News and Views
February 9, 2010
Law-abiding renters often lose their homes when landlords get into mortgage trouble. This report explains how banks, realtors, and courts gang up on families. Tenants Together Program Director, Gabe Treves, was interviewed at length for this piece.
February 9, 2010
A vote by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on legislation that would have expanded just cause for eviction protections was postponed.
Tenants and preservationists weigh in on Stellar Management's plans to build more high rise apartment buildings in San Francisco's Parkmerced community.
February 8, 2010
Lawyers working for Fannie Mae are issuing notices to tenants that violate the lender's own stated policies and the "language, meaning, and intent" of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act.
February 6, 2010
The California Court of Appeal has reversed a lower court's decision awarding East Palo Alto predatory landlord, Page Mill Properties, about $20,000 in legal fees in a case against the city, possibly saving the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in another legal case.
February 6, 2010
Job losses and other financial constraints are forcing people to reduce living expenses in a big way. For some, that might mean downsizing from a house to an apartment — or just a room. Some people have had to move home with the folks or bring in more roommates.
February 6, 2010
In spite of a law protecting tenants, people who rent across the US are being illegally evicted even if their finances are fine.
February 5, 2010
A tenant screening company named First Advantage SafeRent must pay a $100,000 fine for rejecting tenant requests to check information on reports used by landlords to screen prospective tenants. According to the Federal Trade Commission's press release:
February 4, 2010
This article covers the annual San Franicsco lottery for Tenancy In Common (TIC) owners who wish to convert their properties to condominiums. The director of the SF Tenants Union isn't a fan of TICs and sees their increase over the last decade as an attempt by realtors to contravene laws meant to prevent rampant speculation.
February 4, 2010
In this radio report on tenants caught in the foreclosure crisis we hear from Ted Gullicksen of the San Francisco Tenants Union and Mayor Newsom who recently vetoed an ordinance that would have expanded just cause for eviction protection to all rental units in SF.
February 4, 2010
A business journalist explains how a predatory equity scheme in New York in which CalPERS invested (and lost) $500M, was predicated on breaking the law in order to turn a profit.
Fannie Mae is being called out by tenant activists for pushing tenants out of their homes in violation of both the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act and its own written policies.
February 3, 2010
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors failed to override Mayor Gavin Newsom's veto of legislation to expand just cause eviction protections to all the city's rental units.
February 3, 2010
A judge has tagged notorious San Francisco landlord, CitiApartments, and its related companies with a $50,000 fine for failing to turn over to the city legally required information in what City Attorney Dennis Herrera called "elaborate financial shell games."
February 3, 2010
Under a new law passed by the New Jersey state legislature, buyers of a foreclosed residential property are required to notify tenants of the ownership change and that they are not required to vacate.
David Taran's companies (Page Mill Properties, Woodland Park Management LLC, etc) have been at war with the City of East Palo Alto and its residents. In one case, the predatory landlord successfully sued the City and then got an order directing the city to pay the landlord's attorneys fees of over $20,000.
By Dean Preston
In his State of the Union address, President Obama announced his intention to tax the largest financial institutions “to recover every single dime the American people are owed.” His desire to recoup direct costs of bank bailouts is a positive step, but a tax on banks must go further by addressing ongoing misconduct. Every day, banks are throwing people out of their homes. Banks should be taxed for each post-foreclosure eviction they perform.