Privacy Policy

California Landlord Accountability Authority

Effective Date: July 13, 2026

Last Updated: July 13, 2026

1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE

California Landlord Accountability Authority (“CLAA,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) respects the privacy of individuals who use our websites, complaint systems, evidence submission systems, public accountability records, case-status services, advocacy resources, and related services.

This Privacy Policy explains how CLAA collects, receives, uses, maintains, reviews, discloses, publishes, refers, and protects information.

This Policy applies to information processed in connection with California Landlord Accountability Authority and, where applicable to the activity involved, its affiliated operations, including:

California Landlord Accountability Authority — the parent nonprofit organization responsible for public advocacy, policy development, tenant rights education, community outreach, and oversight of CLAA operations.

California Landlord Accountability Authority Action Fund — the social welfare and advocacy arm responsible for legislative advocacy, lobbying, community organizing, political and public-policy initiatives, and designated advocacy funding.

California Landlord Accountability Authority Services LLC — the fee-based services and commercial operations arm responsible for consulting, training, landlord compliance programs, contracts, billing, and other paid services.

California Landlord Accountability Enforcement — the complaint, documentation, investigation, referral, and accountability arm responsible for receiving complaints, reviewing evidence, maintaining accountability records, coordinating referrals, and conducting authorized non-governmental accountability activities.

The particular CLAA entity or operation handling information may depend upon the nature of the submission, service, complaint, referral, or interaction.

2. CLAA’S STATUS

CLAA is an independent landlord accountability and tenant advocacy organization.

CLAA is not a governmental agency, court, law-enforcement agency, or regulatory body and does not represent itself as exercising governmental, judicial, police, or statutory enforcement authority.

CLAA may receive complaints, preserve evidence, review documentation, maintain accountability records, publish approved public information, conduct independent investigations, communicate with responsible parties, and refer matters to appropriate attorneys, government agencies, inspectors, law-enforcement agencies, licensing bodies, regulatory entities, or advocacy organizations.

3. AGE REQUIREMENT

CLAA’s online complaint, evidence submission, case-access, and related systems are intended for persons 18 years of age or older.

Individuals under 18 should not independently submit complaints, evidence, identification documents, medical information, or other sensitive records through CLAA systems.

A parent, legal guardian, authorized representative, attorney, or other legally appropriate adult may communicate with CLAA concerning a minor where appropriate.

CLAA does not knowingly solicit personal information directly from children under 13.

4. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

CLAA may collect information directly from you, from documents or evidence you submit, from responsible parties, from public records, from third parties, and automatically through website technologies.

Information collected may include:

• Name, email address, telephone number, and contact information;
• Mailing or residential address;
• Property address, unit number, parcel number, and property information;
• Landlord, owner, property manager, company, LLC, agent, or responsible-party information;
• Complaint and case information;
• Complaint categories and descriptions;
• Dates, timelines, incident descriptions, and witness information;
• Housing and tenancy information;
• Lease and rental information;
• Inspection records and reports;
• Building, code, elevator, fire, health, safety, and permitting records;
• Court documents and legal records;
• Government correspondence and public records;
• Photographs and videos;
• Audio recordings;
• Emails, text messages, letters, and other communications;
• PDFs and electronically submitted documents;
• Medical documents and medical information voluntarily submitted as evidence;
• Injury information;
• Disability-related information voluntarily submitted in connection with a matter;
• Financial records voluntarily submitted as evidence;
• Government identification documents where necessary for identity or authority verification;
• Information concerning minors when relevant to a submitted complaint or evidence record;
• Responsible-party responses;
• Correction requests;
• Referral information;
• Consultation, training, contract, billing, or transaction information;
• Donation or advocacy-related information;
• Internet Protocol address;
• Browser and device information;
• Website activity and interaction information;
• Cookie, analytics, advertising, and security information; and
• Other information voluntarily submitted to CLAA.

CLAA may receive highly sensitive material because users may submit documents to support complaints, investigations, referrals, correction requests, or responsible-party responses.

