Berkeley residents form city’s first tenants union with power to bargain with landlords

Hala El Solh, a UC Berkeley Law student and 1332 Shattuck Avenue Tenants Association member, and her dog Yumi, inside her apartment at 1332 Shattuck. El Solh said her wall had to be removed due to persistent water damage. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

A group of residents in a century-old North Berkeley apartment building have formed the first tenants association under expanded renters’ rights approved by city voters in November as part of Measure BB. 

Residents of 1332 Shattuck Ave. said they decided to organize the tenants union due to persistent leaking, electricity issues and malfunctioning radiators in the building — problems they say were not fully fixed by their landlord, BTP Capitol Avenue, despite repeat maintenance requests — and took issue with staff entering units outside timeframes they’d greenlit. They said they’re hopeful that Measure BB will give them more leverage to negotiate with their landlord.

Daniel Bornstein, an attorney representing the landlord, denied all their claims. “We conduct our business in accordance with all applicable laws and ethical standards, ensuring that all interactions are handled with professionalism and respect,” he wrote in an email. 

Measure BB created a formal procedure for many tenants in Berkeley to organize with a simple majority vote. Other tenants groups have existed in the city, but the measure created a pathway for renters to bring their landlord to the bargaining table — much like a labor union.  

The 1332 Shattuck Avenue Tenants Association represents tenants in 18 total units. The lead organizers collected 14 signatures from 10 units and on Jan. 31 notified their property management company, Kasa Properties, according to the residents. 

“We really hope that there can be some more seriousness when we bring up these concerns that they’re not just superficially addressed, but that they are more structurally addressed and taken seriously,” said Nikolas De Bremaeker, a resident organizer whose day job is as an immigrants rights attorney. “This is an old building and we understand that, but it doesn’t give a shield against basic habitability concerns.”

Renter advocates and 1332 Shattuck Avenue Tenants Association members gather outside the North Berkeley apartment building after a press conference on Friday, Feb 21. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight LocalThe 1332 Shattuck Avenue apartment building is managed by Kasa Properties, which manages a handful of buildings across the city. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

Resident Iris Haik, a student at Berkeley Law, said she was dealing with sink problems and a radiator that made strange noises and wouldn’t properly turn off when she first learned about the new city laws through a mailer sent out by the rent board in late December. She immediately knocked on the doors of several neighbors, learned that they’d been dealing with the same issues, and, together, they decided to start organizing a tenants union. 

They had no idea they’d be the first in Berkeley.

“We were for sure thinking other people, maybe even dozens of other apartment buildings, had done this already,” Haik said. “We just thought we were joining a trend. We did not realize that this was going to be groundbreaking.”

Measure BB, the tenants protection measure preferred by renters’ groups, received more votes than a competing, landlord-backed Measure CC, which also would have also included provisions for forming tenants associations but would have required them to have support from two-thirds of all occupied rental units. 

A provision in Measure BB codifies tenants’ rights to organize in buildings that have 10 or more rental units and smaller buildings if they have a property manager. Landlords of these properties are required to meet with tenants associations up to four times per year to “confer in good faith” if requested. Some language in Measure BB was inspired by similar legislation in San Francisco that forces landlords to negotiate with tenants on building issues. 

If the landlord doesn’t comply, tenants can file a petition with the rent board to reduce their rent. 

Measure BB also capped annual rent increases at 5%, removed some rent control exemptions, and prohibited landlords from evicting tenants for failing to sign a new fixed-term lease, among other changes to Berkeley’s rent ordinance. 

Law student Iris Haik and attorney Nikolas De Bremaeker, who live directly across each other at 1332 Shattuck, led the effort to create a tenants association in their building. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local

“This is more than just one building — this is about building a movement of regular people building community in their buildings and standing up and saying, ‘We deserve more. We deserve affordable and habitable housing and we deserve to be treated as equal negotiating partners by our landlords,’” Berkeley councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra said at a press conference Friday announcing the new association.

Haik said she’s excited by the opportunity to use “collective action” to push for change. “It’s a lot scarier to have to lower rents for everyone in a building, as opposed to one apartment demanding that you lower rents,” she said. 

The tenants association is still in its early days and has consulted with the renters’ advocacy group Berkeley Tenants Union, or BTU, for advice, residents said. 

The association will also be known as “BTU Local 1” — though, unlike many labor unions, members are not asked to pay membership dues to BTU, said BTU organizer Avery Arbaugh. 

“The biggest thing that the unionization has given us so far, frankly, has been the fact that we’re all talking to each other about our maintenance issues and realizing we all have almost the same ones,” Haik said.

Iris Haik and Alexandra and Nikolas De Bremaeker, all 1332 Shattuck tenants, photographed in the rooftop deck of their building. For some residents, access to the deck is one of their favorite features of the building. After tenants announced their intent to unionize, a “Do Not Enter” sign was installed on the door to the deck. The landlord has since clarified that residents still have access to the deck. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight Local