Eviction Story - California - Where Poor Stupid Beth Ferrari Seems Normal

[GOBUCKS]

I brought this over for just two reasons. First, to demonstrate once again that California is the biggest loony bin in world history..........

Mon Sep 3, 2012, 05:32 PM
Liberal_in_LA (25,417 posts)

What if your monthly rent went from $3100 to $6000?
 

Renters get boot with big rate hike


Dana-Lee Smirin has rented a house in San Francisco's Dolores Park neighborhood since 2008 and considered it "a haven of stability" as she battles Hodgkin's lymphoma and the aftermath of a car accident.

So she was distressed when her landlady informed her that she wants to sell the house and almost doubled Smirin's rent, from $3,100 to $6,000. Smirin viewed it as a tactic to get her out because it's easier to sell a vacant property.

"The only way to evict me is to raise my rent to an abominable amount I can't afford," said Smirin, 42, who is on disability leave from her job as a sustainability consultant. "Then if I can't pay it, she can serve me a three-day notice to evict."

Single-family homes, such as Smirin's rental, are exempt from San Francisco's strict rent-control laws, which cap rent increases for multiunit buildings. Landlords cannot evict tenants from any kind of unit without just cause, but they can utilize several loopholes - such as big rent increases in single-family homes and violations of the rental agreement in apartment buildings - to create a legal reason to evict tenants or encourage them to move.

Those loopholes are coming into play now, as both rents and sale prices escalate in the city. Tenant activists say the incidence of renters being forced out is likewise on the rise. San Francisco Rent Board statistics show that eviction numbers have stayed consistent over the past two years, but advocates say renters often move out before the point of eviction

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Renters-get-boot-with-big-rate-hike-3835648.php#ixzz25RdOWfrR

more from the link:

Landlords must pay relocation compensation to renters who are legally evicted for circumstances outside their control, such as when a rental is returned to owner occupancy. It starts at $5,000 and includes extra payments for those who, like Smirin, are disabled or catastrophically ill. Tenants who move voluntarily - in response to a rent increase, for instance - are not automatically entitled to compensation.

"The only way to evict me is to raise my rent to an abominable amount I can't afford," said Smirin, 42, who is on disability leave from her job as a sustainability consultant.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021261452
 
.....And second, to ask the question, what in hell is a sustainability consultant?   
 

[Chris_]

What do you get for $3000 a month in San Francisco?

[Undies]

The first bit of advice to help the situation:  MOVE THE HELL OUT OF SA TANFRISCO.

[Celtic Rose]

What do you get for $3000 a month in San Francisco?

The median rent in San Francisco is $3,020, so you could probably get a fairly nice place to live, assuming you don't choose a really nice neighborhood. 

[Doc Savage]

how about "on disability and paying 3100 per month in rent"!   How much is disability in CA anyway?  Wonder why the mutants on the island are upset.  She has to be a 1%er and deserving.  I mean how many people can live per month on the amount of rent that she pays. 

[JohnnyReb]

$3,100 a month rent?... BOY!... It cost real money to live in a socialist utopia.

[NHSparky]

What do you get for $3000 a month in San Francisco?

Not much.

When I first lived in Hermosa Beach in 1996, the rent (including a rental fridge and an extra parking space--no small deal in HB) was $800/month for a 1-BR, 600 sq ft apartment.

That same place goes for a MINIMUM of $1825/mo.  IOW, more than my mortgage, taxes, and insurance.

[franksolich]

.....And second, to ask the question, what in hell is a sustainability consultant?

That was exactly my question too.

Does anybody here know?

[JohnnyReb]

.....And second, to ask the question, what in hell is a sustainability consultant?

That was exactly my question too.

Does anybody here know?

Damned if I know but it must be something like a community organizer.

..IOW's totally useless like tits on a boar hog.

[Karin]

This story has made my head explode.  From "sustainability consultant" to the ability to rent a $3,100 place on the Disability program, to the required starting amount of $5,000 for relocation expenses (oh my God can you imagine the abuses).  I have to lie down. 

[Ballygrl]

From Wikipedia:

A sustainability consultant is someone who gives advice to businesses on how to make their products as sustainable (usually in an ecological sense) as is required or requested.

[DefiantSix]

What do you get for $3000 a month in San Francisco?

[BlueStateSaint]

You've found Bobbolink!

[NHSparky]

You've found Bobbolink!

Not unless she has "neglected" to register it in Colorado for lo these many years.

[obumazombie]

That was exactly my question too.

Does anybody here know?

If it's not on nadin's resume, it should be.

[DefiantSix]

Not unless she has "neglected" to register it in Colorado for lo these many years.

Who can afford to register in Colorado, what with those confiscatory iPhone fees and this horrible 0-conomy that BOOOOOOOOOSH foisted upon The Holy WON of Chicago_{(Piss Be Upon Him)}?

[BlueStateSaint]

Not unless she has "neglected" to register it in Colorado for lo these many years.

Minor point.

[GOBUCKS]

From Wikipedia:


Quote
A sustainability consultant is someone who gives advice to businesses on how to make their products as sustainable (usually in an ecological sense) as is required or requested.

Well, that sure clears it up!

And that definition has "career" written all over it!

[jukin]

Me smells a national bouncy. Unless the rental laws in kalifornia have dramatically changed in the last two years, A landlord can only increase the rent 15% every year with an existing tenant.  I have a few rentals and the landlord is always, ALWAYS assumed guilty. One law states that I have to give a tenant a pre-inspection for cleaning their premises. This is good in theory because i don't want to clean the place and they want their security deposit back. However, if I do not give that pre-inspection I will be fined $10,000. So this story is pretty much BS or I need to talk to the landlord of this poor, poor woman.