Joseph Tobener ’99 Creates Pandemic Tenant Toolkit

Joseph Tobener

Tenant rights attorney Joseph Tobener ’99 says he’s been getting about 100 calls a week from people who’ve lost their jobs and won’t be able to pay rent.

Tobener’s efforts to help Bay Area tenants was featured recently by KQED. Tobener’s firm, Tobener Ravenscroft LLP in San Francisco, is recommending tenants negotiate a rent deferment plan — even rent forgiveness — during the health emergency. The firm recently published a legal toolkit for tenants who have been financially burdened because of COVID-19, which suggests strategies for working with a landlord and advises tenants with no options other than stopping rent payments and refusing to leave.

Why that strategy may work: on April 6, the state Judicial Council suspended new eviction filings for 90 days after the state of emergency is lifted.

Tobener told KQED this means that tenants likely won’t see an eviction judgment until sometime in 2021, because even when the courts do open, there will be a huge backlog of cases and the potential limitations of holding jury trials. “It’s a real mess,” Tobener said. “It’s like the perfect shitstorm with the courts being closed,” he told KQED.

Tobener credits the UC Law SF Local Government Clinic for giving him his start in housing law.

“During my third year at UC Law SF, I clerked at the City of Berkeley. The clerkship gave me my first hands-on litigation experience in housing law, specifically Berkeley rent control law. Directly from that internship, I expanded to other local, rent-control jurisdictions, like San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles.”

His firm, Tobener Ravenscroft LLP, now has a staff of 10 lawyers, many of them UC Law SF alumni, helping tenants across California. “I have extremely fond memories of the caring professors and advisors who support the UC Law SF clerkship programs, and it is a huge part of what makes UC Law SF a unique place to study.” Tobener has also served as a UC Law SF adjunct professor, teaching legal writing and research.

The firm’s toolkit, “Can’t Afford Rent? A Legal Guide to Free Rent During the Pandemic,” covers:

• Rent deferment agreements. These are for tenants who cannot pay rent now but expect to be able to pay soon and want to stay in their unit well after the pandemic.
• Rent forgiveness agreements. This is different than a deferment, which requires you to pay the rent at a later time. Under a rent forgiveness agreement, renters do not have to pay the rent at all. When negotiating for rent forgiveness, request a clause stating you cannot be evicted for nonpayment of rent.
• What to do if you are sued for eviction. Once a renter is served with an eviction lawsuit, also known as an unlawful detainer, they only have five days to respond. Tenants need to respond quickly and to make sure to request a jury trial. Tenants have a statutory right to a jury trial. If a renter requests a jury trial, an eviction trial cannot go forward until the court has a full jury empaneled and is ready to hear the case.
• Avoiding an eviction judgment on your record. Instead of proceeding to trial, tenants should consider moving out before there is a judgment against them. That way, the eviction record will remain sealed (eviction records are only made public if the tenant loses the case), which increases a tenant’s chances of successfully renting in the future. If a tenant moves out while an eviction lawsuit is still pending, the landlord cannot continue with the lawsuit as an eviction.