If they determine the unit is illegal this could start a domino effect that could put your tenancy at risk. This also makes tenants in these units a target for eviction or buyouts — particularly where a landlord is considering selling the building.
A tenant in an illegal unit represents such a risk. Potentially, yes. Because landlords are barred from renting out illegal units, you may have legal claims against your landlord.
Your landlord could be liable for presenting the unit as a legal dwelling unit when they knew, or should have known it was illegal. These units often have other problems like lack of heat, insufficient insulation or protections from water intrusion, which can give rise to other legal claims.
In fact, you may have a right to a return of your rent going back four years. Every situation varies so be sure to discuss your case with a tenant attorney to find out what your options are. Probably not. In the past San Francisco landlords could bring a demolition eviction in these situations. However, San Francisco has made it very difficult for landlords to demolish these units.
Current city policy is to compel landlords to bring these units up to code. If your landlord attempts or is able to obtain a permit to demolish the unit, you may still have avenues to protect your home. Again, this is something we encourage you to discuss with a lawyer. Illegal units raise numerous legal and safety issues. Being aware of the status of your apartment is crucial to protecting yourself and your legal rights. If you have questions about the legality of your home or think you are living in an unsafe unit, contact us today to see how we can help.
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 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.
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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
As renters are unable to find legal units they can afford, homeowners or landlords fill the need, offering living quarters to people way below market rate. There's a very high demand for affordable housing in New Jersey, and a very small supply of decent affordable units.
New Jerseyans may not realize they are living in an illegal apartment unless a town official or code enforcement worker informs them. If you suspect your apartment may not be properly zoned, you can go to your city or town hall and request a copy of the property's certificate of occupancy or certificate of habitability. In his 25 years working in landlord-tenant law, Ortiz saw instances where people who do not own properties rent out illegal units to tenants.
During the foreclosure crisis following the Great Recession, some people rented out houses that were foreclosed and abandoned, despite the building being owned by the bank. A tenant may not realize this unless they see a certificate of occupancy, or that the landlord has a deed or title of the house. Contact a lawyer if you find out or suspect you are living in an illegal apartment, Ortiz suggests.
You can see if you're eligible for counsel by calling Legal Services of New Jersey at Attorneys may be able to work out a deal with a landlord and avoid court. The office has existing relationships with code enforcement, so tenants can gather the required evidence proving the apartment is not zoned, Ortiz said.
Other cities are planning to launch similar pilot programs. For example, if the owner is cited by a government agency for having an illegal unit, the occupying tenant may be served with an eviction notice. Performing substantial repairs to bring the unit up to code, or demolishing the unit to remove it from the rental market, are both just cause reasons for eviction under most local rent ordinances.
But not all just cause reasons for eviction of a tenant in an illegal unit are clear-cut. While nonpayment of rent is a just cause reason for eviction under the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance, the Appellate Division of the Los Angeles Superior Court recently held that a three-day pay or quit notice for non-payment of rent served on a tenant living in a unit that did not have Certificate of Occupancy was fatally defective.
North 7th Street Associates v. Guillermo Constante, 7 Cal. The Court reasoned that because a lease for an illegal unit is void and the landlord is not entitled to rent, the landlord could not then evict the tenant for nonpayment. For now, tenants in an illegal unit that have been served any type of eviction notice should immediately contact an experienced tenant attorney to discuss their options.
The City has responded to this issue by passing an ordinance to create the Unit Legalization Program. The program allows an owner to apply to legalize one unit per building lot without fear of fines or citations by the Department of Building Inspection DBI. The owner can begin the initial screening process with the DBI anonymously before formally applying. The following are some of the relevant requirements of the program that tenants should know:.
In the past few years—to encourage legalization of units and discourage demolition—both the City of Oakland and the City of Berkeley have begun to relax many of their building requirements for legalizing unpermitted units. While this is possible, it is not likely. Because affordable housing is scarce in the Bay Area, many cities are encouraging owners to legalize their units instead of demolishing and removing them from the rental market.
For example, it is difficult to obtain a demolition permit in the City of San Francisco because an owner must legalize the unit unless it can be shown that it is not feasible to do so. Even if the owner can show legalization is not feasible, the permit process also involves a public hearing with the Planning Commission where the occupying tenant can contest the demolition of their home.
Obtaining a demolition permit is time consuming, costly for the owner, and unlikely to result in approval from the City. While demolition permits are difficult to obtain, demolition is a just cause for eviction under most local rent ordinances. If an owner is able to obtain the required permits, under the San Francisco Rent Ordinance, a demolition eviction requires a sixty-day written notice to the tenant, payment of relocation benefits to the tenant, and the landlord must have the demolition permits before the notice is served.
The landlord must be evicting in good faith. Bad faith would be any of the following: 1 not demolishing the unit to re-let it at a higher rent, 2 selling the building without demolishing the unit, 3 merging the unit with other units, or 4 retaliating against the tenant after repair requests.
Note that an owner of an illegal unit may also wrongfully attempt to evict a tenant through an Owner Move-In eviction, an Ellis Act eviction, or another just cause reason for eviction. If a tenant receives any type of eviction notice whatsoever, they should immediately contact a tenant attorney to discuss their options. If the landlord is able to obtain all the necessary permits to demolish the illegal unit and complies with the eviction notice requirements under the San Francisco Rent Ordinance, the evicted tenant is entitled to relocation benefits in the City of San Francisco.
Tenants in the City of Oakland are also entitled to relocation benefits. The amounts due are based on the number of bedrooms in the unit, not per tenant.
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