Veritas Investments Announces New Program to Forgive Uncovered Portions of Back-Rent Owed by Residential Tenants
Veritas Investments — SF’s largest landlord, which owns and manages some 250 residential properties in the city — announced this week it will not require tenants to pay their overdue rent caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In what’s being described as a “first-of-its-kind rent relief program” by a property management company of its size, Veritas announced Tuesday it will forgive the uncovered portion of a tenant’s back-due rent — so long as they apply for rent-relief funds by the state’s January 31 deadline.
But news of the rental relief program comes after a contentious year between the property management company and the tenants who occupy its building. Per NBC Bay Area, the Veritas Tenants Association (VTA) announced a strike to withhold state rent relief applications to call out “corporate landlords,” with the intent of limiting additional government funds to cover rent debt for Veritas Investments.
During the strike, VTA urged Veritas to use the previous rent relief-based funds afforded by the state’s government — a figure which came in at nearly $6M — to cover the amount of back-rent collectively owed by Veritas tenants, which, at that time, was about $5.7 million.