An Alameda County Superior Court grand jury report was released Monday criticizing the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board’s hiring procedures, fee levels and its alleged bias in favor of tenants.
The report recommends solutions for the rent board to change the way it functions. In response, the rent board refuses to comply with the recommendations, claiming that the facts made by the report are factually wrong and did not represent the whole picture of how the board works.
The grand jury did not disclose information regarding the nature of their investigation or how it was conducted.
The report states the rent board charges landlords registration fees of $194 per unit with penalties for nonpayment. According to the grand jury, this is an “extraordinary increase” compared to the $12 per unit city fee in 1980.
According to the report, the rent board is “biased in favor of tenants, charges excessive registration fees to landlords, uses improper hiring procedures, and discourages open expression of concerns.”
In response to the report’s claim, Rent Board chair Lisa Stephens said the registration fees to landlords should be included in the price landlords set for tenants to pay to them. The increase in rent a landlord is allowed to make each year accounts for the registration fee.
Rent Board Executive Director Jay Kelekian also said the increase in landlord fees from $12 to $194 per unit is due to underestimated costs of the rent control system when the system was initially implemented.
As for comparing Berkeley and other cities in the grand jury report, board Commissioner Igor Tregub says that the cities are fundamentally different than Berkeley in their policies and operations.
“These funds are necessary for administering ordinances,” Tregub said.
Berkeley landlord Ali Eslami said the cost just feels like a fee to do business in the city.
“Nobody wants to pay a fee, but agencies need money to function,” Eslami said. “The agency has been very helpful in mediating conflicts between tenants and landlords and explaining renting policies.”
Other issues the report states are the rent board’s “improper personnel procedures” of hiring possibly unqualified employees, creating new, unnecessary positions and having a high yearly salary for the executive director compared to the city’s public works director, who manages a larger workforce and budget.
Stephens said the comparison between the two positions is flawed because the executive director’s salary was set in 2008 and determined by comparing the salaries of other public positions similar to the executive, such as the city clerk.
In regards to the board’s hiring process, both Stephens and Kelekian said the board follows standard city procedures by discussing with the human resources department which positions are necessary and who to hire.
The report also questions the pro-tenant slate of the board — which has included both landlords and homeowners in the past — to which Eslami said the board is supposed to be biased because its function is to protect tenant rights.
“The answer to whether they’re fair in their policies or not would take a long conversation,” Eslami said. “Otherwise, they do what they’re supposed to do.”
The Berkeley Property Owners Association could not be reached for comment when contacted.
Though the board does not have to follow the recommendations made in the report by the grand jury, the Berkeley City Council could place a measure on the November ballot so that city residents can vote on the way the rent board operates.
View the grand jury report and the rent board’s response to the report here:
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<br /> <a href=”http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/380921/grand-jury-report.pdf”>Grand Jury Report (PDF)</a><br /> <br /> <a href=”http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/380921/grand-jury-report.txt”>Grand Jury Report (Text)</a><br />
Correction(s):
A previous version of this article stated that the Alameda County Superior Court grand jury report released Monday criticized the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board for “misconduct” regarding board procedures. In fact, the report makes no mention of “misconduct,” which carries specific legal connotations.
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Here is a bief summary of misdeeds (there is even more from others
that I am glad to put you in contact with):
Berkeley Rent Board Report missing many elements.
1. Ignoring judges’ reprimand
2. Making false statements collecting money for false services, then
refusing to return it after client won case.
3. Rulings that dead people live places on video of hearing.
4. Rulings that a person who had not been in the US for 12 years that
Berkeley was their primary residence, paid no US taxes.
5. Rulings that person who is in prison for 6 years that Berkeley was
his primary residence.
6. Ignoring over whelming evidence and breaking laws to rule for tenants.
7. Trespassing in private homes without a search warrant looking for
evidence this happened to me 3 times.
8. Counter claims by different rent board parties to the detriment of
petitioning parties.
9. Potential (not substantiated) ” Sexual favors in change for services”
10. Disbarred attorney’s and rent board members colluding in cases
before hearings, they also happened to be friends.
I have official evidence to back up statements for some.
They also plan to charge fraternities $85 anual rent board fees, others get charged $194
Cheers to Ali Eslami, for calling the shots as he see them.
I’m gonna go get a drink tonight at his bar,
Perhaps Berkeley’s Best Bars for young folk
the Missouri Lounge, http://www.yelp.com/biz/missouri-lounge-berkeley
With pool table, BBQ Grill, out door patio and smoking area..
Grand Jury Report read like a Berkeley Property Owners Association screed, I’m curious to learn more about the members of the Grand Jury, and how this got so Biased. I reblogged Rent Board Chair Stevens response.. http://moped45.tumblr.com/post/25943141615/berkeley-rent-board-chairwoman-responds-to-scathing
Which didn’t take her long to prepare, as the Board Staff have been defending themselves against this same slander for years.. And producing serious studies and data to prove their position. Its curious that The Grand Jury didn’t include any of the data BRSB shared witth them,
grand jury report…?
get back to us when there’s a ruling from the bench,
otherwise this is hardly news
Yes and no – if what the rent control board is doing is unethical, but technically legal, it is still important to know about. I think their utter disregard for criticism and denial of facts is very interesting, and I would urge the city of Berkeley to look into the matter.
When looking for a new apartment in the area, I often heard that the rent control in Berkeley was extraordinarily conservative, to the point that there were couples with children living in one or two bedroom apartments because one or both of the adults had signed onto leases years, if not decades ago. The current rent of a few such families I spoke to was a fraction of what current competitive rates are today.
As a Cal student (not a property owner), I do enjoy paying the same rent/rates as I did back in 2009 for the same apartment, but I’ve got to wonder about this rent board’s policies. They may be seeing overall support for their decisions because renters outnumber property owners in the area, but I do believe that their policies are unfair.
Actually the rent control in Berkeley is pretty liberal in the sense that it helps out the tenants and the landlords and the Rent Board also helps mediate disputes between landlords and tenants that are having differences.
As for these couples with children, what the board does is protect them against eviction under the Good Cause Ordinance. The landlord is unable to evict a rent-paying, responsible tenant simply so that they can get higher rents off of someone else. If they did want to raise their rents, there is a process that a landlord can go through, but they cant just kick out their tenants to do so.
As a Cal student myself I love that the rent board is on my side and has policies that benefit me. They have made themselves available to students who need advice or information on renter’s rights and alerted me about the building that I was living in not being earthquake-safe (I’m not living there anymore).