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Q&A
Discussion on criteria for determining commercial tenant harassment
0:42:21
ยท
143 sec
Council Member Amanda Farias inquires about the criteria used to determine commercial tenant harassment, referencing 30 cases mentioned earlier. Commissioner Dynishal Gross explains that SBS has only looked at case dispositions and distributions since 2016, with an increase during the pandemic. The discussion touches on various forms of potential harassment, such as non-renewal of leases and forced rental increases.
- SBS has limited insight into specific harassment cases as they don't provide litigation support
- There is a statutory definition of commercial tenant harassment in the city code
- The Commercial Lease Assistance program addresses various tenant complaints, including blocked access and repair issues
Amanda Farias
0:42:21
Thank you, Chair.
0:42:22
I'm gonna start off with some questions that I have just from testimony.
0:42:26
Do you folks happen to currently have or have looked at the criteria utilized by the Supreme Court as what's determining the the determining criteria for harassment?
0:42:37
Because I know where you folks referenced only 30 cases for commercial tenant harassment law.
0:42:43
To me, 30 cases is just 30 cases too many.
0:42:46
So I just wanna know if you folks have available, like, what is the criteria that's utilized for the term or the issue of harassment.
0:42:54
And then if so, how many of those 30 cases that you folks looked into were building regulatory, if you have that?
Dynishal Gross
0:43:04
So we we've only pulled the cases and seen the looked for the disposition of the cases and the distribution of the cases across the years since the local protection was enacted, which was September of 2016.
0:43:18
So we saw, you know, the first cases begin around 2019, a small increase in the cases during the pandemic.
0:43:27
And but we'd like to look further and understand that.
0:43:30
We're happy to be in conversation, with counsel about, the cases that have been filed to date.
0:43:36
And we we we identified them through Alexis Nexus search.
0:43:39
We don't have any special insight into what those cases will be because we are not currently providing litigation support for those cases.
0:43:47
I feel like I missed part of your question.
Amanda Farias
0:43:49
Just asking if we knew, like, what the criteria of the Supreme Court is utilizing to determine harassment or what's labeled and listed as harassment.
0:43:59
I think when it comes to as I'm sure you folks are familiar with, when it comes to some of the small businesses, we're seeing, you you know, not renewal of leases purposefully.
0:44:08
We're seeing forced rental inter in increases.
0:44:11
Are those those examples for the sake of examples, are those considered harassment or harassment like in terms of their criteria?
0:44:20
Because I do think there's a strong difference between what a individual small business owner experiencing numerous letters, pushing them out, eviction notices, forced violations as that's harassment to them, but maybe the Supreme Court or even our city doesn't identify those types of actions as harassment to a tenant or a commercial tenant or a small business owner.