East Bay Landlord Group to Appeal Moratorium Ruling

A landlord group suing Oakland and Alameda County over their eviction moratoria says it will appeal a ruling last month allowing them to remain in place until a trial.

The Housing Providers of America had asked the court to toss out the moratoria before a full trial because they violated landlords’ constitutional rights, the San Francisco Business Times reported. A judge disagreed.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler wrote the moratoria were not unconstitutional because they are “temporary and not indefinite” and do not absolve renters of their obligation to pay rent.

She added the moratoria don’t preempt landlords from exiting the rental market.

While Alameda County has discussed ending its moratorium next spring, there has been no talk of ending the eviction ban in Oakland, said John Protopappas, CEO of Madison Park Financial, who has led the legal effort for the landlord group.

“It is our belief that the judge in her ruling is wrong in concluding that the temporary nature of the laws renders them constitutionally valid, because there is nothing temporary about Oakland’s ordinance,” Protopappas told the newspaper.

The Oakland eviction moratorium will remain until the city calls an end to the local emergency it declared during the dawn of the pandemic.

The law prevents landlords from evicting tenants in rental units built before Jan. 1, 1996, unless a tenant poses an imminent threat to the health and safety of other building occupants, or if a landlord intends to permanently remove the property from the rental market.

It doesn’t require tenants to provide proof that their finances have been impacted by COVID-19.

Alameda County’s moratorium covers units regardless of their age. If tenants provide proof that they are unable to pay because of COVID, it forbids evictions for any reason.

If tenants don’t provide proof, they can be evicted by government order, either because of an imminent health and safety concern or because a landlord intends to remove the property from the rental market.

Madison Park, which owns 1,000 rental units in Oakland, Emeryville and Pinole, has tenants who are taking advantage of the eviction moratoria, Protopappas said. That means they have not been financially impacted by the pandemic, but are not paying rent anyway.

The Oakland-based firm is owed $2.6 million in back rent, he told the Business Times. Its tenants have applied for $750,000 in rental relief.

Tenants advocacy groups have said the eviction moratoria remain necessary to protect vulnerable renters from pandemic-related displacement.

— Dana Bartholomew