Mosser Company is among the landlords facing a rent strike in Oakland

Mosser Company is among the landlords facing a rent strike in Oakland

By Lynda Carson - May 8, 2020

Oakland - As of May 6, 2020, some 19.8 percent of renters across the nation did not pay partial or full rent in contrast to 22 percent of renters who did not pay partial or full rent during April 2020, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council’s (NMHC) rent tracker.

Tenants in Oakland and other tenants around the nation have gone on a rent strike in April and May since the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has made many renters unemployed and laid off from their jobs.

In Oakland, near 8th Ave and E. 19th Street, there are many posters stapled to the phone poles that say in large letters, No Wages, No Rent, in addition to contact information.

Among those who are on a rent strike in Oakland, Melisande Ortiz is one of those on a rent strike against the landlord known as the Mosser Company. The CEO of Mosser Company Inc., is Neveo Ducraig Mosser, of Napa, who resides in a luxurious house on around 65 acres of land.

According to an article in Berkeleyside, “On the evening of May 7, Melisande Ortiz found a note taped to her front door by her landlord, the Mosser Company, sometime earlier in the day. The notice informed her that on May 8, between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Mosser employees planned to enter her apartment “for the purposes of exhibiting the unit to workmen or contractors and making necessary repairs or improvements.”

Ortiz said she hasn’t asked for any repairs and doesn’t think anything in her apartment is broken. Since March 17, she has been sheltering in place in her home. Ortiz has asthma and said she is uncomfortable with contractors entering the building because they could spread COVID-19 or be exposed to it themselves. She is also worried about putting the health of other residents in her building, including seniors, at risk.

“I haven’t had friends over and now I have to let strangers come into my apartment?” said Ortiz, who added she “felt sick” when she saw the notice informing her that strangers would be trying to enter her home.

Ortiz suspects that the notice to enter her home was not just a mundane announcement about some small apartment repairs. She and others who live in Mosser Company-owned units have noted that the company seems to do an inordinate amount of construction work on various Oakland buildings, work that can be so relentless that one tenant called it “harassment.” Once the work is done, the costs can be passed on to tenants, a maneuver many believe is unfair.”

Additionally, according to the Berkeleyside article by Darwin BondGraham, Melisande Ortiz wonders if her apartment has been targeted for repairs because she has not paid her rent and that she is among around 250 Oakland tenants who have gone on a rent strike against the Mosser Company, and other landlords in Oakland.

According to Darwin BondGraham, “Nicole Deane, ACCE’s lead organizer, estimates that perhaps 20% of Mosser’s Oakland tenants belong to the renters union and 10% are on strike. Many of them have also complained about the company’s practices. They say that numerous disruptive construction projects have been carried out over the past several years.

Darwin BondGraham also wrote that “Deirdre O’Shea lives in a Mosser-owned building on Harrison Street. She said the company frequently sends work crews in a “disruptive” manner and that construction seems to be nonstop. City records show Mosser Company obtained 15 building permits last year for the property, mostly for kitchen and bathroom remodels.

O’Shea said that contractors were working on a unit across the hallway from her apartment recently, after the shelter-in-place order was imposed. She said the work stopped after she complained to the company.”

Others in the story complained of harassment against the Mosser Company including Mitch Perez, and Angela Shanon complained that the landlord can pass on 70% of construction costs to the tenants by increasing their rents.

It definitely sounds like harassment for landlords to be doing large renovation projects in residential rental buildings during the time of shelter-in-place orders that exist because of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic that has killed over 73,000 people all across the nation.

Residing on 65 acres of land in a fancy home in the wealthy area of Napa, one can only wonder why Neveo Ducraig Mosser, who has $1 billion in holdings, is allowed to unfairly pass on the costs to the tenants in properties that he owns, by passing 70% of construction costs to the tenants by increasing their rents? This sounds totally unreasonable. It’s not difficult to understand why Mosser has renters going on a rent strike during the time of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic that has cost millions of people their jobs all across the nation since last March.

It’s also notable that the Regents at UC Berkeley want the tenants at 1921 Walnut St., in Berkeley, to relocate from the four story building they reside in during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, which seems totally insane to the tenants facing the frightening tragic situation.

Additionally, according to my friends with Food Not Bombs the Regents also continue to make their moves against People’s Park in Berkeley. Neighboring buildings in the area have been flooded recently with a lot of paperwork from the University in regards to the plans of UC Berkeley to take People’s Park from the PEOPLE.

For more about rent strikes click here, and see a few links below.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

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We Strike Together

190,288 plus rent strikers

https://westriketogether.org/

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The Action Network

13,808 actions taken

https://actionnetwork.org/forms/mayday-cantpay

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ACRE - Action Center on Race and the Economy

https://acrecampaigns.org/

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ACCE Action - rent strike

https://www.acceaction.org/rentstrike

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Housing Rights Committee - San Francisco

https://twitter.com/housingrightsSF

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antievictionmap

https://www.antievictionmap.com/bonnie-spindler

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Tara #RentZero Raghuveer

https://twitter.com/taraghuveer

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#Food Not Rent

https://twitter.com/hashtag/FoodNotRent

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#Housing Is A Human Right

https://twitter.com/hashtag/HousingIsAHumanRight

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#Cancel Rent (New York)

https://twitter.com/hashtag/CancelRent?src=hashtag_click

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#Rent Strike

https://twitter.com/hashtag/RentStrike

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#ProtectMOTenants (Missouri)

https://twitter.com/hashtag/ProtectMOTenants

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Seattle Rent Strike

https://twitter.com/rentstrike206?lang=en

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Rent Strike 2020

https://twitter.com/rentstrike2020?lang=en

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Rent Strike News (Bay Area?)

https://twitter.com/rent_strike?lang=en

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Rent Strike ATX

https://twitter.com/rentstrikeatx?lang=en

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Rent Strike - The Rent Is Way To High (United Kingdom)

https://twitter.com/rentstrikenow?lang=en

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Rent Strike - Portland

https://twitter.com/pdxrentstrike?lang=en

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#Rent Strike 2020

https://twitter.com/hashtag/rentstrike2020?lang=en

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Rent Strike Minnesota

https://twitter.com/rentstrikemn?lang=en

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COVID-19 Rent Strike - Canada

https://twitter.com/covidrent?lang=en

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#Richmond Rent Strike

https://twitter.com/hashtag/richmondrentstrike?lang=en

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Rent Strike - LA

https://twitter.com/rentstrikela

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