Fight Tenant With Landlord: Fill & Download for Free

I can only tell you what happened to me this year.I had a rent controlled apartment through Prado in Nob Hill (originally Laramar, who sold the rights). I stay there, and in Marin, where my wife prefers to be with the dogs. All utility and service bills in SF are in my name as the primary tenant, this isn't particularly contestable.In November, I got myself a roommate to offset the cost of the place in SF, which was renting to me for $1450/mo (raised to $1506 in January). This was not outside of my rights according to the SF Rent Board. It's a large enough space for two.Two months ago I started receiving notices that because the original occupant had moved out, the new sublessor's rent would double as of 7/1. At first I found this amusing, since it was so clearly inaccurate. This was, however, no mistake. Prado wanted to rent the place back out at market rate and intended to hit me with the bully stick until I complied.In reality, I could fight this. It would take me 6-8 weeks for a fast-track hearing, more like 4 months without it. In the meantime, I would be paying $3000/mo, with a refundable difference if and when I could win my hearing. That's a rough several months though.Landlords in SF know that they won't win these cases if they go to a hearing, but they also know that most tenants can't suck up a doubling of rent for 2-4 months in the interim. As a result, the tenant typically moves out rather than fight for their rights, because they can't afford the increased expenses while awaiting a resolution.That's exactly what I did, electing to be in Marin full time. It makes the occasional commute to The Peninsula hell on my car lease, which is why I was keeping the SF spot for weekday convenience.So is it typical behavior? Absolutely. Landlords don't have to do anything more than financially inconvenience rent controlled tenants to a breaking point because of how the law is set up. They're doing it liberally.

I agree very much with the comments from Kenneth. I happen to have several units in the town where my family lives. In fact, just left after completing some renovations.When I bought one of the buildings 7 years ago, I began finishing a plumbing upgrade and then, caused by tenant issues, had to do an electrical upgrade. Spent more in year 1 than I wanted but I also began raising rents. I knew surrounding landlords were not upgrading their buildings and the city had a down revitalization plan recently implemented. I would be on the edge of the improvement district and wanted to lead the way on area improvements. We began working with the city to up the police presence in the area to knock out drug activities and prostitution. Petty crime still occurs but the really bad stuff is gone.I have since slowly updated toilets to high efficiency types to lower water usage (I pay this utility) and this last week's upgrade was putting in electric wall heaters so we could shut off the ancient floor gas heaters. This puts the cost on the tenants now and helps increase my cash flow. Example: summer gas bills for 4 units are around $80 on average. Winter bills go up as high as $300/mo.When I bought this place, the past landlord got $300/mo and I slowly raised them up to $375 and now $400/mo. If you pay attention you can find great products that have a higher quality look and feel without being high cost. Small changes and even better paint choices instead of boring all white or beige makes tenants happy. No one likes to live in a generic box.I am a big believer that cash is king and you have to weigh the ROI on any upgrades, particularly when considering your hold period and exit strategy. Cash flow must come first. Options I have considered over time is storage units in the basement, coin op laundry and pet fees. This last year I got the roof replaced after a hail storm. Had to fight insurance on the claim for a year but it was worth it to only pay $1000 toward a $17k job. Yes, rates went up but not enough to warrant out of pocket payment.

I am not most people, but I entered homelessness quite unexpectedly. I got into a fight with my boyfriend at the time. I called my mom and asked to move back home. She said she would pick me up with my stuff, but moving back home was not going to work. She told me to pack a backpack with whatever I might need for a couple days, and then she’ll take me. I got together some clothes, makeup, I totally thought she was sending me on a women’s prayer retreat with her church, get me some Jesus in my life! I never would have dreamed she did what she did! I still am so hurt and wonder how she lives with herself…dropping me off on Skid Row in Los Angeles!I was shocked, but never got a chance to say anything. We got to the Union Rescue Mission, and said goodbye, I hopped out (she wasn’t going to get out of the car, she kept it running) and bravely walked to the entrance. I had no money, minutes on my phone, charger, nothing! I couldn’t even call my job at Hard Rock Citywalk, to let them know I wouldn’t be in. I thought maybe she was trying to scare me into going to church more. I figured she must’ve told my dad where I am, he’ll pick me up. That was 20 years ago.Now in San Francisco, I had finally saved up to move from transitional housing into an apartment with a co-worker! It was a nice beautiful old building in the Tenderloin/NobHill area. It’s rent controlled, and I don’t khad my own room! San Francisco, I forgot why exactly, became super desirable seemingly overnight! Everything got hyper expensive, property values soared, and landlords wanted to get in on that as much as anyone. If a renter is paying $800/mo for a unit in a building that has rent control, then they will continue to pay $800 until they leave. Property management would look for any little reason to oust the rent controlled tenants so they could turn hh and charge $3000/mo for the same unit.Many businesses went under, the bar I was working at was struggling. Sometimes we got our paychecks late,which is exactly what happened. I went to the office to explain our dilemma, but at 6am the next day, there was a “pay now or quit.” notice on the front door. They took me to court, and the only way I wasn’t going to get an eviction on my record was to pay the rent, late fee, move out in 30 days, and they keep the deposit.No money, no where to go. My friend moved in with her boyfriend, and luckily my manager said I could stay at his house he shares with his mom and her boyfriend! It was difficult to go back to living out of boxes after working so hard at becoming independent and self reliant, however I was grateful, and I am still grateful that I have a place here, except the guy is a covert malignant narcissist whom i am traumatically bound to, but that’s another story.