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
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.
What do you get for $3000 a month in San Francisco?
What do you get for $3000 a month in San Francisco?
.....And second, to ask the question, what in hell is a sustainability consultant?
Damned if I know but it must be something like a community organizer.
.....And second, to ask the question, what in hell is a sustainability consultant?
That was exactly my question too.
Does anybody here know?
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.
What do you get for $3000 a month in San Francisco?
(http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/images/12/2010/07/lemon_buick_skylark.jpeg)
You've found Bobbolink! :yahoo: :tongue:
That was exactly my question too.If it's not on nadin's resume, it should be.
Does anybody here know?
Not unless she has "neglected" to register it in Colorado for lo these many years.
Not unless she has "neglected" to register it in Colorado for lo these many years.
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.