Helping Seniors Navigate from Social Services to Legal Services; Landlord Tenant Law

1. Helping Seniors Navigate from
Social Services to Legal Services
Landlord Tenant Law
Presented by: Megan Yip, Esq.

2. Landlord Tenant Law
● Overview
● Hypothetical 1 - Receiving a Notice
● Hypothetical 2 - Is Independent Living Still
Right?
● Connecting with Resources

3. What is Landlord / Tenant Law
● Habitability / Repairs
● Privacy & Quiet Enjoyment
● Moving Out
● Terminating Tenancies
● Evictions
● Subsidized Housing / Federal Housing
Benefits

4. Landlord Tenant Law & Seniors
● Limited income
● Goals are less clear
● Dependence on others (track, communicate)
● Age-ism
● Need for accommodations is greater
● Denial
● Less mobile (macro & micro)

5. Today’s Focus
● How Can My Skills as a Social Worker help
my clients navigate the Landlord / Tenant
Relationship, especially when a legal action
has been taken?
o Interviewing
o Connecting with Experts

6. Receiving a Notice
Client Point of View
• This is my home
• I can’t afford the time,
energy or money to move
• Keeping this home is a
point of pride.
• The landlord is an
adversary
Landlord Point of View
• This is my business –
livelihood
• I need to collect payment
to pay for the building and
keep the business running.
• I want my tenants to be
safe and happy.

7. Receiving a Notice
Social Worker – POV
• I want to determine what my
clients needs are so I can help
meet them and empower them
to help themselves.
• Help get complete information
to attorney or expert.
• Help client follow the
attorney’s advice.
Attorney – POV
• I need to understand the facts,
so I know what law applies.
• Only with enough information
can I advise my client correctly
and / or advocate on their behalf

8. Receiving a Notice - Hypo 1
Mary’s apartment is her home. She has been there for
more than 10 years and often talks about how much she
loves it, especially the morning light that comes in her
eastern facing window when she’s having her coffee.
At a recent meeting, Mary nervously pulls out a notice from
her building manager, right before she’s about to leave.
She asks you to take a look at it as she turns to leave your
office. She’s clearly embarrassed.

9. Receiving a Notice - What Next?
Interviewing
● What are we hoping to learn?
● What questions are we going to ask?

10. What’s Really Going On?
• Mary’s notice is a notice to pay rent or quit.
• Mary has a payee.
• There is money in Mary’s bank account, but we don’t
know what is going on with the payee.

11. Receiving a Notice - What Next?
Connecting With Experts
● What questions do we have to answer to get
help for the client?
● What are some possible next steps?
● Who can help you take those next steps?

12. Is Independent Living Still
Right? - Hypo 2
Howard has been forgetting things between meetings, but
he has always struggled with staying engaged. He’s always
preferred getting lost in a book or a movie.
Recently, his landlord left you a voicemail suggesting he
was calling at Howard’s request, but didn’t say why. When
you asked about his landlord in the last meeting, Howard
muttered a few aggressive words about the landlord and
then withdrew into himself. Today, Howard’s niece faxed
you an eviction notice.

13. Independent Living - What Next?
Interviewing
● What are we hoping to learn?
● What questions are we going to ask?

14. What’s Really Going On?
Howard is suffering from dementia.
He has been getting frustrated and acting out against some of
his neighbors and the staff at the building where he lives.
People have complained to the management.
He has also wandered off and been returned to the building by
the police after they have had to trick him out of sharing his ID
to figure out where he lives.
The management is scared they can’t care for Howard. The
eviction notice cites breaking house rules as reason for

15. Indep. Living Still Right?
Client’s - POV
• This is my home.
• I can’t imagine moving.
• I’m fearful of nursing home.
• Staying independent is a
point of pride.
• The landlord is
scapegoating me.
Landlord’s - POV
• This is my business –
livelihood
• I need to collect payment to
pay for the building and keep
the business running.
• I don’t run a nursing home.
• I want my tenants to be
safe* and happy.

16. Indep. Living Still Right?
Social Worker - POV
• I want to determine what my
clients needs are so I can
help meet them and
empower them to help
themselves.
• Help get complete
information to attorney or
expert.
• Help client follow the
attorney’s advice.
Attorney - POV
• I need to understand the
facts, so I know what law
applies.
• Only with enough information
can I advise my client
correctly and / or advocate on
their behalf
• I need to understand the
client’s needs so I can
advocate for the right thing

17. Independent Living - What Next?
Connecting With Experts
● What questions do we have to answer to get
help for the client?
● What are some possible next steps?
● Who can help you take those next steps?

18. Connecting With Resources
Bay Area Legal Aid
www.baylegal.org
Lisa Greif, Staff Attorney

19. Connecting With Resources
Legal Services
● East Bay Community Law Center
o www.ebclc.org
Mediation Services
● SEEDS Community Resolution Center
o http://www.seedscrc.org/

20. Thank You
for attending and collaborating
*
To BACS for hosting
*
To Borchard Foundation for funding