Do not submit information unrelated to the matter being reported or reviewed.

5. EVIDENCE AND SENSITIVE INFORMATION

CLAA’s systems may permit the submission of sensitive evidence, including medical records, injury documentation, disability information, financial records, information concerning minors, government identification documents, court records, and private communications.

Submission of sensitive information does not mean that CLAA will publish that information publicly.

CLAA distinguishes between:

Private case and evidence information, which is maintained for review, documentation, investigation, verification, referral, or administrative purposes; and

Approved public-safe information, which may be displayed in CLAA’s public accountability record system.

CLAA may redact, summarize, restrict, withhold, or decline to publish submitted information where necessary to protect privacy, security, evidentiary integrity, or CLAA operations.

6. HOW WE USE INFORMATION

CLAA may use information to:

• Receive and process complaints;
• Create complaint, property, landlord, owner, organization, and case records;
• Assign complaint, case, property, and party reference numbers;
• Verify submission information;
• Review submitted allegations;
• Preserve evidence;
• Evaluate documents and records;
• Identify property and responsible-party relationships;
• Conduct independent investigations and accountability reviews;
• Track complaint and case status;
• Communicate with complainants;
• Request additional evidence or clarification;
• Communicate with landlords, owners, property managers, companies, organizations, or other responsible parties;
• Review correction requests;
• Review responsible-party responses;
• Prepare public-safe summaries;
• Establish verification and review classifications;
• Publish approved accountability information;
• Coordinate referrals;
• Submit information to appropriate agencies or professionals;
• Protect users, CLAA, and the public;
• Detect fraud, abuse, manipulation, or misuse of CLAA systems;
• Maintain system and website security;
• Administer consulting, training, compliance, or paid services;
• Process authorized transactions;
• Conduct advocacy, educational, community, or policy activities;
• Improve CLAA systems and services;
• Maintain historical accountability records; and
• Comply with applicable law, court orders, subpoenas, or lawful legal process.

7. PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY RECORDS

CLAA operates public accountability record systems designed to provide approved public information concerning properties, complaints, landlords, owners, companies, organizations, and related accountability matters.

Depending upon the status and review level of a record, CLAA may publicly display:

• Property addresses;
• City, state, and ZIP code;
• Assessor parcel numbers or other property identifiers;
• CLAA property reference numbers;
• Landlord, owner, LLC, company, organization, or responsible-party names;
• CLAA party reference numbers;
• Complaint reference numbers;
• Complaint categories;
• Date received;
• Administrative or review status;
• Verification classification;
• Public-safe complaint summaries;
• Reported health or life-safety concern labels;
• Reviewed or corroborated information;
• Official findings or determinations issued by third-party governmental or regulatory bodies, when appropriately identified as such;
• Property and responsible-party relationships maintained in CLAA records;
• Approved correction annotations;
• Approved responsible-party responses; and
• Other information approved for public publication.

A submitted complaint is not automatically a verified finding.

CLAA may identify records as submitted, unreviewed, under intake review, under documentation review, corroborated, reviewed, referred, closed, or by another appropriate administrative or verification classification.

8. INFORMATION NOT PUBLICLY DISPLAYED BY DEFAULT

CLAA does not publicly display the following by default:

• Complainant names;
• Complainant email addresses;
• Complainant telephone numbers;
• Private contact information;
• Medical records;
• Detailed medical information;
• Government identification documents;
• Private evidence files;
• Internal case notes;
• Internal review materials;
• Internal investigative strategy;
• Restricted referral information;
• Passwords or authentication information; or
• Information CLAA determines should remain restricted for privacy, security, evidentiary, or operational reasons.

CLAA may disclose otherwise restricted information where authorized by the individual, reasonably necessary for a requested referral or investigation, or required by applicable law or lawful legal process.

9. REFERRALS AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

CLAA may disclose or refer complaint information, evidence, or relevant records to appropriate third parties when reasonably related to a complaint, investigation, safety concern, referral request, legal matter, or accountability activity.

