Housing Discrimination Claims Under California law, landlords, master tenants, realtors and property managers are prohibited from discriminating against tenants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, age, medical condition, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, source of income or disability. Gov’t Code § 12927(a) and Civil Code § […] Read More
Landlord Sexual Harassment Under California law, a tenant can recover against a landlord for sexual harassment under the Fair Employment and Housing Act or the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Brown v. Smith, 55 Cal. App. 4th 767 (1997) and Civil Code § 51 et seq. Unruh Civil Rights Act To prove a claim for sexual harassment […] Read More
Researching Your Landlord — Proving Bad Faith in an Owner Move-In Eviction or Capital Improvements Eviction (OMI is also sometimes referred to as relative move-in, OMI, LMI, or landlord move-in eviction) The best way to fight an Owner Move-In Eviction is to find out everything you can about the owner and the owner’s relatives, if […] Read More
Eviction Protection in San Francisco If your apartment building was built before 1979 and has two or more units, then you are covered by the San Francisco Rent Ordinance. The Rent Ordinance gives two protections: rent protection and eviction protection. Under the eviction protection portion of the Rent Ordinance, the landlord can only evict for […] Read More
Certificate of Occupancy Even though a unit does not have a certificate of occupancy, it is still covered under local rent control. The landlord cannot increase the rent more than the allowable amount, and the tenant cannot be evicted without good cause. Demolition Under most local rent ordinances, a landlord can evict tenants to demolish […] Read More