Oakland City Council Approves Tenant Protection Ordinance After Increasing Complaints About Landlord Harassment
OAKLAND (KCBS) — Oakland renters will soon have a new list of protections against harassment and evictions as the Oakland City Council night approved a tenant protection ordinance on Tuesday night.
Oakland City Council Approves Tenant Protection Ordinance After Increasing Complaints About Landlord Harassment
Tenant concerns have been on the rise along with escalating rents and City Councilman Dan Kalb said his ordinance will require landlords to do repairs and bans them from threatening to take amenities away or interfering with renter privacy rights.
"The hope is that these kinds of behaviors will be deterred and not happen in the first place," he said.
According to Kalb's ordinance, between 100 and 200 tenants a month are calling Oakland's rent board to complain about their landlord.
Many who spoke at the hearing say they've been intimidated by landlords.
"He has failed to provide basic services. He did not pay PG&E so we were without heat and hot water for a week in the winter," one woman who did not want to use her name, said.
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But critics say the ordinance includes some questionable exemptions for some properties, including those owned by nonprofits.
"Nonprofit rental housing owners will be free to engage in the very harassment otherwise prohibited by the ordinance," said one man representing landlords.
A landlord group said the ordinance will just make it easier for attorneys to sue property owners.
The rent in Oakland has risen about 10 percent since 2010, while rents is more desirable areas like Lake Merritt have increased 53 percent since 2011, according to real estate data.
Kalb said that the relocation of people from San Francisco has created financial incentive to look for ways to vacate apartments, especially those under rent control.
