Movement Legal

10/08/2026

Community members have organized and fought for rent control for years in Santa Barbara, a city that is more than 1/3 Latino/a/x and where income inequality is stark. Finally tenants will be protected by a 60% CPI rent cap (3% maximum), a rent board, and a rent registry. Congratulations Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), Santa Barbara Tenants Union, Councilmember Wendy Santamaria, and all the community members who made this happen!

Stay tuned for an exciting announcement from Movement Legal about our work on the Central Coast to support tenants and help enforce this new law when it goes into effect on January 1.

09/25/2026

https://sfstandard.com/2026/09/15/arthaus-east-bay-tenants-workforce-housing/

East Bay property developer ArtHaus says it’s building the “workforce housing” the Bay Area desperately needs. But residents have another story to tell.

09/17/2026

Exciting update! As we’ve reported, tenants at Monterey Pines Apartments who were fed up with illegal rent increases and lack of maintenance organized with ACCE Contra Costa to assert their rights with the Richmond Rent Board and demand removal of a rent control exemption for their Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) property. Movement Legal bolstered the tenants’ advocacy, repeatedly meeting with the tenants, issuing a demand letter to their landlord, and appearing with the tenants again and again to speak at Rent Board meetings and demonstrations. The tenants have continued to show up in force.

Following this sustained pressure, the landlord returned the illegally demanded fees, and this month the Rent Board decided to remove the property’s exemption. This means the 324 tenancies at Monterey Pines are now fully protected by local rent control! The story isn’t over, but it shows what legal services and tenant organizing can accomplish together. The tenants inspired the political willpower for this policy change, and we provided a legal path to see it through. Great work Adam Morton, Ashley Quezada, Amy Androw, Leah Simon-Weisberg, ACCE Action, and tenants of Monterey Pines!

08/19/2026

Great to see the tenants' and city's lawsuits getting widespread media attention, sending a message to property owners that forcing out longterm tenants through deferred maintenance won't be tolerated. At least not in Oakland.

The Oakland City Attorney is joining a legal battle against a downtown landlord after elderly and disabled residents were left without working elevators for weeks.

08/13/2026

The Oakland City Attorney has filed a lawsuit parallel to ours enforcing the elevator maintenance policy that we supported.

Managing Attorney Ethan Silverstein, who represents tenants at this property, has sued the Mosser Companies for similar violations in the past. “Failing to maintain housing services is all too common amongst corporate landlords and leads to rent-controlled tenants being forced out of their long-term homes. By taking this action, these tenants are helping other tenants understand their rights. We hope this lawsuit inspires tenants in similar situations to organize and hold their landlords accountable.”

The plaintiffs, most of whom are senior citizens and individuals living with mobility issues, allege that they went more than seven weeks without working elevators, causing them to have difficulty leaving their homes and accessing laundry and garbage facilities.

https://oaklandside.org/2026/08/12/mosser-oakland-city-attorney-lawsuit-elevators/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTqzExwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR6tIp06XsEpu2QmQIusLiOc8LrTAoOKZ17FuPDgu-lEnr5niGzkkXrdAjFjiQ_aem_OvN1a4jDLZ-SWQRzbX_zTw

City Attorney Ryan Richardson filed suit Tuesday against Mosser Companies over alleged issues at La Peralta on 13th Street.

08/11/2026

"Currently, those aged 50 and older make up the fastest-growing demographic experiencing homelessness; many will become homeless only after they retire." This eye opening piece by Francis Nguyen looks at a growing but often overlooked tenant population and a SAJE/Stay Housed LA proposal, inspired by a New York state law, to freeze rents for older adults and protect them from evictions, giving tax benefits to landlords instead. But seniors in non rent stabilized units would be left out due to California's Costa-Hawkins exemptions.

Older renters are especially vulnerable to rising housing costs, inaccessible buildings, weak tenant protections, and homelessness.

08/03/2026

Los Angeles tenants have been organizing to bring attention to rampant harassment by landlords. Their determination led to the City Council strengthening the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance and now this landmark lawsuit. Movement Legal attorneys have been beating bogus evictions of tenants at this property, supporting their organizing, and urging the City Attorney's office to file the suit. Managing Attorney Erin Joslin speaks at 1:35. ✊🎤

07/24/2026

We’re proud to be part of the Stay Housed L.A. partnership keeping tenants in their homes.

07/21/2026

This is a story of LA tenants being told to blindly pay utility charges, a growing movement to ban this practice (RUBS), and an out-of-state corporate landlord allegedly retaliating against tenants organizing around this issue with eviction attempts.

Movement Legal Managing Attorney Ethan Silverstein, who has been litigating junk fee cases and advocating for RUBS bans for years, is quoted.

A city department recommends a ban for rent-stabilized units, but some tenants want one citywide.

07/07/2026

"JD Home Rentals — a company long-criticized by tenants’ rights advocates — has launched a flurry of lawsuits against the city of Fresno in an attempt to have various code enforcement citations voided by a judge...

Leah Simon-Weisberg,...who helped launch the 2014 class action suit, told The Bee that she believes JD's recent suits look like an attempt to frustrate the code enforcement by making it expensive to monitor its properties.

'The disappointing part of this is that the whole reason the (2014) case was originally filed against them was that they had turned the entire code enforcement department into their management company,' she said of JD. 'The pattern that was observed is that they never made repairs unless the city called.'...

If the company wins its current suits, it could 'undermine' processes intended to make housing safe, she said."

Long criticized by tenants’ rights advocates, the company is arguing in court that city officers have illegally imposed fines for violations.