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Statewide Tenants' Rights Hotline

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Our Statewide Tenants' Rights Hotline provides counseling and information about tenants' rights. We are a group of tenants’ rights advocates, counselors, and community members, but do not provide legal advice. The hotline is voicemail-based, which means that in order to connect with us, you will have to call us, leave a voicemail, and one of our hotline counselor volunteers will reach out to you with resources as soon as possible, either by phone or other electronic communication. For the time being, we are only able to provide counseling in English and Spanish. Please follow these steps to get in touch!
  1. Before calling the hotline, please go to our Tenant Defense Toolkit to look up more information on your issue. If you are not able to access the page or are still looking for more...
  2. Text “HELPLINE” to 650-600-7821, which can help inform you of your protections right away. If you still have doubts or questions about your rights...
  3. Call the Statewide Tenants’ Rights Hotline at (888) 495-8020 
    *If you are calling from East Palo Alto, Oakland, San Francisco, Los  Angeles, Berkeley, and Richmond, please refer to the information  below in “Resources for Residents of East Palo Alto, Oakland, San  Francisco, Los Angeles, Berkeley, and Richmond” before contacting our hotline.
  4. Press the corresponding number to leave a voicemail in either English or Spanish – select the number that corresponds to the language that you would like us to call you back in.
  5. Leave a voicemail, speaking as slowly and as clearly as you can, with your
    1. Name
    2. Phone number
    3. City and county that you live in
    4. Description of your issue, including a brief summary of any written documentation or notices that you have received (including dates received) from the landlord 
We are experiencing a large increase in calls and have limited volunteer capacity, so unfortunately, longer than usual response times should be expected (average of about one month). We are currently prioritizing returning live calls for urgent eviction cases. When hotline counselor volunteers return your call, it will show up as “Blocked Number” or Spam, because of the platform we use to return calls, so please answer any call you receive with this in the weeks after you leave a voicemail in case it is coming from us. Most other issues will be addressed either by an automated call from Tenants Together or detailed text messages explaining your rights.  
 
Additionally, our hotline is unable to field calls if your question only relates to help paying rent. The Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) website explains the process for applying to statewide rental assistance regardless of immigration status or you can contact their Call Center at 833-430-2122 between 7am – 7pm. If you are having trouble reaching the Call Center, search for your county on the Local Partner Network page to find organizations near you that are helping with applications! 
 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Can you help me learn more about my rights as a tenant, so I know what I need to do to effectively stand up to my landlord? 
 
YES, most definitely YES! 
 
Can you help me find out what my rights are? The best way to request repairs? How to get my security deposit back?  
 
Yes! All the above and more! 
 
Do you provide legal advice? 
 
No, our counselors are highly trained volunteers who come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but they are not lawyers. Most of them are tenants like you who have learned a lot about tenants’ rights through being their own advocates and from training at Tenants Together. If you need legal advice, please search by county in our Local Resource Directory. 
 
Can you represent me in my eviction case or help me fill out the paperwork? 
 
No, our hotline does not provide legal advice OR representation. If you need legal advice, please search by county in our Local Resource Directory. 
 
I was already evicted. Can you help me find housing? 
 
We suggest that you call 2-1-1, a phone bank of resources in each county, to get information about rental assistance or affordable housing lists. 
  
Do you provide counseling to landlords on the hotline? 
 
No, we are a tenants’ rights non-profit, and our very limited resources are dedicated to supporting tenants. We also cannot advise master tenants (i.e. one that is on the lease but rents out rooms to tenants) with questions pertaining to their subtenants. 
  
Can you counsel me on how to deal with my roommate or neighbor? 
 
Our hotline can only counsel on issues where tenants are having problems with their landlord. We encourage you to seek a mediation service that might help address the conflict by visiting your local courthouse our our Local Resource Directory. 
  
 

Resources for Residents of East Palo Alto, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berkeley, and Richmond 

Berkeley

 

East Palo Alto

  • The East Palo Alto Fair Rent Coalition

  • (415) 845-7447

 

Los Angeles

 

Oakland

 

Richmond

  • Richmond Rent Board 

    • (510) 234-RENT (7368) 

    • Rent Program Office

    • second floor of 440 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond, CA 94804

 

San Francisco

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