Holgate Manor’s Landlord Files First Eviction Case Against a Rent Striker

The rent strike is in its third month.

Renter advocates meet with Holgate Manor tenants. (Walker Stockly)

A Portland rent strike has entered its third month—and the landlord of the Southeast Portland building has filed the first eviction case against someone withholding rent.

Sara Brassfield, who has helped organize fellow tenants at Holgate Manor in Southeast Portland, is due in court tomorrow over her failure to pay rent.

Lawyers for Princeton, which manages the property, says Brassfield should be evicted for not paying rent.

"It's a baseless claim, and we're going to ask a judge to throw it out," says Brassfield's attorney Michael Fuller. "It's a targeted retaliatory lawsuit that should never have been filed."

Since August, tenants at Holgate Manor have been withholding rent until the property's landlord makes repairs.

Related: Tenants in Southeast Portland Launch a Rent Strike, Hoping to Stay in Their Gentrifying Apartment Complex

In response to the rent strike, the landlord has sued to evict Brassfield.

Fuller says a judge has already agreed to have Brassfield pay her back rent into court, which means she's at less of a risk of eviction so long as she provides rent to the court.

The eviction lawsuit could force Brassfield to leave. But it also carries some risk for the landlord. If tenants prove their claims of neglect in court, they might not have to pay back rent. (In fact, Princeton might have to pay them.)

Fuller, Brassfield's lawyer, says the property manager offered to settle the eviction out of court but Brassfield declined.

Tenant leaders say half a dozen renters at Holgate Manor still are currently withholding rent.

"We are prepared to fiercely defend Sara, and all tenants at Holgate and otherwise, from intimidation and retaliation due to organizing with their neighbors to assert their rights and demand basic dignity," says Margot Black, an organizer with Portland Tenants United.

She says the building's property manager and owner "would be wise to reconsider trying to bust this union, target tenant leaders, mislead the public, and continue their gentrification efforts. When these chickens come home to roost, they aren't gonna screw around."

A representative for Princeton disputes the union's count of striking tenants. She says four renters that haven't paid for October, but three of those renters had agreed to leave the complex or to switch units.

Princeton did not immediately respond to questions regarding the eviction effort.

Holgate Manor has been home to refugees for more than three decades. It was sold in January to a California investor, and the result has been one of the first building-wide efforts to push tenants out since the city passed its landmark tenant protections requiring landlords to pay moving expenses.

Related: A Portland apartment complex became a refuge for immigrants. A new California landlord is offering them quick cash to get out.

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