barred<\/a> from running it as a cooperative.<\/p>\nAs first reported by The Daily Californian in October 2025, alleged maintenance delays, including heating issues, flooding and pests, continue to plague the building, according to tenants. Mold remediation is reportedly underway, according to a BSC spokesperson.<\/p>\n
Reporters from the Daily Cal toured the building on Jan. 30 and found fallen ceiling tiles in common areas, revealing mold in the ceiling, standing water, dead rats and rusting pipes wrapped with peeling duct tape. Reporters also experienced mold exposure symptoms, including nausea, headaches and shortness of breath after visiting the building for 20 minutes while wearing N95 masks.<\/p>\n
Multiple tenants spoke to the Daily Cal over the course of six months about alleged health impacts from the building\u2019s conditions, including fatigue, coughing and respiratory issues.<\/p>\n
The BSC and the building\u2019s tenants remain sharply divided over which party bears responsibility for maintenance delays.<\/p>\n
Berkeley Student Cooperative orders tenants to pay rent or leave amid habitability concerns<\/p>\n
The BSC issued three-day \u201cpay rent` or quit\u201d notices to 26 tenants in May 2025.<\/p>\n
Berkeley Rent Board Chair Solomon Alpert sent an email in May 2025 to BSC Executive Director Joshua \u201cYoshi\u201d Fenton, expressing his concerns that the \u201ceviction notices\u201d were issued in an attempt to empty Evans Manor prior to the potential sale of the building.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019re not able to pause rent collection or any needed and legal eviction,\u201d Fenton said in an email response obtained by the Daily Cal. \u201cWe have to manage the building responsibly and that does mean collecting rent and similarly evicting tenants who refuse to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an email, BSC President Joshua Ruiz claimed that the BSC had not filed paperwork for eviction on any resident, and claimed that the three-day notices were \u201cstandard process that [have] been used in the building\u201d prior to the BSC\u2019s reassumption of management.<\/p>\n
The Berkeley Rent Board website says a three-day notice is a type of eviction notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cA landlord who begins eviction proceedings on tenants residing in a legally uninhabitable building may be in violation of city law,\u201d said Peter Selawsky, a lawyer from the Eviction Defense Center representing multiple tenants at Evans Manor, in an email.<\/p>\n
The Rent Board\u2019s wrongful eviction website details that if a unit is declared substandard because of a pest infestation or visible mold growth, among other conditions, a landlord may not issue a three-day notice.<\/p>\n
The board also details the landlord may not demand or collect rent if they have received a written citation requesting the repair of substandard conditions, the conditions have persisted for 35 days after the citation and the conditions were not caused by the tenant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe in no way have or intend to attempt to evict folks in advance of anything,\u201d Fenton stated in response to Alpert\u2019s claim. \u201cWe are only processing evictions for nonpayment; it is not part of a larger strategy other than to encourage everyone to pay rent as the revenue is very important to the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alpert also noted in the email correspondence that \u201congoing habitability violations\u201d were taking place at the property, which would \u201csignificantly weaken the threat of eviction as a lever to get back rent.\u201d Fenton responded that the BSC is addressing maintenance and habitability issues as they arise.<\/p>\n
Documents obtained by the Daily Cal reveal the BSC\u2019s concerns over the cost of building maintenance. Citing deferred maintenance issues, low occupancy and a deteriorating building structure, the BSC attempted to sell the building.<\/p>\n
Evans Manor was put up for sale by the BSC in June 2025 for $12.5 million through the Pinza Group. Ruiz said the BSC voted to sell the building in November 2025, before the sale fell through.<\/p>\n
\u2018It touches your life\u2019: Tenants struggle with health issues<\/p>\n
Evans Manor tenant Katherine Poltoratzky has been living in a motel for four months.<\/p>\n
Citing health issues, she vacated her unit in October, and the BSC has been paying for her relocation since Oct. 27, 2025.<\/p>\n
Poltoratzky says she has experienced an onset of respiratory issues, including chest pain and severe coughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinancially, I\u2019ve been stressed out, and now I\u2019ve been going to various doctors,\u201d Poltoratzky said. \u201cNot everything\u2019s just paid with insurance. It\u2019s now out of pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruiz said in an email the BSC was \u201creally concerned\u201d when Poltoratzky reached out, citing health and harassment concerns. Ruiz added that the BSC \u201cquickly acted to move (her) into a hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poltoratzky is not alone in her concerns. The Daily Cal spoke to multiple tenants who also say they\u2019ve experienced fatigue and respiratory issues while living in Evans Manor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was definitely an apparent cognitive decline,\u201d said Isaiah Audelo, a UC Berkeley undergraduate and Evans Manor tenant.<\/p>\n
Hazardous Materials Assessment Inc., which conducted a mold assessment in July and August 2025, discovered multiple strains of mold, including black mold, in living areas and common spaces.<\/p>\n
Poltroratzky said she requested the inspection in her previous capacity as the building tenant\u2019s union\u2019s maintenance coordinator. However, Ruiz claimed in an email that the BSC scheduled the testing as part of its \u201cdue diligence process\u201d when it regained control of the building.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, the BSC proposed mold remediation spraying, which was vetoed by the tenant\u2019s union because, according to residents, the BSC made no plans to relocate them. Ruiz said the BSC attempted to relocate some tenants to begin remediation in specific units, but the tenants refused to relocate. The inspectors recommended for the BSC to conduct thorough remediative containment \u2014 the act of sealing off areas impacted by mold \u2014 as well as the removal of impacted windowsills and flooring in order to fully remediate the toxins.<\/p>\n
