Attorney General Rob Bonta Now Warning Eviction Lawyers Following Tenant Allegations That Landlords
A.G. Bonta Encourages tenants to report alleged violations of housing law to housing@doj.ca.gov
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent warning letters to 91 law firms across the state that represent landlords in eviction cases after being notified that some firms and their clients may have violated the law. The California Department of Justice’s Housing Strike Force has purportedly received reports that landlords, or the attorneys representing them, may be falsely declaring that tenants have not notified them of a pending emergency rental assistance application to push through evictions. COVID-19 emergency tenant protections prohibit landlords from moving forward with eviction proceedings while a tenant’s rental assistance application is pending.
With no actual evidence other than allegations being made by tenants wanting to keep the rent holiday going, it is just like Attorney General Bonta to “shoot first and ask questions later.” “We have reason to believe that some landlords and their attorneys may be filing false declarations to push hardworking Californians out of their homes,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This is unacceptable, and more importantly, absolutely illegal. California families were already struggling with the high cost of housing before the pandemic, and these past two years have only made things worse. Our Housing Strike Force is investigating these reports, and if necessary, we will take action.”
Under the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act, landlords are not permitted to evict tenants for unpaid rent due to COVID-19 related financial hardship unless (i) government rental assistance has been denied or (ii) the landlord certifies that they completed a rental assistance application, twenty days have passed since the application was submitted, and the landlord has not received notice from either the government or the tenant indicating that the tenant has applied for rental assistance. Legislation passed today extends these eviction protections through June for those who have applied for rental assistance by March 31, 2022.
The California Department of Justice’s “Housing Strike Force” has received reports that some attorneys representing landlords may be filing declarations – or allowing their clients to file declarations — that falsely indicate that the landlord has received no notice that the tenant applied for rental assistance, even when there is clear evidence to the contrary. Likewise, it appears that some attorneys are continuing to prosecute existing eviction actions after learning that the declaration supporting issuance of a court summons was false. The Housing Strike Force received these reports through ongoing outreach to tenant advocacy organizations, including during a series of roundtables hosted across California earlier this month. Apparently, Attorney General Bonta and his so-called “Housing Strike Force,” which name sounds like something akin to a World War II era military group, does not trust our state’s judges to make a fair ruling and to make their own determination whether declarations being filed are false.
Filing false declarations in court violates multiple state laws, as does continuing to prosecute a case after learning that the declaration used to initiate it is false. In the letter, Attorney General Bonta strongly encourages law firms to review the eviction cases they have on file or plan to file to ensure compliance with the law. Formed a couple of months ago, Attorney General Bonta’s “Housing Strike Force” encourages California renters to send complaints or tips related to housing to housing@doj.ca.gov. The Housing Strike Force was set up to monitor compliance with state housing laws, and seemingly to harass the state’s rental housing providers.