Contact a Housing Counselor

Tenants may challenge a loss of service if they believe it is more than the allowed increase. To challenge a loss of service, a tenant may file a petition for a service that:

• is no longer offered;
• used to be covered by property owners, but the tenant is now being charged for;
• has changed substantially since move-in;
• is a serious defect in the unit that affects the health or safety in the unit.

Tenants may challenge a rent increase if they believe it is more than the allowed increase. To challenge a rent increase, a tenant must file a petition either:

• Within 90 days of receiving the notice of rent increase with a Rent Adjustment Program Notice
• OR within 120 days of receiving the notice of rent increase if the tenant did not receive the Rent Adjustment Program Notice

If you do not file a petition by the deadline, your case may be dismissed.

Property owners who want to increase rent more than the CPI increase must submit a petition. Property owners may file petitions for:

• A certificate of exemption
• Approval of a rent increase above the annual CPI increase:
• Challenge a Tenant's Claim of Protected Status
• Transitional Rent Increase:

There is no filing fee for any petition, response or appeal.

• Please attach to the petition any copies of documents related to your case.
• You can update your contact information and add supporting documents up until 7 days before your set hearing date.

Since March 2020, we have moved our services from in-person to online. Please read the information below carefully to find the best way to contact us.

Phone: (510) 238-3721

The Rent Adjustment Program’s Housing Counselors are available by phone Monday through Thursday, 9:30am to 4:30pm to answer any RAP or housing-related questions you might have. Topics can be, but are not limited to, tenant and property owner issues and concerns, Oakland rental housing laws, or how to file petitions or responses with RAP. Calls are generally limited to 10 minutes per person.

If you would prefer an email response, you can email us. RAP strives to return all emails within a forty-eight-hour timeframe.

Contact a RAP Housing Counselor: rap@oaklandca.gov. Please include in your email: your full name, your telephone number, and your address.

Hearings Unit: If you have issues or questions relating to your pending case, you must contact your Case Analyst directly. If you do not know who your Case Analyst is, you can email hearingsunit@oaklandca.gov to find that information, or you can look up your case information here.

Petition and Response Review/Filing: You have the option to schedule an appointment for review of your petition or response before filing. To schedule an appointment for review, email rap@oaklandca.gov. If you do not want your petition or response reviewed and are ready to file, please submit your petition or response to hearingsunit@oaklandca.gov .

Eviction Notices: To file eviction notices online, click here. Eviction notices may also be scanned and submitted via email to evictionnotices@oaklandca.gov.

Address: 250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 5313, Oakland, CA 94612

Due to the Shelter-in-Place Order, we are no longer accepting in-person petition and related materials. All new petitions and petition-related documents can be submitted by mail to the address above.

All documents for Ellis Act cases must be mailed to 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Suite 5313, Oakland, CA 94612.

We also offer an online portal where you can fill out and submit your petitions and all petition-related forms online. Click here to access the portal.

General forms can be found on our website. For property owner forms, click here. For tenant forms, click here. If you cannot find the RAP form that you are looking for, you can email the Rent Adjustment Program at rap@oaklandca.gov to obtain it.

To request documents related to a case, you can either complete the Request for Copies form and email it to rap@oaklandca.gov or make a Public Records Request (PRR) here. Please note that all PRRs are public information. You can look up certain information related to cases through the RAP database.

If you would like to receive emails about upcoming events or updates from the Rent Adjustment Program, please sign up! Please use the link below to add your name and email to our list for future updates.

Join the RAP email list!