Tenants Defeat Ellis Act Eviction in San Francisco

Tenants at a six-unit building in San Francisco prevailed in an Ellis Act eviction case when a San Francisco Superior Court Judge granted summary judgment for the tenants.

As reported earlier this week by Paul Hogarth of BeyondChron.org, the tenants' prior landlords, Kip and Nicole Macy,

had made local headlines for their battle of intimidation that included hacking into the tenants’ e-mails, cutting out the floor boards, and breaking into their units – after failing to get them out with an Ellis eviction. The Macy’s landed in jail and foreclosed on the building in April 2010, but the new owners tried to add themselves as plaintiffs in the dormant Ellis case. But in the meantime, three of the units had been re-rented – proving the Macy’s didn’t intend to go “out of the rental business.” The Tenderloin Housing Clinic’s Steve Collier represented the tenants in successfully fighting the Ellis eviction.

This is Collier's second major Ellis Act victory this year. In another closely watched case, he represented Chinatown seniors who refused to vacate when a speculator bought their home and used the Ellis Act to try to evict them. As part of the resolution of that case, the tenants will remain in their homes.

Collier, a staff attorney at Tenderloin Housing Clinic and an expert on Ellis Act evictions, also serves as President of the Board of Directors of Tenants Together.

We congratulate Steve Collier and the tenants he represents for their determined and successful opposition to abusive Ellis Act evictions.