Tenants Together Releases Guide for Tenants Victimized by Napa Earthquake

Today, Tenants Together is releasing a guide for tenants impacted by the Napa earthquake. Renters in Napa are discovering the hard way that they don’t know their rights following last month’s earthquake. Hundreds of homes have been red-tagged and many tenants have been unable to return because of earthquake damage. In Napa’s tight and expensive real estate market, this has meant major hardship for tenants who are displaced.

Local nonprofits have been struggling to keep up with the inquiries, but lacking to date is any tenant-focused fact sheet to answer the recurring questions that have come up. In response, Tenants Together has compiled the key information into a Guide for Napa tenants impacted by the earthquake.

“The stories are heartbreaking,” commented Leah Simon-Weisberg, Legal Director of Tenants Together, California’s statewide organization for renters’ rights. “The damage and displacement is bad enough, but it’s made worse by the fact that there’s not a single resource out there for tenants to lay out clearly exactly what their rights are after such a disaster. We’re releasing our Guide to fill that void.”

Aimee Inglis of Tenants Together reached out to her former employer (Cope Family Center in Napa) and other area nonprofits to determine what was needed. Tenants Together collaborated with Cope Family Center in Napa and Fair Housing Napa Valley to put together the information in the Guide for Tenants. TT’s legal team exhaustively researched the applicable law and produced the fact sheet.

“It’s a confusing time for tenants,” commented Simon-Weisberg. “We wanted to bring some clarity to tenants and those front-lines service providers who are working so hard to assist tenants.”

The Guide contains answers to each of the following questions and more:

• What does it mean if my apartment building was red, yellow, or green tagged?
• Am I entitled to relocation benefits?
• Are there any other resources available to me?
• Can I reenter the building to get my belongings?
• Is my lease terminated because of earthquake damage?
• Do I still need to pay rent if my unit has been tagged?
• Can the landlord raise my rent to make earthquake repairs?
• Can the landlord take money for earthquake damage repairs out of my security deposit?

Tenants can visit http://www.tenantstogether.org/earthquakeanswers, for more information and to request a copy of the Guide.