Landlord removed housing services in an attempt to have me leave
To clarify what this means, Below are some examples we see often that may qualify as harassment. This list is not exhaustive and is here just to give you an idea.
- If you have a family and you are renting your home because it has a building laundry room and the landlord stops the service, or
- If you are disabled and rented your unit because of parking near your unit but now the landlord is removing the parking as a way to push you out, that can be considered harassment.
- Landlord taking away services originally paid by the landlord including utilities, parking, driveway, storage spaces, laundry rooms, decks, patios, or gardens, kitchen facilities, toilet facilities, or lobbies in residential hotels (unless these are being improved with “necessary work”)
- A landlord cannot one-sidedly impose or require an existing tenant to agree to new material terms of tenancy or a new rental agreement unless the change in the terms was accepted in writing by the tenant after the landlord notified the tenant that they didn’t have to accept it, or if the change was otherwise allowed or required by law.
If you are covered under the Oakland Tenant Protection Ordinance (check to see if you are covered), write a letter to document what has occurred and ask the landlord to rectify the situation.
If you are NOT covered, come to one of our workshops or talk to a housing organization for next steps as you may have other rights not covered here.
