakland and Alameda County had the authority under state law to pass local eviction moratorium ordinances that went further than California's statewide tenant protections, she said. If your landlord files an eviction lawsuit against you, even if you are protected by the Moratorium, you still have to respond in order to preserve your rights. Meanwhile, Alameda County's eviction moratorium is set to expire at the end of April. This mean all tenants, unless one of the following applies to you. Landlords spoke about renters who refused to pay rent and said they were struggling to pay property taxes. Earlier in the day, Alameda County awarded a new grant to the nonprofit Centro Legal de la Raza, which primarily offers legal services including assistance with housing disputes to undocumented residents. It also prohibits charging late fees associated with the back rent. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. A landlord could sue for the rent in other forums for example, in small claims court. 629, Legal Assistance for Seniors (510) 832-3040, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach (510) 251-2846, Causa Justa Just Cause Tenant Hotline: (510) TENANTS (836-2687) (general advice for tenants inEnglish & Spanish); (510) 763-5877 (main number, tenant organizing), Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (510) 269-4692 (tenant organizing), Oakland Tenants Union (510) 704-5276 (tenant counseling). Natalies reporting has also appeared in The J Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle and elsewhere, and shes written about public policy for a number of research institutes and think tanks. Sign up for The Oaklandsides free daily newsletter. Oakland to Consider Phasing Out Eviction Moratorium The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented spike in unemployment and other economic disruptions that threatened to cause thousands of people to become homeless. How long has it been since May started off this cold in Bay Area? The Oakland Moratorium is currently one of the only real moratoriums on evictions in the state of California. 1) If you are being evicted under the Ellis Act (removing the whole property from the rental market for The Oakland Moratorium was authored by Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas and co-authored by Councilmember Dan Kalb and Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker. We amplify community voices, share the power of real information, and investigate systems, not just symptoms. In order to evict a tenant for breach of lease, the landlord must prove that the breach of lease is based on a term that the tenant accepted in writing, Tenant cannot be evicted for owing less than 1 month of HUD fair market rent, Conform occupancy limitations to State Law, Eric Adams - Policy Analyst + Community Partnerships Manager, City Council Approves New Permanent Tenant Protections & End Date for COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium, legislation to sunset the COVID-19 eviction moratorium. Evictions are not allowed in almost all cases, with some exemptions for direct safety threats posed by tenants, or if the landlord wants to take the building off the rental market. Community Economic Justice Clinic Services, EBCLCs Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), Consumer Justice & General Clinic Services, Education Defense & Justice for Youth Services, Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects. OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) Already a city with robust renter protections, Oakland extended an eviction moratorium until July to prevent thousands of people being evicted and banned rent hikes until July 2024. Oakland City Council Approves July 15 End to COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium Many property owners said they resented how tenants have painted them as money-hungry villains. Alameda County's eviction moratorium has come to an end, leaving tens of thousands of renters to pay rent for the first time in three years. Big shift in weather is headed to California. Those who still need help with rent will be directed to the citys rental assistance program, which council members on Tuesday said has not been fully utilized. Official Website for the City of Oakland | Mayor Sheng Thao, OAKLAND, CA Late last night, Oakland City Council passed legislation to sunset the COVID-19 eviction moratorium in a responsible manner, as well as add new permanent tenant protections. Edwards said he sympathizes with the financial burden small landlords have faced during the pandemic. Ive always been pro-tenant, and I find myself in this weird position, Kirk said. Photo by Anders Holm-Jensen on Unsplash. East Bay Community Law Center - (510) 548-4040, ext. The five-county region saw more than 6,300 eviction filings between July 2021 and June 2022, a spike that started when many eviction bans started to expire in September 2021. The last three years of the pandemic have been unprecedented. The current eviction moratorium will continue until July 14, 2023 and end on July 15, 2023. Oakland COVID-19 Evictions Moratorium FAQ. Will you support us today? Bas and Kalb have been working on the legislation for months. Legal Assistance for Seniors - (510) 832-3040. (View legislation here and presentation here. After July 1, 2024, only the 3% cap will continue. Property owners hold signs stating how much they are owed in rent at a rally held by in front of Oakland City Hall. If your tenancy is covered by Oaklands rent How can We Limit Rent Increases For Everyone? Moms 4 Housing plans to do the same. Some local moratoria remained, but many of those have expired or are expiring soon. Oakland COVID-19 Evictions Moratorium FAQ This moratorium disallows those types of increases. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your support is powering our newsroom! At 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, April 29, Alameda County's eviction moratorium expired. The order does not extend the time for any tenant to pay rent or make them more likely to win an eviction case. He said he received a foreclosure letter for his property on Friday. Bay Area Legal Aid (510) 250-5257 Did Governor Newsom Pass an Eviction Moratorium in California? Whether or not you pay rent right now is a personal matter that depends on what choices and resources you and your family have available to you. The City Council voted to approve the ordinance in the late night hours, setting a hard end date instead of a gradual phase out that would have ended the pandemic-era eviction moratorium in September. The Oakland Moratorium is currently the only real moratorium on evictions in the state of California. Did Governor Newsom Pass an Eviction Moratorium in California? The Oakland Moratorium is currently the only real moratorium on evictions in the state of California. It passed Council by a unanimous vote. An earlier proposal by Bas and Councilmember Dan Kalb had sought to phase out the moratorium gradually beginning in September, and it would have forced landlords to prove that their lease-violating tenants caused substantial actual damage.. The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented spike in unemployment and other economic disruptions that threatened to cause thousands of people to become homeless. lawsuit filed by a group of rental property owners, Eviction attempts plummeted during the pandemic in Oakland, No evictions in Oakland, Alameda County until after COVID-19 emergency, Can you get evicted in Oakland? And landlords cant remove a tenant who owes less than a month of whats considered fair rent for an equivalent unit on the market. You are not legally required to notify your landlord that COVID-19 impacts your ability to pay. | Eastmont Mall's history | OUSD union negotiations | We're now publishing free obituaries. you and your family have available to you. Files an eviction lawsuit against you using an eviction notice that expires during the State of Emergency. In any of the above cases, if your landlord then files an eviction lawsuit against you, you still need to take "I still havent gotten five dollars from her, Williams said of his tenant, who he added has not paid him rent since the start of the pandemic. Landlords in Oakland had expressed their opposition to the proposal, instead calling for an immediate end to the moratorium. the Oakland Moratorium. Oakland, like other cities in the region, is under pressure to end someCOVID-era protections. Two council members, Janani Ramachandran and Kevin Jenkins, had previously said adding that language would duplicate existing laws. Some property owners accuse tenants of taking advantage of the policy, and are asking for reimbursement. Prevents evictions of tenants who failed to pay rent during the State of Emergency due to financial difficulties from COVID-19. also prohibits charging late fees associated with the back rent.