Venting about Measure Y

[Account Closed]

I am the owner occupier of a triplex in Oakland. I would like to renovate one of my units, redoing the electrical (because it's painfully out of date), and redo the plumbing in that portion of the house before it becomes a problem. Because I occupy the premises I am exempt from just cause ordinances (which I think is fair).

I gave my tenants 60 days notice, and have been working with an eviction attorney.
They tried to negotiate with me, they demanded $24,000 cash-for-keys (for a 1 bedroom). I told them I'd give them 2 months free rent and extend their move-out date by 30 days. They declined, so we filed for a court date on October 2nd.

The Oakland court's are legally required to give you a court date 20 days after filing, but they are overburdened and I likely won't get a date until end of November.

As you may know, if Measure Y passes in the upcoming Oakland election, it will strip me of this right as an owner-occupier. The new law will likely take effect on November 16th, and by the time I get the court I won't have this leg to stand on. I'll have to restart eviction proceedings, and will be out two months of rent.

I wish I'd started this process during the summer, but I was dealing with massive capex and could not afford to risk it (new roof and new windows because many where broken). Ugh!

[Arlen Chou]

@Account Closed just to put things in perspective, let me tell you a short version of my story.  I bought a condo, gave a rent increase, tenant fought it, RAP agreed with her, City supported her, I had to go to Alameda court and won, the City appealed, I fought in Superior Court and won, then she started some BS argument that the previous owner did not do the condo conversion correctly AND she wanted $220,000 cash for keys... I only paid $125,000 to buy the studio condo! What crazy, greedy person asks for nearly 2x the purchase price??? 

The entire process took a little less then 4 years a sh*t ton of money. But she will be out in December :-)