Landlord attempted to illegally triple family’s rent

Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker and Centro Legal de la Raza have sued landlord Rong Fu Lee for his attempt to illegally increase his tenant’s rent by pretending he had moved into the downstairs unit of a duplex home.

In a situation that has become more common as Oakland’s housing crisis continues, some landlords are using fake owner move-ins as a tactic to evade Oakland’s just cause for eviction and rent control laws.

City officials say that Lee created a scheme to nearly triple the rent for the tenant in his rent-controlled duplex on Center Street. Under Oakland law, an owner may be entitled to evict a tenant or significantly increase a tenant’s rent by moving into the property. In Oakland’s housing crisis, some landlords are violating the law by claiming they will move in, or by moving into the property for a brief period, in order to evict tenants or increase rents by large amounts.

“As Oakland continues to struggle with its historic housing crisis, we are committed to stopping landlords who engage in deceit or coercion to unlawfully raise rents or evict tenants,” City Attorney Parker said. “We are suing unscrupulous landlords because every family that pays rent in Oakland is entitled to decent housing free from harassment and exploitation.”

Since 2003 tenant Salvador Sotelo, 65, and his family have lived in the Center Street duplex that Lee owns. In 2016 Lee claimed he had been living in the downstairs unit of the duplex for a year, and that the property therefore was exempt from rent control. However, utility bills showed months with zero water usage in the unit during that time period, and neighbors testified that Lee rarely visited the property.  Lee’s father was even videotaped bringing trash to the property from elsewhere, apparently to make it look like the downstairs unit was occupied.

“The landlord’s conduct in this case caused an immense amount of stress and anxiety for Mr. Sotelo and his family,” said Centro Legal Equal Justice Works Fellow Micaela Alvarez.  “We hope this case demonstrates that landlords will be held accountable for harassment and fraudulent owner move-ins and occupancies."

Sotelo filed a Rent Adjustment Program petition challenging the rent increase. In October 2017, a hearing officer found that increase was invalid because Lee had not occupied the unit as his primary residence for the requisite time period.

In 2014, Sotelo filed his first petition against Lee for illegal rent increases and habitability violations. According to the petition, the family had to lock their door with a wooden board because the doorjamb was severely rotted and the deadbolt was loose. Also, the toilet was broken and the unit had water damage including mold.

Sotelo says that Lee frequently yelled at him and his family, trying to scare and intimidate them, as well as threatening them with rent increases.

“One of my neighbors said to me that it was not right the way Mr. Lee treated us and that the City of Oakland has laws and I should be looking for advice,” says Sotelo, who then went to the City of Oakland and to Centro Legal de la Raza.


The City Attorney’s Neighborhood Law Corps unit and Centro Legal de la Raza filed a joint lawsuit against Lee on March 16. The City is suing Lee for violations of Oakland’s Tenant Protection and Just Cause laws, and Centro Legal is suing on behalf of Sotelo. The lawsuit asks the court to order Lee to immediately make repairs, refrain from making verbal or written threats against the Sotelo family, and pay penalties and attorney’s fees.

“I did not know my rights and I had the need to have shelter”, said Sotelo. “I want people to know that they could find help -- don’t allow the ignorance of not knowing the laws to become an easy target of greedy people”.