California cracks down on properties unlawfully evicting tenants

California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday announced a legal settlement that has already protected hundreds of evicted and harassed California tenants.

The newly launched Housing Strike Force secured its first settlement aimed to provide renters access, affordability, and fairness.

"When you break the law, you will be held to account. There will be consequences," said Bonta.

The attorney general said announced a $3 million settlement with Los Angeles-based Wedgewood LLC, a corporate real estate investment company that owns a wide variety of rental units and properties.

Bonta says Wedgewood buys foreclosed properties, fixes them up, and flips them as fast as possible. The case centers on Wedgewood's evictions from foreclosed properties without meeting legal requirements, "depriving lawful tenants of their rights to continue living on the property under a pre-existing lease of for at least 90 days after a foreclosure as required by law, evicting tenants without just cause in rent-controlled jurisdictions, filing false declarations to support the unlawful evictions and failing to provide essential utility services to tenants," said Bonta.

Madeline Howard is a senior attorney at the influential Western Center on Law & Poverty, a non-profit that represents low-income Californians, said, "We hear a lot about mom-and-pop landlords in policymaking, but in reality, most tenants live in housing that owned by corporate entities like these real estate investment trusts.

The consequences of eviction are often brutal.

"When a family is evicted, whether it's by a court process or whether they're just afraid of the owners harassing them, they're often going to end up homeless," said Howard.

Of the multi-million dollar settlement, $2.75 million goes to pay restitution to those wrongly treated, harassed, or evicted. A quarter-million will go to a civil penalty fine. A half-million will go to programs and activities that will benefit California tenants or help combat homelessness.

"The Housing Strike Force was created for a reason. It's a strike force of action. This is one of its actions. There will be others," said Bonta.

This is a clear warning to all landlords of all sizes, especially big ones, who wrongly use harassment, economic power, and deception to deprive tenants of their rights.