Is it legal to charge tenants for garbage pick-up fees in Berkeley?
If you moved into your apartment after January 1, 1999 and your lease states that garbage collection fees are the tenant’s responsibility, then the charge is legal. If you moved in before 1999, then the charge is legal only if the garbage fee was the tenant’s responsibility in 1980. (This is unlikely, since that particular fee was included on the owner’s property tax bill in those days.) You should nevertheless come to the Rent Board Office and check the Initial Registration Statement in the property file for your unit to see if garbage collection was an included service in 1980.
