§ 15.60.030. Definitions.

For purposes of this Chapter, certain terms, phrases, words and their derivatives shall be construed as specified in this Section:

"Building Official" means the city official who is authorized and directed to administer and enforce the Oakland Building Maintenance Code, as well as any designees of such person.

"City Administrator" means City Administrator or his or her designee.

"Code compliance activities" means activities initiated by the city to determine the condition of a building and require the property owner to make necessary repairs, to vacate the building, or to take other action as necessary to bring the property into compliance with applicable state or local zoning, building or housing standards, including but not limited to standards contained in the Oakland Building Maintenance Code, the Oakland Municipal Code, and Oakland Planning Code, the Uniform Fire Code as adopted by the city, and other technical codes adopted and enforced by the city for existing residential properties, including codes addressing dangerous or hazardous buildings or activities initiated by the property owner to bring the property into compliance with such codes and laws as may be applicable. Code enforcement activities shall include drug nuisance abatement actions taken by the city pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Section 11570, et seq.

"Day" means calendar day, unless otherwise specified.

"Declaration of substandard" means a declaration, notice, or order executed by the Building Official or his or her designee under the authority of the Oakland Building Maintenance Code or other provision of law declaring that a property is substandard, unsafe, and/or a public nuisance.

"Disabled" means a person with a disability, as defined in Section 12955.3 of the Government Code.

"Elderly" means a person sixty-two (62) years old or older.

"Lower income tenant household" means tenant households whose income is not more than permitted for lower income households, as defined by California Health and Safety Code Section 50079.5.

"Minor Child(ren)" means a person(s) who is 18 years or younger at the time of service of an eviction notice.

"Noncomplying building or unit" means a building, room, or rental unit in the city which has been found or determined by an authorized enforcement official of the city to be substandard, blighted, unsafe, a public nuisance, a drug nuisance, or otherwise not in conformance with applicable state or local zoning, building or housing standards, including but not limited to standards contained in the Oakland Building Maintenance Code, the Oakland Planning Code, the Oakland Municipal Code, and the Uniform Fire Code as adopted by the city, and other technical codes adopted and enforced by the city for existing residential properties, including codes addressing dangerous or hazardous buildings; and "noncomplying condition" or "noncompliance" means any physical condition or use with respect to the building, room or unit, including drug activity in the case of drug nuisance abatement actions, that contributes to such finding or determination.

"Notice to abate life-threatening condition" means a notice and/or order to abate a substandard or noncomplying condition issued by the city pursuant to its code enforcement activities, however such notice or order is denominated, that indicates on its face that a life-threatening condition is present.

"Notice to vacate" means a notice and/or order, however denominated, issued by the city or a court of competent jurisdiction to a property owner and/or a tenant household pursuant to the city's code enforcement activities requiring that a residential building, unit or room be vacated, either immediately or at some future specified time, as a result of a determination that such building, unit or room is substandard, blighted, unsafe, a public nuisance, a drug nuisance, or in noncompliance with applicable building, housing, zoning, or other code standards. For purposes of this Chapter, the term "notice to vacate" includes a complaint or action filed by the city with a court of competent jurisdiction and served on the property owner pursuant to the city's code enforcement activities in which the city asks for vacation of the property as requested relief. The term "notice to vacate" for purposes of this Chapter includes a closure order obtained by the city as part of a drug nuisance abatement action brought pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Section 11570, et seq.

"Oakland Building Maintenance Code" means that code codified at Chapter 15.08 of the Oakland Municipal Code, regulating maintenance, sanitation, ventilation, light, location, use or occupancy of residential buildings, as well as any amendments to or successor laws of such ordinance.

"Permanent displacement" means the vacating of a residential unit or room by a tenant household due to code enforcement activities when that unit or room (or an equivalent unit or room in the building) foreseeably will not be brought into code compliance or will not be available for reoccupancy by the tenant household within sixty days from the vacating.

"Property owner" or "Owner" means a person, persons, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or any other entity holding fee title to the subject real property. In the case of multiple ownership of the subject real property, "property owner" refers to each entity holding any portion of the fee interest in the property, and the property owner's obligations in this Chapter shall be joint and several as to each property owner.

"Relocation appeals board" means the Housing, Residential Rent, and Relocation Board, or any other hearing body or hearing officer established by the City Council of the city or designated by the City Administrator to hear appeals on relocation issues.

"Rental unit" means a dwelling space in the city containing a separate bathroom, kitchen, and living area, including a single-family dwelling or unit in a multifamily or multipurpose dwelling, a unit in a condominium or cooperative housing project, or a unit in a structure that is being used for residential uses whether or not the residential use is a conforming use permitted under the Oakland Municipal Code or Oakland Planning Code, which is hired, rented, or leased to a household within the meaning of California Civil Code Section 1940. This definition applies to any dwelling space that is actually used for residential purposes, including live-work spaces, whether or not the residential use is legally permitted.

"Room" means an unsubdivided portion of the interior of a residential building in the city which is used for the purpose of sleeping, and is occupied by a tenant household for at least thirty (30) consecutive days. This includes, but is not limited to, a rooming unit or efficiency unit located in a residential hotel, as that term is defined in accordance with California Health and Safety Code Section 50519. This definition applies to any space that is actually used for residential purposes whether or not the residential use is legally permitted. For purposes of determining the amount of relocation payments, a room is the equivalent of a studio apartment.

"Temporary displacement" means the vacating of a rental unit or room by a tenant household due to code enforcement activities when that unit or room (or an equivalent unit or room in the building) foreseeably will be brought into code compliance and be available for reoccupancy by the tenant household within sixty (60) days from the vacating; or when the tenant household and property owner have otherwise agreed that the displacement shall be considered temporary.

"Tenant" means a tenant as that term is defined in O.M.C. 8.22.020.

"Tenant household" means one or more tenants who rent or lease a rental unit or room as their primary residence and who share living expenses.

(Ord. No. 13417, § 1, 1-31-2017; Ord. No. 13416, § 2, 1-23-2017)