Since regaining control of the building, Ruiz asserted that the BSC has spent more than $200,000 on remediation and repairs.<\/p>\n
In a December 2025 email, Ruiz claimed that the BSC had \u201cattempted to relocate some tenants to begin mold remediation in their units,\u201d and said that management has \u201ctested the new rooms for mold, had them professionally cleaned, and hired movers but the tenants (had) refused to relocate.\u201d<\/p>\n
In February, Ruiz stated that mold remediation was being conducted in the building, with processes \u201cunderway or completed depending on the unit\u201d in coordination with the tenant\u2019s union. Ruiz additionally stated that some tenants had been moved into hotels, with others to be relocated within the building.<\/p>\n
Poltoratzky additionally claimed that an asbestos report was completed. Despite her multiple requests, the report has not been released to her. In an email, Ruiz said there is no asbestos in the building.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Poltoratzky\u2019s hotel stay has been extended by the BSC until March 14.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember at one point I was coughing so hard and so much, I thought I was going to get injured,\u201d Poltoratzky said. \u201cI was waking up, coughing, going back to sleep \u2026 One of my passions is singing and I don\u2019t sound the same. I\u2019m a soprano and I can\u2019t even reach those higher notes. There are all these other things involved in little ways. It touches your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018An uphill battle\u2019: Tenants endure maintenance delays<\/p>\n
Morgan Welch, another Evans Manor tenant and UC Berkeley graduate, claimed in an email that he spent five and a half months repeatedly asking the BSC to fulfill repair requests regarding water damage, leaks, structural deterioration, mold exposure and pest infestation in his unit before it was addressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the day we assumed management of the building, we have devoted considerable resources and maintenance staff to the building,\u201d Ruiz said in an email responding to alleged maintenance delays. \u201cI do not believe significant delays have occurred except in instances where tenants have refused entry, ignored communications and in other ways acted in opposition to the work being done.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Welch, when maintenance arrived following months of requests, the team opened the walls and ceiling of his unit Nov. 4, 2025 and found visible mold and water rot.<\/p>\n
He left his unit and spent the night in his car.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am extremely disappointed and disturbed by how you have been treating me and the other tenants of this building,\u201d Welch said in a formal demand letter to the BSC on Nov. 17. \u201cThis has to stop, the inaccurate notices, the lack of proper communication, the delays in communication and resolution for months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Welch claimed in the email that the BSC then placed him in another unit on a \u201cnight to night\u201d basis for at least two weeks. He claimed the unit had pest issues, and lacked bedding, heat and internet access, Welch said. Ruiz stated that the BSC does not provide bedding to tenants. The following day, the building\u2019s property manager, Jasmine Williams, responded to Welch in an email, telling him she would meet with the BSC\u2019s operations specialist to address the matter.<\/p>\n
In an email, Ruiz stated that pest control is being addressed through an \u201congoing professional service contract,\u201d which has included \u201caggressive\u201d pest control services since the BSC reassumed management of the building.<\/p>\n
Evans Manor tenants also submitted maintenance requests in December 2025 regarding a lack of heating, according to emails reviewed by the Daily Cal.<\/p>\n
Ruiz stated in an email that management had only \u201crecently (become) aware of the full scale of the heating issues\u201d and that the boiler was undergoing a replacement.<\/p>\n
Fenton said the BSC holds the previous management, Victoria Associates, responsible for any issues tenants are facing. Chris Hoff, the managing general partner at Victoria Associates, claimed mold and general maintenance had not been an issue during the company\u2019s three-decade management tenure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anyone over there is alleging anything other than the BSC really actively trying to respond to all these things, they\u2019re false allegations,\u201d Fenton said. \u201cThe needs are not nonsense, but this whole narrative is not solution-oriented; it\u2019s super toxic, no pun intended.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fenton said tenants being \u201cadversarial\u201d has been the \u201csingle greatest impediment\u201d to the BSC attempts to address challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve fought really hard and really long for everything,\u201d Poltaratzky said. \u201cIt feels like everything has been an uphill battle with the BSC. I just want to be healthy, and I want this chapter to be over.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tenants at Evans Manor, a Southside apartment building owned by the Berkeley Student Cooperative, have claimed significant maintenance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[16242,7872,16239,91605,91603,16237,91601,91599,33805,91602,91600,91596,91595,16248,91598,143,145,144,16246,91597,91604,16243],"class_list":{"0":"post-196536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-barrington-hall","9":"tag-berkeley-police-department","10":"tag-berkeley-student-cooperative","11":"tag-chris-hoff","12":"tag-dave-chelsea-seifert","13":"tag-evans-manor","14":"tag-hazardous-materials-assessment-inc","15":"tag-isaiah-audelo","16":"tag-jasmine-williams","17":"tag-jennifer-lewis","18":"tag-jonah-gottleib","19":"tag-joshua-fenton","20":"tag-joshua-ruiz","21":"tag-katherine-poltoratzky","22":"tag-morgan-welch","23":"tag-oakland","24":"tag-oakland-headlines","25":"tag-oakland-news","26":"tag-pinza-group","27":"tag-rent-board","28":"tag-solomon-alpert","29":"tag-victoria-associates"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}