CALIFORNIA—The San Francisco real estate investment firm, Mosser Companies, is facing multiple lawsuits which were filed on Tuesday, May 25 in the Alameda Superior Court. The plaintiffs in the case are tenants of Mosser owned properties in Oakland. The tenants allege that Mosser has not only been harassing the tenants, but also failing to maintain the buildings in livable condition and have been imposing various fees in order to push the tenants out of the properties.
Five separate lawsuits were filed by the tenants across all of the Mosser owned properties in Oakland for which they serve as landlords. The lawsuit claims that the company has violated the Oakland Tenant Protection Ordinance by making tenants pay more rent by creating utility fees, failing to complete repairs of mold, leaks, pest problems and using intimidation tactics such as dropping by tenants homes for unannounced inspections.
The tenants were also allegedly billed for unmetered water charges, unmetered sewer charges and garbage removal fees illegally. The tenants live in rent controlled homes paying between $800-$1000 for their homes that could be rented at a much higher rate.
The lawsuit alleges that the landlord’s aggressive attempts to get the tenants to move out is to charge higher rent with new tenants. The tenants are being represented by the ACCE Institute, whose mission is to “ is to improve the lives of California’s traditionally underserved residents, including communities of color, low-income and working families, and the undocumented population” according to the ACCE Institute’s website.
