If your landlord is threatening to move into your Oakland apartment or threatening to move in a relative into your Oakland apartment, here is a step-by-step guide on how to fight back!
1. Determine if your Oakland building has just-cause eviction protections.
Your building is covered by the Oakland Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance if it has a certificate of occupancy before December 31, 1995. If your unit is illegal, such as a warehouse or an in-law unit, you likely have eviction protection. To determine for sure whether you are covered by the Oakland Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance, please call one of our Oakland tenant lawyers today at 510-250-5635.
2. Make sure your Oakland landlord owns 33% of the building.
A landlord can only do an owner-move-in eviction or do a relative-move-in eviction if the landlord owns 33% of your building. To find out whether your landlord owns 33% of your building, please call one of our Oakland tenant lawyers today at 510-250-5635.
3. Review the owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction notice for errors in violation of the Oakland Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance.
The landlord must provide a proper sixty-day notice to do an owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction in Oakland. In addition to a statement that the owner or relative intends to move in, the eviction notice must also contain the following: (1) a list of all property owned by the owner or relative, not just in Oakland but anywhere; (2) a list of any property for which the owner or relative takes a homeowner’s property tax exemption; (3) the lawful rent on the date of the notice; (4) a statement that the tenant has the right to relocation payments and the amount of those relocation payments; and (5) a statement that advice regarding the notice is available from the Oakland Rent Board. If your owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction notice does not contain all these required elements, it is an illegal notice. To have your owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction notice reviewed for errors, please call one of our Oakland tenant lawyers today at 510-250-5635.
4. Make sure the relative-move-in eviction lists a qualified relative.
Only certain relatives can be moved in under the Oakland Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance. Make sure the relative-move-in eviction notice lists one of the following: the owner’s spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, or grandparent.
5. Determine if you can prevent an owner-move-in eviction or relative-move-in eviction in Oakland due to age, disability or illness.
An Oakland landlord cannot do an owner-move-in eviction or relative-move-in eviction on a unit where at least one tenant has been residing in the unit for at least five years and is (1) over sixty years old, (2) has a disability as defined by the Fair Employment and Housing Act, or (3) is catastrophically ill.
The Fair Employment and Housing Act definition of disability is quite broad. A tenant is disabled under the Fair Employment and Housing Act if they have any health issue that would affect a major life activity absent treatment or other mitigating measures.
6. Demand the minimum mandatory relocation payment for an Oakland owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction.
A landlord performing an owner-move-in or relative move-in eviction in Oakland must pay the following moving allowance for tenants who have resided in their unit for more than two years:
- $6,500 for studios and one-bedroom apartments
- $8,000.00 for two-bedroom apartments
- $9,875 for units with three or more bedrooms
A one-time payment of $2,500 must also be paid to any household with at least one elderly, disabled, or catastrophically ill tenant.
Half of the relocation payment is due when the tenants agree to vacate and the other half is due at move out. If the tenant intends to contest the eviction notice through the unlawful detainer process, then the full amount is owed once the landlord prevails in the eviction lawsuit. Accepting the relocation payments does not waive your rights to sue a landlord for wrongful eviction in the event the landlord or landlord’s relative does not move in within three months or fails to reside in the unit for three years.
7. Sue your Oakland landlord for an illegal owner-move-in or relative move-in eviction.
If your landlord does any of the following during the owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction process, you likely have a claim for wrongful eviction under the Oakland Just Cause Eviction Ordinance:
- It a wrongful and illegal eviction in Oakland to make repeated threats to move an owner or relative into a unit.
- It a wrongful and illegal eviction in Oakland to serve an owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction notice in “bad faith, with ulterior reasons and with dishonest intent”.
- It a wrongful and illegal eviction in Oakland to fail to make any of the disclosures in the eviction notice required by the Oakland Just Cause Eviction Ordinance.
- It a wrongful and illegal eviction in Oakland to fail to pay the minimum moving allowance required for an owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction.
- It a wrongful and illegal eviction in Oakland to serve an owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction and not occupy the unit within ninety days.
- It a wrongful and illegal eviction in Oakland to serve an owner-move-in or relative-move-in eviction and not occupy the unit for thirty-six months.
Our firm takes wrongful and illegal eviction lawsuits on contingency, meaning you do not pay anything unless we get a recovery. Please call one of our Oakland tenant lawyers today at 510-250-5635.
