Landlord attorney L. Jay Pedersen passed away on January 16, 2012. Jay was a fiercely competitive and highly competent litigator. Some of us at Fried & Williams had the privilege and honor of working with Jay and even trying cases with him in court. He will be missed by the landlord community. Jay was a first class defense attorney. On many cases where a landlord was being sued for wrongful eviction or breach of the warranty of habitability, Jay would be appointed by an ins

An Alameda County Superior Court jury voted today to shutter the doors of Berkeley's infamous Forty Acres Medical Marijuana Growers Collective. The City of Berkeley and others had long claimed that the Collective was a nuisance and constituted an illegal use of the property where it has been located since 2009. The owner of the property that houses this Collective was forced by the City of Berkeley to either evict the collective or face heavy fines. The Collective sells med

Not surprisingly, laws are slowly changing to keep up with the electronic times. The passage of California Assembly Bill 1679 is an example of this. ​Under the new law, the landlord may wire a security deposit refund, after deductions, directly to a bank account designated by the tenant. Furthermore, the final deposit itemization statement and supporting documents can be sent to an e-mail account provided by the tenant. This law was approved by the Governor in September 2012

Apparently, some landlords in California thought it was a good idea to require their tenants to declaw or devocalize pets. ​It's not. On September 26, 2012, Governor Brown signed a bill making it unlawful to do this. In fact, a landlord violating this new law can be fined up to $1,000. For more information about this new law, click here. © 2012 by Fried & Williams LLP. All Rights Reserved. The information contained in this article is general in nature. For advice on any

Under current San Francisco Rent Control laws, when a landlord needs to temporarily displace a tenant to make needed repairs to a unit, the landlord must pay the tenants in the unit up to $15,460 plus additional payments of $3,436 to disabled or elderly tenants or households with minor children. These relocation payments are required even if the repairs will only take a few days. Sound unfair? California legislators thought so. On September 7, 2012, Governor Brown approve

The San Francisco allowable annual CPI rent increase rate effective March 1, 2011 through February 29, 2012 is 0.5%. © 2012 by Fried & Williams LLP. All Rights Reserved. The information contained in this article is general in nature. For advice on any particular matter, please consult with our attorneys because the facts of your situation may be unique and the law changes from time to time.