Oakland City Council Meeting - Changes to RAP and Just Cause Ordinances that Will Harm Owners

Please register if you plan to attend this meeting in-person so that we know how many rental owners will be there to speak out against these proposed changes.

Why is this City Council meeting SO important?

Outgoing Councilmember Dan Kalb is proposing to eliminate banked rent increases and further restrict rental property owners’ ability to increase rent by changing the RAP and Just Cause ordinance. Kalb’s proposals do nothing to address legitimate renter issues or the city’s housing shortage and homeless problem – actually making conditions worse. His recommendations aim to do the following:

Reduce banking of CPI rent increases to 4 years (from 10) and eliminate banked rent increases after the sale/transfer of property (Agenda Item #10)

• Negates scheduled rent increase agreements between renters/owners already set
• Force owners to take increases each year. Owners take/bank rent increases later to primarily help renters during financial hardship or periods of high inflation
• An annual cap of 9% is already in place. Banked rent can only be taken for 3 years and never more than 3% for a total of 9% each year.
• Minimize property value by a prospective buyer. The sale of property would wipe out all banked rent increases as tangible value, in turn, decreasing a property’s value

Prohibit property owners from rent increases, No-Fault evictions, and participating in RAP petitions and hearings if they are delinquent in paying business license taxes (Item #10)

• Current delinquency data hasn’t been analyzed to adequately address why smaller rental property owners are not paying business license taxes – continued financial burdens, rising operating costs, shortfalls due to non-payment of rent, and no or lower gross rental income to report.
• Excessive and punitive financial penalties and property liens are already in place to address delinquencies.
• Property owner business tax on gross receipts in Oakland is more than three times higher than the next highest industry that is taxed.
• No other business type is restricted from increasing prices on goods and services or prohibited from engaging in consumer dispute resolution relating to tax delinquency 

Extend tenant petition deadlines from 90 days to 180 days (Item #10)

• Prolongs the process unnecessarily.
• Allow renters to collect more ammunition towards owners before they have to address any lease violation issues.

NOTE: There are no changes to fines and penalties and there is a section directing the City Administrator to offer payment plans to property owners experiencing financial hardship.

You can see the entire meeting agenda HERE