09Aug
Compared to other places, renters in San Francisco have a lot of rights. Those that are considered “protected tenants” have even more instrumental rights when it comes to being evicted. But what exactly is a protected tenant? Read on to learn about this important status and to see if it applies to you.
Those renters that are protected tenants are divided into three main categories:
Owner Move-in Evictions (OMI)
In addition to the general provisions for protected tenants, the protected tenants' status is important in the context of owner move-in evictions (OMI). San Francisco doesn't generally allow any tenants who are considered protected tenants to be evicted under an owner move-in eviction.
However, this doesn't apply if the landlord only owns one unit in the building or where the landlord already lives in the building where a "protected tenant" resides in each unit and the landlord wants to do a relative move-in (RMI) where the relative is 60 years old or older.
Protected Tenants Status Due to School-Age Children
The owner can't conduct an OMI eviction during the school year if the unit has tenants with minor school-age residing in the unit. The protected status only applies to tenants with minor children (under 18) who are living with them. When the child turns 18 (even if they are still in school), the tenant loses their protected tenant status and can be evicted.
Tenants who are employed by a public, private, or parochial school in the City or County of San Francisco. However, this does not apply for the whole term of the lease; a landlord may go forward with an OMI that is due to expire in the summer.
Unlike an OMI, a tenant's protected tenant status has no bearing on whether they can be evicted via the Ellis Act. The Ellis Act is a California state law which gives property owners the right to evict tenants in order to go out of the rental business. For this to be valid, the landlord/owner must evict all of the tenants in all of the units in the building and can't just target a single tenant. Because this is an unconditional right for the landlord, a protected tenant is not exempt; any tenant may be evicted if the eviction is under the Ellis Act.
However, if the landlord evicts a tenant under the Ellis Act, special conditions apply. For tenants that are 60 years old and older and disabled tenants who have lived in their unit for at least 12 months, the landlord must give them 12 months of intent to evict under the Ellis Act.
If you believe you qualify as a protected tenant, but aren't receiving your rights, then you should act in your best interests and discuss this with a Wolford Wayne tenants' rights attorney who knows what you're entitled to and can help you hold your ground against your landlord. Contact us today to find out more information.
Recovered on behalf of a group of 30 tenants living in an SRO in San Francisco who were living with horrendous conditions in their rent controlled apartments, including rodents, bedbugs, mold, water leaks and harassment.Read More
Recovered on behalf of three families living in a building in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood who were forced to live with substandard conditions for years as a result of their landlord’s negligence, including issues with lack of heat, lack of hot water and cockroach/rat infestations.Read More
Recovered on behalf of a couple living in a rent-controlled home in the outer Sunset neighborhood. Our clients were forced to vacate after the landlord served them with an Owner Move-In Eviction Notice. After the landlords failed to move into the property, our clients filed suit for wrongful eviction.Read More
Recovered on behalf of a San Francisco tenant in Russian Hill. Tenant was forced to vacate her illegal apartment in retaliation for reporting unlawful rent increases to the San Francisco Rent Board.Read More
Recovered for a single long-term tenant in San Francisco. Our client was forced to move out of his apartment as a result of extreme landlord harassment.Read More
Recovered on behalf of three long-term tenants in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood who were constructively evicted due to noise and nuisance conditions created by their downstairs neighbors, which the owner refused to address.Read More
Recovered on behalf of elderly, disabled tenant who was forced to move out of her rent-controlled San Francisco apartment of 50 years after landlord/owner failed to resolve numerous building code violations that remained outstanding for over a decade.Read More
Recovered on behalf of seven tenants living in a makeshift boarding house in East Palo Alto.Read More
Recovered on behalf of two former San Francisco tenants who were evicted via an Owner Move-In Eviction and owner failed to occupy the unit as her primary place of residence.Read More
Recovered on behalf of an elderly long-term tenant who was forced to vacate her long San Francisco apartment as a result of her landlord’s refusal to address longstanding defective conditions, including lack of heat, mold, rodent infestations, and defective plumbing. Read More
Recovered on behalf of a San Francisco tenant who was forced to vacate his home as a result of ongoing, disruptive construction and the owners’ refusal to provide him with alternative housing. Read More
Recovered on behalf of a San Francisco family that was constructively evicted from their home in the Richmond District as a result of unlawful rent increases, defective conditions and tenant harassment.Read More
Recovered on behalf of a tenant living in an illegal “in-law” unit. In this case, a new owner purchased the building and then demolished our client’s unit without permits while she was displaced for seismic retrofitting.Read More
Recovered on behalf of two long term San Francisco tenants who were fraudulently evicted from their home of over twenty years under the pretext of an owner move-in eviction.Read More
Recovered for tenant who was injured when their stairway railing collapsed at the tenant’s Mission District apartment building.Read More
Recovered in action for a group of tenants forced to vacate their San Francisco apartment house due to severe habitability defects including mold and water leaks.Read More
For more information or to discuss your legal situation, call us today at (415) 649-6203 for a phone consultation or submit an inquiry below. Please note our firm can only assist tenants residing in San Francisco, Oakland & Berkeley.