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San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

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Re: San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

#51

Post by sandworm101 »

sachingulaya wrote: post #16
sandworm101 wrote: post #9

When I was at school participating in a legal clinic I had lots of clients facing eviction and we had plenty of tricks to use. Most popular was to demand a jury trial, which could take a month or two to organize, during which time the tenant wasn't paying rent and so could save enough to move. The basic procedure: http://www.courts.ca.gov/27723.htm

Kind of shocked to hear about this happening at a "legal clinic". I'm familiar with the business structure behind these types of programs and they're invariably seedy characters involved with a paralegal group and lots of cold calling. Clogging up the courts so you can avoid paying rent... shrug

Who said anything about going to court? It's a simple delay tactic to give the client time to save enough money for a deposit on a new place. By the time the court date is even set, they have already moved. Know that the client by this point is probably locked out of their apartment. Not all landlords act legally. By initiating legal proceedings the client can get back in, getting a place to sleep so that they can continue working.

As for seedy, this isn't ambulance chasing. This is law students helping the poorest of the poor. Nobody ever cold calls anyone (Where did you see that?). There is no profit to be had. Most legal clinics are funded by law schools and similar institutions. And I say "funded" as in they give them a place to meet clients. Our clinic moved around, seeing people in church basements and community centres after hours. The licensed lawyers we worked with all acted pro bono. This is poor people being treated very badly and needing the help of lawyers they cannot afford.

Re: San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

#53

Post by cam_l »

torgoguys wrote: post #35

I suspect I have the unpopular opinion, but I don't see this as an especially big deal. Yes, I understand this is an especially sensitive issue for SFers. And yes, it sucks for the guy. Renting has its perks, but this is part of the risk of renting; you're living on someone else's property. Repeating that--it's THEIRS, not yours. If you have no current contract (lease), why should they be required to rent something t…

"Renting has its perks"

Do you mean renting or rent-seeking? I fail to see how renting has perks.

Re: San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

#54

Post by zaidf »

irq11 wrote: post #37
zaidf wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. Rent control laws in SF don't allow that. That's the flip side of rent control: you have people paying a lot less than market price. Or another way to look at it, people moving into the city are subsidizing costs for existing tenants resulting in higher market prices--which depending on your perspective, could be seen as unfair to new tenants or fair for old tenants.

The costs of being a landlord don't change that much from year to year - especially in SF where property taxes are capped by prop 13. New tenants aren't "subsidizing" anything. Whats happening is that landlords are making a killing on rapidly rising rents, with relatively fixed costs.

Landlords making a killing and new tenants subsidizing aren't mutually exclusive.

Re: San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

#55

Post by [deleted] »

cam_l wrote: post #53
torgoguys wrote: post #35

I suspect I have the unpopular opinion, but I don't see this as an especially big deal. Yes, I understand this is an especially sensitive issue for SFers. And yes, it sucks for the guy. Renting has its perks, but this is part of the risk of renting; you're living on someone else's property. Repeating that--it's THEIRS, not yours. If you have no current contract (lease), why should they be required to rent something t…

"Renting has its perks" Do you mean renting or rent-seeking? I fail to see how renting has perks.

[deleted]

Re: San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

#56

Post by raldi »

kaybe wrote: post #42
Razengan wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple Burj Khalifa clones should do. Or would that just not work there?

On an active rift zone? That's ambitious.

Safely building giant skyscrapers in earthquake zones is a solved problem. Many of the tallest buildings in the world are in the most seismically-active parts of Asia, and have successfully demonstrated their resilience after being exposed to powerful earthquakes.

Re: San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

#57

Post by sachingulaya »

sandworm101 wrote: post #51
sachingulaya wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of shocked to hear about this happening at a "legal clinic". I'm familiar with the business structure behind these types of programs and they're invariably seedy characters involved with a paralegal group and lots of cold calling. Clogging up the courts so you can avoid paying rent... shrug

Who said anything about going to court? It's a simple delay tactic to give the client time to save enough money for a deposit on a new place. By the time the court date is even set, they have already moved. Know that the client by this point is probably locked out of their apartment. Not all landlords act legally. By initiating legal proceedings the client can get back in, getting a place to sleep so that they can co…

The business pitch is usually "delay evictions now". The cold caller will get a list of properties that have recently gone into foreclosure. They call and offer to delay your eviction by 3-5 months as long as you pay them $400/month. Then they have paralegals file paperwork with the courts to contest the eviction. Basically they're using due process to delay being evicted and instead of paying their landlord they're paying the cold caller. I first saw this scam being run by a group of former drug dealers.

I would complain to the state bar about your legal clinic behaving unethically. The whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Re: San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

#58

Post by sandworm101 »

sachingulaya wrote: post #57
sandworm101 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who said anything about going to court? It's a simple delay tactic to give the client time to save enough money for a deposit on a new place. By the time the court date is even set, they have already moved. Know that the client by this point is probably locked out of their apartment. Not all landlords act legally. By initiating legal proceedings the client can get back in, getting a place to sleep so that they can co…

The business pitch is usually "delay evictions now". The cold caller will get a list of properties that have recently gone into foreclosure. They call and offer to delay your eviction by 3-5 months as long as you pay them $400/month. Then they have paralegals file paperwork with the courts to contest the eviction. Basically they're using due process to delay being evicted and instead of paying their landlord they're…

That's not a legal clinic. That's a law firm or, i suspect, a referral service (a clearing house) that farms cases out to cutthroats. Legal clinics don't take fees. Clients don't pay and cash settlements almost never happen. Clinics are generally staffed by law students. Complain away. Every local bar promotes clinics as a means of serving indigent communities. None would consider the assertion of a client's right to a jury trial as any sort of wrongdoing.

http://hls.harvard.edu/dept/clinical/clinics/housing-law-cli...

"The bulk of the clinic’s work consists of litigation in the Boston Housing Court, defending evictions and prosecuting affirmative cases to improve housing conditions and to prevent utilities from being shut off."

And in california:

http://www.calbar.ca.gov/AboutUs/CenteronAccesstoJustice.asp...

http://one-justice.org/

Re: San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

#59

Post by sjdhvsi »

cam_l wrote: post #53
torgoguys wrote: post #35

I suspect I have the unpopular opinion, but I don't see this as an especially big deal. Yes, I understand this is an especially sensitive issue for SFers. And yes, it sucks for the guy. Renting has its perks, but this is part of the risk of renting; you're living on someone else's property. Repeating that--it's THEIRS, not yours. If you have no current contract (lease), why should they be required to rent something t…

"Renting has its perks" Do you mean renting or rent-seeking? I fail to see how renting has perks.

Well one big one is that you don't have to risk several orders of magnitude more money every time you move by buying property..?

Re: San Francisco man fights eviction after rent increase from $1,800 to $8,000

#60

Post by torgoguys »

cam_l wrote: post #53
torgoguys wrote: post #35

I suspect I have the unpopular opinion, but I don't see this as an especially big deal. Yes, I understand this is an especially sensitive issue for SFers. And yes, it sucks for the guy. Renting has its perks, but this is part of the risk of renting; you're living on someone else's property. Repeating that--it's THEIRS, not yours. If you have no current contract (lease), why should they be required to rent something t…

"Renting has its perks" Do you mean renting or rent-seeking? I fail to see how renting has perks.

There are lots of them. The biggies:

Mobility (i.e., not being tied down to the property).

Either a) not tying up a lot of money on housing (assuming outright purchase or large down payment) or b) cheaper monthly payment than a mortgage (small down payment).

Outsourced maintenance (although there are good and bad landlords in this regard).

If there weren't advantages, renting wouldn't be as common as it is.

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