City of Oakland Landlords know your rights and the rules of the Oakland Rent Control Board. It is NOT set up to ensure affordable housing in Oakland but to take money away from the homeowners and benefit tenants. My client went to a hearing where the mediator said that if he could not prove he had given the tenant a copy of the Notice of the Rent Control Board in all four languages, even though the tenant only spoke English, when she moved in 8 years ago, she would order him to give the tenant 33 months of FREE RENT. FREE RENT. She then said if he could prove it, he could serve the tenant with a three day notice and put her on the street. (WE could prove it if need be of the English version, which she said would be good enough) Both the tenant and my client said that they were not trying to go there, one to the other, and they, themselves, reached a settlement. Moral of the story: Keep a copy of any leases for current tenants beyond the four years required by law. The mediator went back as far as the very beginning of the lease and told the tenant that they did not have to get the landlord’s permission to add a third person or sign a new lease with the third person. Why even bother having a lease anymore if nothing in it is enforceable?