Great! Good luck to you. PS: Apart from a few negatives, Adams Point can be a great area for renters, I agree.

The Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board also has great information online and can be helpful with landlord tenant disputes. See: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent/

The EDC is fantastic – that’s where we found help. And yes, make sure you know your rights! The Cal Tenant Guide I linked to above is super helpful, very thorough, and not too hard to understand.

Would one of the wiseacres who comments on Berkeleyside please illuminate an apparent paradox? If Berkeley (and Oakland) has such fantastic tenant rights laws and tax payer subsidized Boards and Centers mainly oriented to defend the interests of tenants, why is that (to quote the original author of this post), “Berkeley (like many university-oriented cities) has a reputation for an over-abundance of “slumlords”. Likewise, Oakland (and San Francisco for that matter), which are not university towns, are likewise both notorious for an abundance of “roach motel” rentals and unethical and unscrupulous landlords who seem to prosper for years while exploiting their hapless tenants.

How is this possible? Many of the local renter friendly laws, policies and institutions have been in place now for more than a generation. When will “slumlords” go the way of the dodo bird in progressive communities? Could there be, in fact, some essential connection between rent control laws and a lack of upkeep in properties?

Would one of the wiseacres who comments on Berkeleyside please illuminate [....]

Well, I’m more of an asshat or constant low-level annoyance than a wiseacre per se but I would like to take a stab at the question if I may.

How is this possible? Many of the local renter friendly laws, policies and institutions have been in place now for more than a generation. When will “slumlords” go the way of the dodo bird in progressive communities? Could there be, in fact, some essential connection between rent control laws and a lack of upkeep in properties?

In my subjective assessment, having lived in and traveled through many parts of the country, “slumlords” are a constant phenomenon wherever property values and rental demand are high – regardless of what rental protections are in place. In other words, no, I do not think there is any “essential connection” to rent control there.

I understand the theory: rent control makes being a landlord (per this theory) at least an undesirable investment and, at worst, an non-viable business. Well, as far as I can tell rent control makes it a more difficult business, Costa-Hawkins (vacancy decontrol at the state level that weakened some of Berkeley’s protections) is vitally important (though as I noted, gives rise to its own forms of abuse) — and in general a smart, good landlord can do pretty darn well even with some tenants still paying adjusted rents first set 20+ years ago.

It’s a funny coincidence that, as I type this, my landlord has stopped by with his learning-the-ropes kid to conduct some repairs for a neighbor. At least the several recent days of mild noise and other annoyance, as he made various improvements to his investment are over. Why, I’ll never forget the callous and cold hearted approach he took when I called to tell him the stove in our rent controlled apartment was on the fritz. He came, he cast a cruel and cynical eye upon it, and with a kind sneer and little fire in his eyes said “Holy cow. You guys have one of the old ones. I’ll come by tomorrow and swap that out for a nicer one. That one’s for the junk heap.” Heartless bastard.

But why, with all of these renter protections in Berkeley, do we have slum-lords? Several reasons:

1. In spite of education efforts, many renters are either naive about or afraid to enforce their rights.

2. Many “slum-lord” practices are edgy and obnoxious – but lawful. Many of the unlawful practices are very difficult to take to either civil or criminal court (as appropriate).

3. At the low end of the price range, many landlords are targeting students and other transient types with very high attrition rates. In my experience, one way to bring out the worst harassment from a transient-focused landlord is to settle in the unit for more than a year. In any event, the standards of a landlord who expects a new sucker … er… tenant each year easily tend towards slum-lord territory.

4. In properties I’ve lived and some I’ve considered renting, it’s useful in my view to consult public records and trace out the ownership patterns. Um… there are some shady cartels with a lot of false fronts that hold a lot of rental property in Berkeley. Don’t think that’s a result of rent control. That’s a result of, um… some bad actors. There are correlations between these shady money-leach semi-hidden holding operations and slum-lordery. A lot of them know the legal code (it’s use and abuse) really, really well. And they’re lazy f’s with no care for their own social impact.

I have seen all matter of injustices and exploitation on all sides of this mess, tenants/landlords/rent board bureaucrats and lawyers.

My brother’s family was unjustly evicted from the apartment they lived in for 20 years just shortly after Costa Hawkins was passed. The new owner systemically evicted tenant after tenant until he increased rents in the entire building. My brother attorney, who was one of the original advocates who passed Berkeley’s rent control laws took his case and $17,000. While they believed they had a solid defense, they lost, Hayward juries do not look favorably on Berkeley’s tenants.

The most egregious case I witnessed was last year. One of the city’s most problematic property (on their top ten list) was in foreclosure for years, the property owner was an addict, and the house was shot up when drug dealers tried to settle a debt with her son, two kids were shot.

The property owner was assisted by tenant’s right attorney subsidized by the rent board in her eviction case. He claimed the bank violated the city’s tenants rights protection and his filings were effectively slowing the foreclosure progress.

After the kids were shot and our hood was freaked out by the 40 plus rounds of gunfire at 5am, I called her attorney, he was a horrible jerk, so I called bank’s foreclosure dept director and the rent board to complain. The owner did not show up to court twice, so the eviction went though. The house has now been sold and renovated beautifully. This house was a public nuisance associated with violent crime from decades.

The tenant’s rights attorney who fabricated the absurd defense continues to receive rent board support (our tax dollars).

EBGuy: could you unpack that a bit? What “bubble” and what do you mean by “one renter at a time”?

My gosh, Underwood – that sounds like a hell of a bargain. No, seriously, if you want to go medium to long in real estate and are willing to step up and do it right — that sounds like a hell of a good investment.

As for the renter protections you decry — yeah, well, when I hear you railing against no recourse mortgage default laws and prop 13 then maybe you start to have some credibility with me on this issue. Meanwhile, keep pimping that property. I’m not kidding when I say that sounds like a good deal for the appropriately competent investor.

TL:

I don’t recall “decrying” any renter protections in this thread at all (?!). I DID question how effective these so-called “protections” are in protecting tenants from slum lords or other forms of exploitation by unscrupulous landlords (not to be confused with Thomas Lord, who is, evidently, neither a “Slum” or “Land” Lord — unless one of those happens to be your middle name).

Kim: something marvelous about renting in Adam’s Point is discovering a few priceless historic buildings in the neighborhood. So my advice would be to make a few friends. Chat people up at the farmers market, at Grand Lake Theatre, at the bird sanctuary, at a free concert in the new Cathedral, at the bar of Luka’s Taproom, you name it. Chances are you’ll find yourself wandering through the lobbies of Art Deco or faux-Moorish structures not to be found outside old Hollywood. Enjoy it.

Illegal OMI’s (where owner never moves in or moves in for too short a period) are a prospective renter’s best friend. Cross check OMIs with rental listings and then rent a place that has had an illegal eviction. Several months into tenancy bring this ‘travesty’ before the rent board. You’ll find your rent reduced plus you get credit for rent ‘overpaid’. Bonus if the unit was expanded illegally after the OMI, as you get credit for the rent paid (for the larger place, but rent ceiling is at the old level). I know of a couple of cases where scenarios similar to this got played out.