The city will continue oversight of a prominent landlord found to have rented dangerous and illegal residential units in properties across East Oakland.
In 2019, Oakland sued Baljit Singh Mann and Surinder Mann and their companies Dodg Corp. and SBMANN2 for numerous alleged violations of the city’s Tenant Protection Ordinance — from renting illegally converted units with windowless bedrooms and no hot water to shorting renters on required relocation payments. Many of their tenants were low-income immigrants.
In 2021, a state judge ordered the Manns to pay the city $4 million in civil penalties, plus more than $2 million in attorneys’ fees. He also issued an injunction forcing the landlord to fix code violations across their portfolio of properties, hire a third party to manage their properties for five years, and regularly provide updates to the city…