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Guest
This following may help you while you are waiting for the city hall to open on Monday. In addition, keep in mind that any advice that you get from the Rent Board will have a decidedly tenant orientation.
http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/rentbd/ordinance/ord37_9.htm
I don’t live in San Francisco, and I don’t have any units under rent control so I am not at all familiar with how this works. I can easily point out to you that there are many attorneys who don’t know any more than I do but will be glad to tell you that they are experts.
I see that, in your lust not to spend money on getting advice, you are desperately seeking help from anyone who will give you any, no matter how good or bad the advice. So far, you seem to have gotten your money’s worth. I can’t tell you what to do, or what to advise your friend, but here is how I would get advice:
In Los Angeles, there is one attorney (firm, actually) that does almost all of the evictions in town. He has about 5 or 6 offices in at least 3 counties, and a staff of lawyers, and he handles evictions on an assembly-line basis. He seems to me to be the ONLY attorney in town who knows all about eviction law under the local conditions, and he also knows about the local judges. I have sat in court myself, and watched opposing attorneys make fools of themselves and be embarrassed. My advice would be to see if there isn’t an attorney (or firm) like this one, and then pay them to advise you (or your friend). Maybe the local apartment owners association can tell you if such a firm exists, and who he is. The issue here is, what do local landlords do under the rent control law and how do they manage, and you need an expert.
Keep in mind that evictions don’t pay very well to a lawyer (The court limits the recoverable fee for an eviction, and the limit is pretty low) and it is easy enough for an intelligent landlord to do an ordinary eviction by himself in California. We actually make it easy, requiring nothing but a check-off form. Thus, the field doesn’t attract a high-class bunch of lawyers. But you do what you want.
http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/rentbd/ordinance/ord37_9.htm
I don’t live in San Francisco, and I don’t have any units under rent control so I am not at all familiar with how this works. I can easily point out to you that there are many attorneys who don’t know any more than I do but will be glad to tell you that they are experts.
I see that, in your lust not to spend money on getting advice, you are desperately seeking help from anyone who will give you any, no matter how good or bad the advice. So far, you seem to have gotten your money’s worth. I can’t tell you what to do, or what to advise your friend, but here is how I would get advice:
In Los Angeles, there is one attorney (firm, actually) that does almost all of the evictions in town. He has about 5 or 6 offices in at least 3 counties, and a staff of lawyers, and he handles evictions on an assembly-line basis. He seems to me to be the ONLY attorney in town who knows all about eviction law under the local conditions, and he also knows about the local judges. I have sat in court myself, and watched opposing attorneys make fools of themselves and be embarrassed. My advice would be to see if there isn’t an attorney (or firm) like this one, and then pay them to advise you (or your friend). Maybe the local apartment owners association can tell you if such a firm exists, and who he is. The issue here is, what do local landlords do under the rent control law and how do they manage, and you need an expert.
Keep in mind that evictions don’t pay very well to a lawyer (The court limits the recoverable fee for an eviction, and the limit is pretty low) and it is easy enough for an intelligent landlord to do an ordinary eviction by himself in California. We actually make it easy, requiring nothing but a check-off form. Thus, the field doesn’t attract a high-class bunch of lawyers. But you do what you want.