Recipients may include:

• Attorneys and law firms;
• Government agencies;
• Housing or code-enforcement agencies;
• Building departments;
• Fire or health authorities;
• Elevator or safety authorities;
• Inspectors;
• Law-enforcement agencies;
• Licensing and regulatory bodies;
• Courts or legal professionals where legally appropriate;
• Advocacy organizations;
• Tenant assistance organizations;
• Subject-matter experts;
• Consultants and professional advisors;
• Technology and security service providers; and
• Other entities reasonably appropriate to the matter.

CLAA may limit a disclosure to information it determines is relevant to the referral or purpose.

10. SERVICE PROVIDERS AND WEBSITE INFRASTRUCTURE

CLAA uses third-party service providers to operate its website, communications, security, analytics, and related systems.

The website is hosted through  ⁠HOSTING.com. HOSTING.com’s own privacy materials describe its processing of account, technical, usage, and other service-related data and its use of service providers supporting hosting operations.  

CLAA may also use:

• WordPress and website plugins;
• Email service providers;
• Analytics services;
• Advertising and marketing technologies;
• CAPTCHA or anti-spam technologies;
• Content delivery and security services;
• Cloud or electronic storage providers;
• Form-processing technologies;
• Payment processors; and
• Other operational technology providers.

These providers may process information as necessary to provide services to CLAA or as described in their own applicable privacy terms.

11. COOKIES, ANALYTICS, ADVERTISING, AND TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

CLAA may use cookies, pixels, tags, analytics tools, advertising technologies, security technologies, and similar tracking mechanisms.

These technologies may collect information concerning:

• Device type;
• Browser;
• IP address;
• Approximate location derived from technical information;
• Pages visited;
• Referral source;
• Website interactions;
• Session activity;
• Advertising interactions; and
• Technical or security events.

CLAA may use Google Analytics, advertising technologies, Meta technologies, CAPTCHA services, Cloudflare or similar security technologies, and WordPress-based cookie or tracking technologies.

California regulators specifically recognize that third-party tracking technologies may collect information across online interactions and may implicate California opt-out rights where a covered business sells or shares personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.  

CLAA does not sell personal information for money.

Where applicable law treats certain advertising or tracking disclosures as a “sale” or “sharing” of personal information, CLAA will provide legally required rights and opt-out mechanisms to the extent applicable to the relevant CLAA entity and processing activity.

12. DO NOT TRACK AND PRIVACY PREFERENCE SIGNALS

Browser “Do Not Track” settings are not uniformly recognized across websites and services.

CLAA may not respond to traditional Do Not Track browser signals.

Where CLAA is legally required to recognize an applicable opt-out preference signal or other legally recognized privacy preference mechanism, CLAA will process the signal as required by applicable law.

13. SALE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

CLAA does not sell personal information for monetary compensation.

CLAA does not sell complainant identities, complaint evidence, medical records, government identification documents, or private case files to data brokers or advertisers.

14. DATA RETENTION

CLAA may retain complaint, case, evidence, property, responsible-party, correction, response, referral, and accountability records indefinitely, unless CLAA determines that removal is legally required or operationally appropriate.

Long-term retention may be necessary to:

• Preserve historical accountability records;
• Establish complaint patterns;
• Maintain evidence integrity;
• Document property history;
• Document responsible-party relationships;
• Support ongoing or future reviews;
• Respond to correction disputes;
• Maintain referral histories;
• Protect CLAA’s legal interests; or
• Comply with legal obligations.

A request for deletion does not guarantee deletion of complaint, case, evidence, investigative, public-record, or accountability information.

CLAA may retain information where necessary for legal compliance, evidence preservation, public-interest documentation, security, fraud prevention, dispute resolution, or other lawful purposes.

15. CORRECTION REQUESTS

Individuals may request review of information they believe is factually inaccurate.

