Protecting Tenants in Oakland, the Bay Area & Surrounding Areas
Tenant Law Group is a firm dedicated to protecting the rights of California renters—particularly those in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, including the counties of San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Napa, and Sonoma. Our attorneys never represent landlords, we fight aggressively—and exclusively—for tenants.
California is home to some of the most sought-after rental properties in the country.
- Online Case Management: Follow the progress of your case online.
- No Upfront Costs for Court Cases: We pay all the costs until we recover money for you.
- 90%+ Success Rate: We fight for justice against negligent and abusive California landlords.
How Can San Francisco Lease Agreement Lawyers Help You?
Was your rent increased illegally? Were you forced to move out of a rent-controlled apartment without legal justification? Were you harassed by your landlord? Were your rights as a renter violated?
Our lawyers handle these tenant law cases:
- Failure to Repair
- Wrongful Evictions
- Recovering Money
- Rent Board Hearings
- Landlord Harassment
- Tenant Rights Counseling
- Fair Employment and Housing Act Violations
Given the variety and complexity of these laws and regulations, renters whose rights have been violated are frequently unaware of the various remedies at their disposal.
Recovering Money in Landlord Disputes
Disputes where money damages are recoverable include displacement from an eviction-controlled apartment without good cause (also known as an illegal, wrongful, and/or constructive eviction), severe landlord harassment, failure to remediate uninhabitable conditions such as pest or rodent infestations, and other situations involving egregious or bad-faith landlord conduct.
Under certain circumstances, tenants may be entitled to damages:
- All California tenants are entitled to safe, healthy, habitable, and peaceful living environments free from harassment. Many Bay Area tenants are entitled to the benefits of rent control and eviction control.
- If your tenancy has involved any of these scenarios, you may be able to recover money damages with a California renters’ rights lawyer.
| Damages | Amount |
|---|---|
| Loss of use of a rent-controlled unit | $$$$ |
| Partial or full rebate of rent paid | $$$$ |
| Mandatory relocation payments | $$$$ |
| Out-of-pocket (e.g., moving or medical) expenses | $$$$ |
| Damaged and/or destroyed property (e.g., due to water damage) | $$$$ |
| Lost wages | $$$$ |
| Bodily injury | $$$$ |
| Mental and emotional injury (e.g., anxiety, depression, and fear) | $$$$ |
Tenant Rights Counseling
Silver Consultation
(30 Minutes + Zoom Videoconference + Tenant Rights Attorney): $145.00
FAQs | This is a limited engagement with Tenant Law Group during which a tenant rights attorney will analyze your legal matter and provide you with a summary of your rights, detailed legal analysis, and a recommended action plan. A Silver Consultation consists of attorney review of your materials and a thirty-minute consultation via Zoom (or by phone upon request). While a Silver Consultation does not include any written work product, the tenant rights attorney you meet with may refer you to written resources to help you address or resolve your landlord-tenant issue.
Gold Consultation
(60 Minutes + Videoconference + Tenant Rights Attorney): $235.00
FAQs | This is a limited engagement with Tenant Law Group during which a tenant rights attorney will analyze your legal matter and provide you with a summary of your rights, detailed legal analysis, and a recommended action plan. A Gold Consultation consists of attorney review of your materials and a sixty-minute consultation via Zoom (or by phone upon request). While a Gold Platinum Consultation does not include any written work product, the tenant rights attorney you meet with may refer you to written resources to help you address or resolve your landlord-tenant issue.
Platinum Consultation
(90 Minutes + Videoconference + Tenant Rights Attorney): $325.00
FAQs | This is a limited engagement with Tenant Law Group during which a tenant rights attorney will analyze your legal matter and provide you with a summary of your rights, detailed legal analysis, and a recommended action plan. A Platinum Consultation consists of attorney review of your materials and a ninety-minute consultation via Zoom (or by phone upon request). While a Platinum Consultation does not include any written work product, the tenant rights attorney you meet with may refer you to written resources to help you address or resolve your landlord-tenant issue.
Unlawful Detainer
After the expiration of a notice to quit or a notice of termination of tenancy, a landlord may file an unlawful detainer (eviction) lawsuit to recover possession of rental unit. Unscrupulous landlords who are hoping to get rid of tenants paying low rent in rent-controlled jurisdictions may file frivolous or meritless unlawful detainer lawsuits in the hope that tenants will give up without a fight and move out because they cannot afford legal counsel.
Rent Board Hearings
In jurisdictions such as San Francisco, local rent boards render decisions involving landlord petitions for rent increases, substantial rehabilitation exemptions, extensions of time to complete capital improvement work, and tenant occupancy status; and tenant petitions for substantial decrease in housing services, failure to repair and maintain, unlawful rent increase or request for determination of lawful rent, improper passthroughs, failure to discontinue a capital improvement passthrough, proportional rent claim by a subtenant against a master tenant, unlawful initial rent claim by a subtenant, and alleged wrongful evictions.Among the most common rent board hearings are attempts by landlords to raise rents above the amount permitted under that rent board’s annual rent increase. Showing up to a rent board hearing without legal representation puts a tenant at a significant disadvantage and increases the odds of a landlord prevailing.
Our team represents renters throughout the Bay Area at all types of rent board hearings. A final note: Regardless of the outcome of a rent board hearing, you may still be able to pursue other legal remedies against your landlord because rent board hearings are not part of the judicial system.