The answer is Yes. Two months ago, in February, authorities in Wisconsin found that a woman had over 300 rats in her home at Birch Tree Estates. The woman bought some rats at pet stores. These rats reproduced with wild rats that the woman allowed into her home. Their numbers grew rapidly. The woman was evicted in March. Now – suppose your lease allows you to have pets. Can your landlord still evict you for keeping 300 rats in your home? Yes he can. All leases (including mine) prohibit tenants from creating or maintaining safety or health hazards on the premises and keeping 300 rats in your home is a public health hazard.

The French Frymobile. I once had a tenant in Oakland who I forced out because he had created a serious public safety hazard and refused to get rid of it. He owned a Mercedes diesel automobile that ran on used vegetable oil. He got the oil from the Burger King on Broadway. Fast food restaurants toss out a huge amount of used vegetable oil every day. My tenant stored this oil in the garage and in the yard in big plastic jugs. He had hundreds of gallons of used vegetable oil on my property. I told him that I support recycling, but public safety has to come first. I pointed out that his lease prohibited him from creating a safety hazard on the premises, and he had enough oil to burn up the whole neighborhood. I gave him an ultimatum. Either the oil had to go or he had to go. He moved out at the end of the month and took the oil with him. I remember that when his car was running, the exhaust fumes smelled just like french fries. You could really tell where the oil came from!

Mr. Booze. The vice mayor of Richmond, California is named Corky Booze. (No, I am not making this up. That really is his name.) Richmond is located 5 miles north of Berkeley and has a population of a little over 100,000. Mr. Booze has a problem. The City Attorney is charging that the Right Honorable Mr. Booze is maintaining a public safety and fire hazard on his property. The property is a vast unlicensed junkyard. It contains huge piles of discarded appliances, inoperable automobiles, furniture, storage tanks, and metal cylinders. The junk has been there for decades.