Oakland Building Services Abuses

Oakland Local is publishing a continuing series of stories exposing the city’s Building Services division’s unfair treatment of property owners. The department is supposed to tackle blight and enforce housing codes, but in so doing, has caught fire for “imposing excessive fines, allowing inspectors to intimidate and threaten property owners.” It has also angered property owners for its “frequent use of prospective liens – an aggressive and punishing code enforcement warning that most cities don’t even use.”