An old friend of mine -- it'll be fifty years next fall -- lives in an illegal rental in Oakland, California. It's illegal in the sense that it was never registered with the Oakland rental board. His original landlords sold the property to a flipper a few months ago and the new owners have been trying to get my friend to move out.
They started by offering him cash for keys a few months ago, but two different lawyers advised him not to take the deal because it came with onerous conditions (that I can't remember right now) so he didn't take it. Then they progressed to yelling at him and calling him names.
A couple weeks ago they escalated to smashing out his car windows and a few of the apartment windows. They also spraypainted the word "PEDO" on an exterior wall. The cops, doing their job by protecting the landlord, refused to do anything because there's putatively no proof that the landlord had it done. They also told him to remove his personal belongings from the bathroom and the kitchen because they were going to start demolition, they said.
Then last night they escalated again. At around 2 am he was working at the computer when someone smashed both the windows near his desk and sprayed pepper spray through the holes. They also smashed out all his car windows again, sprayed his front door with pepper spray, and painted "PEDO" on the side of his car. S again the cops, who were apparently personally sympathetic, still said they couldn't do anything. One of the cops advised him to file a civil suit pro se.
He's physically unharmed and is talking to lawyers and doesn't feel like giving in yet, but of course he's worried, especially given last year's murder of a tenant by a landlord who wanted the property vacant to increase the sale value. If you follow me chances are good that you already understand the intrinsic scumminess of landlords, and I do too, but it's still surprising and shocking to see the lengths they'll go to to collect money they are absolutely convinced is theirs by right.
#OaklandCalifornia #Oakland #California #Landlords #Rent #RentIsTheft #PropertyIsTheft
https://abc7news.com/post/civil-lawsuit-alleges-motive-killing-tenant-eric-bigone-san-franciscos-outer-sunset-district/19319210/
