From left, Fresno City Councilmembers Nelson Esparza and Tyler Maxwell introduce the residential Eviction Protection Program in May 2021. Photo by Edward Smith

California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently announced that his office sent warning letters to 91 law firms across the state with a warning — you may have violated the law regarding eviction cases.

The California Department of Justice has received reports that landlords, or the attorneys representing them, may be falsely declaring that tenants have not notified them of a pending emergency rental assistance application in order to push through evictions.

Covid-19 emergency tenant protections prohibit landlords from moving forward with eviction proceedings while a tenant’s rental assistance application is pending.

The deadline to apply for the state’s $5.5 billion rental assistance program passed on March 31. AB 2179, signed last week, extends eviction protections through June 30 for applicants as the state works a backlog. It has processed roughly half of the applications.

A representative of Bonta’s office declined to name which law firms received the letter.

“We have reason to believe that some landlords and their attorneys may be filing false declarations to push hardworking Californians out of their homes,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This is unacceptable, and more importantly, absolutely illegal. California families were already struggling with the high cost of housing before the pandemic, and these past two years have only made things worse. Our Housing Strike Force is investigating these reports, and if necessary, we will take action.”

Under the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act, landlords are not permitted to evict tenants for unpaid rent due to pandemic-related financial hardship unless (1) government rental assistance has been denied or (2) the landlord certifies that they completed a rental assistance application, 20 days have passed since the application was submitted, and the landlord has not received notice from either the government or the tenant indicating that the tenant has applied for rental assistance.

The Housing Strike Force has received reports that some attorneys representing landlords may be filing declarations — or allowing their clients to file declarations — that falsely indicate that the landlord has received no notice that the tenant applied for rental assistance, even when there is clear evidence to the contrary, according to Bonta.

Likewise, it appears that some attorneys are continuing to prosecute existing eviction actions after learning that the declaration supporting issuance of a court summons was false. The Housing Strike Force received these reports through ongoing outreach to tenant advocacy organizations, including during a series of roundtables hosted across California last month.