According to public records, “In October 2015, the Compliance unit of the Revenue Management Bureau, aided by the Business Tax Customer Service and Audit units, conducted the calendar year 2015 non-compliant rental property project. Staff licensed and brought into compliance approximately 4,300 unregistered landlords. The project generated invoices of $6.58 million of which approximately $4.60 million has been collected.”

Oakland nails 4,300 unregistered landlords operating illegallyBy Lynda Carson - March 7, 2016Oakland - Sometimes Oakland is known for having residential buildings with bedbugs http://tinyurl.com/zmgyxb9 , or slumlords http://tinyurl.com/hh36hd4 , and bad landlords http://tinyurl.com/zp2juye Sometimes people like Hong Gardner makes the news at times http://tinyurl.com/k7hgjqy , or Elizabeth Ann Williams http://tinyurl.com/zad4z68 , and some landlords may have even been arrested for hiring an arsonist http://tinyurl.com/zbkfqjx . Sometimes landlords in Oakland may even end up going to prison for trying to hire an arsonist to burn down a low-income hotel, as a way to collect on the insurance money http://tinyurl.com/jnpxhru At other times, some landlords may be illegal landlords who have not registered their rental units with the City of Oakland, and have been operating illegally for years in the city. Other landlords may have been listed as slumlords by the community at large http://tinyurl.com/zcsaukn Then there are the times when landlords or nonprofit housing developers get nailed in Oakland for trying to evict all of their tenants from a building illegally http://tinyurl.com/ha5tdap In this latest case of shady landlords, in the March 7, 2016, on-line edition of East Bay Express http://tinyurl.com/jgrvs3h , there is brief a mention about 4,300 unregistered Oakland landlords getting caught for operating illegally recently. The story also mentions how the city collected an additional $4.60 million as a direct result.According to public records, “In October 2015, the Compliance unit of the Revenue Management Bureau, aided by the Business Tax Customer Service and Audit units, conducted the calendar year 2015 non-compliant rental property project. Staff licensed and brought into compliance approximately 4,300 unregistered landlords. The project generated invoices of $6.58 million of which approximately $4.60 million has been collected.”4,300 Unregistered Landlords Operating IllegallyNow that we know that 4,300 unregistered landlords were nailed recently for operating illegally in Oakland, people should be asking if city officials notified all the renters in those illegal rental units, or if the landlords operating illegally payed back all the rents they collected from the renters.According to “California Tenant Law” http://tinyurl.com/7akbv92 , in the section called “The Illegal Unit”, it clearly states; — “If the place is illegal, such as a converted garage or bootlegged duplex, then under Gruzen v. Henry, the landlord is not entitled to collect or request ANY rent. It is illegal if the structure that is there does not match the "Certificate of Occupancy" or equivalent issued by the City. Chances are, there are plenty of defects in an illegal unit: no contractor would touch it.”Considering that the city was able to track down and nail 4,300 unregistered landlords who were operating illegally in Oakland, should have notified all the renters that the landlords were operating illegally.Additionally, city officials should also be able to track down all the people who are operating illegal hotels in the city who are associated with Airbnb http://tinyurl.com/jpoyyjk . As was exposed in the East Bay Express http://tinyurl.com/opj4byt , there certainly appears to be a lot of shady operations happening in Oakland that city officials are turning a blind eye to.For a view of the public records revealing that 4,300 unregistered landlords have been operating illegally in Oakland: According to City records http://tinyurl.com/zdndq3d under the section called “Finance Department”, click on “1. View Report”, and a PDF report will open. Go to page 10 of the PDF report, to the section called “Business License Tax” to see mention of 4,300 unregistered landlords getting caught for operating illegally in Oakland.Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com >>>>>>