Landlord tells Oakland residents displaced in apartment fire told their leases are being terminated
Residents who were displaced by a three-alarm fire at an Oakland apartment building on Monday are now dealing with more uncertainty.
Some people received a letter terminating their leases, just hours after the fire was extinguished.
Saron Hanson lived in the building on the corner of 19th Street and Broadway. He was inside when it caught fire, and he managed to escape with his life but not much else.
"I lost everything," said Hanson. These are the last little bit of clothes that I have now."
Hanson is staying at a shelter set up by the Red Cross. He was able to get back inside his apartment, but just for a few minutes.
"Definitely chaos, definitely a mess," said Hanson, explaining what it looked like inside. "And what's crazy is I just fixed my apartment back up the way that I liked it."
Just a few hours after the fire was put out, some of his neighbors received a letter that "all leases were hereby terminated." The letter goes on to say tenants will receive their full security deposit after they retrieve their belongings and return their keys.
Hanson didn't get a letter, but heard about it. A resident who gave his name as Wenzel lives across the street and said he was shocked to hear about the notice.
"It's so inhumane and shameful, I don't even have words for it," said Wenzel.
Landlord Ted Dang declined an interview, but did tell CBS Bay Area that he is trying to terminate the leases because the building is red-tagged. He says if he didn't, the tenants would still have to pay rent.
But managing attorney with the tenants' rights team at Centro Legal De La Raza, David Hall, says this doesn't follow the law.
"This is not a sufficient notice to terminate their tenancy," said Hall. "They are still tenants there. The landlord is still required to make repairs, and when the landlord does finish the repairs and brings the building up to code, and it's habitable again the tenants have to be offered the tenant's first right of return."
The Oakland City Attorney's Office also sent Dang a letter, saying a red tag does not automatically terminate tenancy, but a landlord can issue a notice to vacate when repairs are needed.
That notice must include things such as rights to return to the property, what repairs are being done, and a good-faith estimate of the time required to complete the repairs.
"The City Attorney's Office demands that the property owner withdraw any and all unlawful notices, including the attached document, and comply with all relevant housing laws," said the letter.
A spokesperson for the City of Oakland says they're encouraging residents not to sign any documents without the support of a lawyer.
But for now, Hanson is just trying to get by.
"Mainly, just trying to figure this thing out one day at a time," Hanson stated.