Tenant Beats Down Bully Bank In Illegal Foreclosure Eviction Attempt; Lender, Law Firm Prey On Renters Unable To Assert Rights: Housing Advocate

In Hayward, California, Gabe Treves, Program Coordinator for Tenants Together, California's Statewide Organization for Renter's Rights, writes in News Blaze:

• Tenants renting a home in Hayward, CA, successfully defended themselves against an illegal eviction lawsuit brought by HSBC Bank. The tenants prevailed in the lawsuit this week and will be able to stay in their homes indefinitely. Under Hayward's just cause for eviction law, blatantly violated by HSBC, a landlord must have a specified reason to evict a tenant, and foreclosure is not recognized as a legitimate basis for evicting a tenant.

***

• In October, the McHenry's were served with an eviction lawsuit, called an unlawful detainer, by HSBC's attorneys at the Endres Law Firm, a Sacramento-based law firm notorious for helping banks illegally evict tenants living from foreclosed properties. The eviction lawsuit was in direct violation of the city's just cause for eviction ordinance. [...] McHenry contacted the Endres Law Firm to demand that it honor the city ordinance and dismiss the unlawful detainer action. The firm would not even give the courtesy of a response. As McHenry tells, "I called the Endres Law Firm repeatedly and demanded that they honor my rights under the city ordinance and dismiss the eviction, but they wouldn't even respond. Meanwhile, I was getting scary court notices that the eviction was moving forward to trial."

***

• Hayward is one of 15 cities in California with just cause eviction ordinances which, among other things, offer protection to tenants in foreclosure situations. However, as the incident with the McHenry's reveals, banks are all too willing to ignore these laws.(1)

For the story, see Hayward Tenants Fights off Bank Eviction after Foreclosure.

(1) According to Treves, "HSBC Bank and the Endres Law Firm knew that what they were doing was illegal, and that's why they wouldn't respond to all the inquiries. Clearly, their strategy is to prey on tenants who don't know their rights or who don't have the means or time to assert them. Despite the local law, they tried to bully the McHenry out of her home. But she asserted their rights, held her ground, and beat the bank."