Correction requests may be submitted to:

corrections@californialaa.org

CLAA may:

• Approve a correction;
• Deny a correction;
• Partially approve a correction;
• Request additional documentation;
• Annotate a record;
• Preserve the original record with a correction history; or
• Take another action appropriate to the record.

A disagreement with an allegation, opinion, complaint, or documented submission does not automatically establish that the record is factually inaccurate.

Correction requests are governed by CLAA’s separate Request a Correction Policy.

16. RESPONSIBLE-PARTY RESPONSES

A landlord, owner, property manager, LLC, company, organization, or other responsible party identified in a CLAA public record may submit a response for review.

Responses may be submitted to:

responses@californialaa.org

Public responses are limited to 1,500 words, unless CLAA authorizes otherwise.

Supporting evidence should be submitted separately as directed by CLAA.

Responses are not automatically published.

CLAA may review, redact, return, reject, request revision of, or approve a response before public publication.

CLAA may refuse to publish content containing personal identifying information, confidential medical information, threats, harassment, discriminatory content, knowingly unlawful material, unrelated accusations, or information CLAA determines creates an unreasonable privacy, safety, or legal concern.

A responsible-party response does not automatically modify, remove, or invalidate the underlying complaint record.

17. YOUR PRIVACY REQUESTS

You may contact CLAA concerning personal information maintained about you by emailing:

privacy@californialaa.org

Depending upon applicable law and the nature of the information, you may request:

• Information concerning CLAA’s processing of your personal information;
• Access to certain personal information;
• Correction of inaccurate personal information;
• Deletion of certain personal information; or
• Exercise of other applicable privacy rights.

CLAA may verify your identity before processing a request.

CLAA may deny or limit a request where an exception applies or where information must be retained for legal, evidentiary, security, complaint-review, investigative, referral, public-interest documentation, or other lawful purposes.

California’s privacy laws provide qualifying consumers with rights concerning access, deletion, correction, and certain sale or sharing practices where the relevant law applies to the business and processing activity.  

CLAA will not unlawfully discriminate against an individual for exercising an applicable privacy right.

18. SECURITY

CLAA uses administrative, technical, and operational safeguards intended to protect information from unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.

However, no website, email system, electronic transmission, hosting environment, or storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Users should avoid submitting unnecessary sensitive information.

Where CLAA provides a designated evidence submission system, sensitive evidence should be submitted through that system rather than through general public-facing communication channels whenever reasonably possible.

19. THIRD-PARTY LINKS

CLAA websites may contain links to government agencies, courts, attorneys, advocacy organizations, service providers, or other third-party websites.

CLAA does not control the privacy practices of third-party websites.

This Privacy Policy does not govern information independently collected by a third party through its own website or services.

20. LEGAL PROCESS AND PROTECTION OF RIGHTS

CLAA may preserve, use, or disclose information where CLAA reasonably believes doing so is necessary to:

• Comply with applicable law;
• Respond to lawful legal process;
• Respond to a subpoena, court order, or other legally enforceable demand;
• Protect the rights or safety of CLAA, users, complainants, responsible parties, or others;
• Investigate fraud or misuse;
• Preserve evidence;
• Defend legal claims; or
• Address an urgent safety concern.

Nothing in this Privacy Policy requires CLAA to publicly disclose private evidence, internal notes, investigative methods, privileged communications, or restricted records.

21. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

CLAA may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in law, technology, organizational structure, complaint systems, evidence practices, public accountability systems, or CLAA operations.

The “Last Updated” date will identify the most recent revision.

Where required by applicable law, CLAA will provide additional notice concerning material changes.

22. CONTACT CLAA

For privacy questions or privacy requests:

privacy@californialaa.org

For record correction requests:

corrections@californialaa.org

For responsible-party public responses:

responses@californialaa.org

For complaint intake:

complaints@californialaa.org

For evidence and records:

evidence@californialaa.org

For case administration:

cases@californialaa.org

For general information:

info@californialaa.org