Request to Determine Tenant Protected Status

Download
Petition for Determination of Tenant Protected Status
Download
Response to Petition for Determination of Protected Status

Property owners and tenants may use the Petition for Determination of Tenant Protected Status form to petition the Rent Adjustment Program (“RAP”) for a hearing to address a tenant’s claim of “protected status” as elderly, disabled, or catastrophically ill for purposes of protection under the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance. See Oakland Municipal Code (“O.M.C.”) Section 8.22.360 (A)(9) and the corresponding Regulations.

Property owners and tenants may use the Response to Petition for Determination of Tenant Protected Status form to respond to the Petition for Determination of Tenant Protected Status filed by the tenant or property owner of their rental unit.

NOTE: Both the property owner and tenant must agree to have the claim heard by RAP in order for RAP to have jurisdiction.

ABOUT THE RENT ADJUSTMENT PROGRAM

The Oakland City Council adopted the Rent Adjustment Program Ordinance (OMC Chapter 8.22) in 1980. This ordinance sets the maximum annual rent increase based on the annual CPI increase and handles rent adjustments for claims of decreases in housing services and handles other rent-related matters. The purpose of this program is to foster fair housing for a diverse population of renters and enforce the Rent Adjustment Ordinance set out by the City of Oakland.

Contact Us

*Due to the Shelter-in-Place Order issued on March 16, 2020, all in-person counseling and form drop-offs have been canceled. Please read the information below carefully to find the best way to contact us.

By Phone

Phone: (510) 238-3721 | Fax: (510) 238-6181

The Rent Adjustment Program’s Housing Counselors are available from Monday to Thursday, 9:30am to 4:30pm to answer any RAP or housing-related questions you might have. Topics can be, but are not limited to, tenant and property owner issues and concerns, Oakland rental housing laws, or how to file a petition with RAP. Calls are generally limited to 10 minutes per person.

By Email

If you would prefer an email response, you can email us. RAP strives to return all emails within a twenty-four-hour timeframe.

Contact a RAP Housing Counselor: rap@oaklandca.gov.

Hearings Unit: hearingsunit@oaklandca.gov. If you have Hearings Unit-related issues or questions related to your pending case, you must contact your Case Analyst directly. If you do not know who your Case Analyst is, you can email hearingsunit@oaklandca.gov to find that information.

Petition Review/Filing: You have the option to schedule an appointment for review of your petition before filing. To schedule an appointment for review email rap@oaklandca.gov. If you do not want your petition reviewed and want to file, please submit your petition to hearingsunit@oaklandca.gov .

Eviction Notices: All eviction notices should be scanned and submitted via email to evictionnotices@oaklandca.gov.

By Mail

Address: 250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 5313

Oakland, CA 94612

Due to the Shelter-in-Place Order, we are no longer accepting in-person petition applications and related materials. All new petitions and petition-related documents can be submitted by mail to the address above, electronically submitted to rap@oaklandca.gov, or the online portal.

All documents for Ellis Act cases must be mailed to 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Suite 5313, Oakland, CA 94612.

Online Petition Filing

We also offer an online portal where you can submit your petitions and all petition-related forms online. Click here to access the portal.

For a full list of documents, click here to access all tenant forms and here for all property owner forms.

Request a Form

General forms can be found on our website. For property owner forms, click here. For tenant forms, click here. If you cannot find the form you want, you can email the Rent Adjustment Program atrap@oaklandca.gov to obtain it.

To request documents related to a case, you can either complete the Request for Copies form and email it to rap@oaklandca.gov or make a Public Records Request (PRR) here. Please note that all PRRs are considered public information. You can also look up information related to cases through the RAP database.

Join the Email List

If you would like to receive emails about upcoming events or updates from the Rent Adjustment Program, please sign up! Please use the link below to add your name and email to our list for future updates.

Join the RAP email list!

Was this page helpful?

Your feedback will help us improve our website. We cannot reply individually to all feedback.
Your feedback will help us improve our website. We cannot reply individually to all feedback.
Your feedback will help us improve our website. We cannot reply individually to all feedback.