Legal loopholes allow CA landlords to force tenants out even during eviction moratorium
Despite that moratorium, some landlords are looking for ways around the law to try to force tenants out now. Author: Richard Allyn (Reporter) Updated: 8:25 AM PST February 13, 2021
SAN DIEGO A single mother of two young children has vowed that she will have to be dragged out of her home, after receiving notice by her landlord she s being forced out of her rental unit in Imperial Beach. This threat to evict Patricia Mendoza comes despite the current statewide eviction moratorium, which has now been extended through June.
Despite that moratorium, some landlords are looking for ways around the law to try to force tenants out now.
Oakland tenants served with eviction notice despite moratorium: What if I m out on the street?
FacebookTwitterEmail
1of7
Families have lived in this Fruitvale apartment complex hosts for an average of 15 years. Many residents are out of work during the pandemic and have received an eviction notice, despite Oakland’s moratorium on evictions.Nina Riggio / Special to The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
2of7
The Martinez family in their living room on January 19, 2021. The family has lived in this Fruitvale apartment for 12 years and just got an eviction notice, despite Oakland s eviction moratorium.Nina Riggio / Special to The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
3of7
The analysis showed nearly a third of those notices came from a single property owner: Madison Park Financial, run by prominent Oakland real-estate developer John Protopappas.
Madison Park has served 150 eviction notices for failure to pay rent since the city’s eviction moratorium passed.
“They want to harass people and bully people into thinking that they need to pay them all the money or sign up for a payment plan,” said Madison Park tenant Lili Thomas-Brumme. “It’s exhausting and infuriating.”
Thomas-Brumme, a set designer for commercial and film productions, said she fell behind on rent when much of her income dried up during the pandemic.
Millions of Americans unable to pay their rent during the pandemic face a snowballing financial burden that threatens to deplete their savings, ruin their credit and drive them from their homes.
A patchwork of government action is protecting many of the most financially strapped tenants for now. But it could take these renters especially low-income ones years to recover, even as the rest of the economy begins to rebound.
“Even if they say we can pay [missed rent] back in two or three years that’s money we don’t have,” said Kelly Wise, a 32-year-old resident of L.A. s Westlake neighborhood. After losing jobs selling merchandise at concerts and cutting fabric for Hollywood sets, she is more than $10,000 behind on rent.
More than 100 tenants and advocates, organized by the
Regional Tenant Organizing Network, blocked eviction
hearings at the Santa Clara County Superior Court in San
Jose, California Wednesday morning, protesting the
displacement of renters during the coronavirus pandemic.
Protesters blocking the courthouse entrance effectively
shut down the court in the morning hours before being
violently removed by County Sheriff’s Deputies. Nine
protesters were arrested on the charge of disrupting court
operations. In a video on Twitter
that gained over 19,000 views in a few hours, a protester is
seen being dragged violently away from the crowd by a squad
of deputies.