The Berkeley Rental Housing Safety Program Certifications are due in June. Link
here for information.
Rent Board Registration fees Due July 1st.
Link here for more information.
Next Members Meeting September 16th
Hs.Lordships Restaurant
Guest Speaker R.S. Radford of the Pacific Legal Foundation
see calendar for details
For Information on the new EPA Lead Laws, Link
HERE If you think it doesn't apply to you...or sounds like too much trouble,
remember that there is a $37,500.00 fine per violation!
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
It appears the rent board and anti-property owner advocates have been busy this past month. I think this is the time for BPOA to retrench and regroup.
First the Rent Board volunteers to provide staff for the 4x4 committee (a committee that consists of three council members and three Rent Board members) to make further changes to the Rental Housing Safety Program. Then Berkeley City Council Member Jesse Arreguin makes two proposals; 1) That the credit check/application fee a property owner may charge a potential resident be limited to the actual cost of the screening agency charges provided that the property owner provides the potential resident with a receipt for the actual cost and the credit report and 2) A referral to the City Manager and the 4x4 committee to create an Anti-Harassment Ordinance, to define and prohibit the harassment of Tenants in the City of Berkeley.
None of this is set in stone yet, but it is likely just a matter of time. Our membership will surely have varied responses to each of these. After discussing these proposals with different individuals I will give you my take on it and some background which will provide you insight on how the "democratic" process in this City is exclusionary.
BPOA first got wind of the proposal to make revisions to the RHSP at the beginning of June. The Housing and Community Services Department had spoken with the BPOA about this many months ago and then they also went to the rent board. At the end, the recommendations made to the Council seemed reasonable and not overbearing to property owners. Procedurally these recommendations were then referred to the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC). The HAC passed the recommendations of the Housing Department unadulterated and hence the recommendations were then sent on to the City Council for passage. Once the recommendations were in front of the City Council, the Rent Board proposed their own amendment at the last minute.
The amendment basically reaffirms the Housing Department's recommendations and adds that the aforementioned 4x4 committee should continue to review how to further improve safety of the housing in Berkeley and charge the 4x4 committee with making further recommendations above and beyond what was being proposed. And the final change was that the 4x4 committee be staffed by the Rent Board if the Housing Department cannot do so.
Now the last of part of these amendments is what is troublesome. BPOA Board Member Jon Vicars and I visited with 4 different council members and informed them that we are in support of the Housing Department's recommendations however; we cannot support the Rent Board staffing the committee. The reasons for this are outlined in a letter that can be found inside the newsletter. In short, property owners can work with the housing department cannot and should not have to work with the Rent Board as they are strictly representatives of tenants.
This was a very interesting move on the part of the Rent Board. I did a quick check online of the 4x4 committee, which is traditionally staffed by the Housing and Community Services Department; they have not met once this year.
However, with the Rent Board now volunteering to staff the committee, you can bet the resources will be available to start making more and more changes and start meeting more often. Changes that will only be adverse to property owner rights, especially since the 4x4 committee will consist of three already sitting Rent Board Commissioners (of course hostile towards property owners) and two Council members who were former Rent Board Commissioners (Max Anderson & Jesse Arreguin). That only leaves one person who may have be able to have some influence on the process and who is not averse to the interests of property owners; that would be Council Member Gordon Wozniak.
So what has happened here is that first the Rent Board offers to staff a dormant committee whose duty is to recommend changes to housing laws/ordinances to the City Council. Now that the committee is revived the next step is to use a current Council Member, who is a former Rent Board Commissioner, to recommend that the 4x4 committee take up three different topics immediately following the solving of the staffing problem.
What gets me about this is that the general public does not get wind of these amendments or changes or proposal or whatever until the last minute. At 5pm Thursday the Council agenda becomes public. This agenda usually contains 40 plus items, all of which will be considering the following Tuesday. In real world terms this does not leave a lot of time to formulate a proper rebuttal or proposal or amendment to be proposed. The timing and public unveiling of upcoming agenda items is prohibitive to public participation in the legislative process, especially when the people making the proposals are hostile towards property owners.
All this being said there is a slight bit of good news. Other than the RHSP revisions, there is still an opportunity to have our say before anything becomes final with regards to the screening fees and the anti harassment policy. However, in order to really insert ourselves in this process we as an organization need to be prepared to do a variety of things.
First, we must be willing to spend the time. And the amount of times this takes is substantial and therefore there must be more than one or two willing participants. Remember the Board consists of volunteers who have their own businesses and lives to conduct. We need is brain trust, a small group of stake holders who are generally intelligent and willing to think critically for more than a few minutes on the issues in order to formulate proper responses and compromises. Unfortunately, at this time BPOA does not have the budget to hire a professional to manage these issues for us. So ….. Who is ready to volunteer? If there are members out there who care, please step up now. Contact the BPOA office with what you are willing to do.
GOT QUESTIONS? HAVE ANSWERS? CONTACT US!
Berkeley Property Owners Association
email: bpoa@bpoa.org
Berkeley Can Do Better (www.berkeleycandobetter.com)
email: info@berkeleycandobetter.com
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATON
The only thing worse than bullies who forcefully take what is rightfully yours are the bureaucratic thugs who claim it is moral for them to take it.Protect your rights to life and property with the same tenacity you would fight a bully. Don't let them use moral guilt to disarm you.
--Eric Khrom
Brooklyn NY
SIMPLY PUT...
- You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
- What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
- The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
- When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
- You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
FREE MONEY FROM ASHBY LUMBER?
Now, new and renewing BPOA members will receive 50% off their next purchase of up to $100 in merchandise from Ashby Lumber. That's like getting a check for $50 when you join or renew! The discount applies to nearly everything sold at Ashby Lumber & Hardware. Only power tools, sale items, and special orders are excluded. Coupons are mailed by BPOA to qualifying members. Not a member? Become one now! Join BPOA
SOFT STORY
ARE YOU ON THE LIST? INVENTORY LINK HERE
YOU MUST POST THIS NOTICE WITHIN 5 FEET OF ALL ENTRANCES
YOU MUST ALSO SEND THIS NOTICE TO YOUR TENANTS (AND A COPY TO THE CITY)
Some Basic Background Information on Economics and Rent Control
The High Cost of Rent Control
Landlord/Tenant Law 101
Beginning in early 2004, the BPOA Monthly published a series of articles about the basics of landlord tenant law, particularly as applied in Berkeley. Over the months we have covered the following subjects:
Rent Board Changes on Security Deposit Interest Rates
2009 AGA Information
thinking about eviction?
GOVERNOR AGREES: LANDLORDS ARE NOT IMMIGRATION COPS
Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 976 into law. The bill prohibits city councils from passing laws that require landlords to inquire about a prospective tenant's immigration status and report that information to local government.
Need Mentoring? Contact us! bpoa@bpoa.org
Getting Religious?
Read the Ten Commandments (for landlords!)
The ranks of property owners are swelling, as evidenced by requests to the office to join our organization.To familiarize newcomers with our local "system," andto facilitate contact with BPOA boardmembers, we have started a mentoring program.
Please call the office for information at (510) 525-3666. or Contact us.
