Jeffery Woo has more than three decades of experience in real estate litigation. He represents major institutional and individual property owners, real estate brokers, commercial office and retail property developers, property buyers and sellers, homeowners associations (HOA), and HOA members.
Having worked within his family's business managing rental properties from an early age, Jeff has been involved in real estate matters his entire life and knows firsthand the issues that property owners face. As a licensed real estate broker, he also provides his broker clients insight into the legal challenges and issues they must confront regularly.
Jeff represents clients in litigation matters regarding both commercial and residential real property. His practice focuses on real estate disputes between buyers and sellers, co-owners, adjoining owners, owners and contractors, and owners and agents, which includes defense of wrongful eviction and uninhabitable condition claims; breach of purchase agreement disputes; failure to disclose claims; defense of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims; easement disputes; boundary disputes; partition actions and evictions under the Ellis Act or Owner Move-In statutes under local ordinances.
Jeff earned his J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law, and his B.S. in Financial Accounting from the University of Southern California. He is a Masters in City Planning candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on Public/Private Project Development and Housing.
Representative Experience
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
- Represent large institutional property owners and individuals in recovering possession of rental property through unlawful detainer actions and tenant buyouts.
- Represents homeowners associations as general counsel and in specific litigation.
- Represent HOA members in specific litigation against other HOA Members and/or the HOA.
- Represent TIC owner in litigation over breach of the TIC Agreement.
- Frequently retained as an expert witness on matters related to property management and eviction control.
- Represent as independent counsel property owners being sued for wrongful eviction/uninhabitable conditions and being defended by their insurance carrier under a reservation of rights.
- Prosecuted a class-action suit on behalf of Asian residents of a San Francisco public housing project.
- Defended property owner in a "Ghost Ship" wrongful eviction/uninhabitable conditions action.
Thought Leadership
Selected Publications
- “Educated Eviction” San Francisco Apartment Magazine, November 2010
- “Listing Short Sale Properties: It’s Good for Business, but is it Good for the Seller?,” A|R|E Magazine, Fall 2010
- “Legal Eagle,” San Francisco Apartment Magazine, June 2010
- “The New Prospector: Buying Tenant Occupied Foreclosed Property Under The San Francisco Rent Ordinance,” San Francisco Apartment Magazine, October 26, 2009
- “Calculated Risk Can Lead to Big Rewards: Buying Tenant Occupied Foreclosed Property Under Oakland’s Just Cause Eviction Ordinance,” Rental Housing Magazine, February 2009
- “Subletting in Oakland,” Rental Housing Magazine, May 2008
- “Supervisor Daly’s New Proposals Seek to Limit the Rights of Property Owners,” Chinese Real Estate Association of America Newsletter
- “CREAA Opposes Local Ballot Initiatives,” Chinese Real Estate Association of America Newsletter
- “New Rent Ordinance Disclosure Laws In San Francisco,” Chinese Real Estate Association of America Newsletter
- “What Proposition H Means to Realtors,” Broker-Agent Magazine, March 2006
- “Protected Tenants & Estoppels: Do You Know What You Need to Know?”, Broker-Agent Magazine, January 2007
- “Buying and Selling Tenant-Occupied Single-Family Homes,” Broker-Agent Magazine, June 2006
- “A Brief History of TICs in San Francisco,” San Francisco Examiner, April 8, 2006
- “A Quiet Revolution – New TIC Financing,” SF Apartment Magazine, August 2005
- “Tenant Buyouts: Treason or Reason,” SF Apartment Magazine, June 2005
- “Conversations with the Tiger: A Glimpse into the Minds of Three Tenant Attorneys,” SF Apartment Magazine, March 2005
- “Owner Move-In Evictions under Measure EE,” Rental Housing Magazine, June 2004
- “The Essentials of Measure EE,” Rental Housing Magazine, May 2004
- “Proving the Law of Unintended Consequences: California’s New Monolingual Contract Regulation,” SF Apartment Magazine, April 2004
- “Avoiding False Claims of Illegal Discrimination,” SF Apartment Magazine, July 2003
Selected Presentations
- "Landlord-Tenant Bootcamp," Alameda County Bar Association, Oakland, CA, 2021
- "How Statewide Rent Control Will Change the Rules of the Game," Bar Association of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 2019
- "It Only Got Worse: Recent Changes to the San Francisco Rent Ordinance and How it Impacts Realtors," San Francisco Association of Realtors, San Francisco, CA, 2018
- “Buying Tenant Occupied Properties in San Francisco – Legal Updates on the Ellis Act, Owner Move-Ins, Condo-Conversion and Tenant Buyouts,” Women’s Counsel of Realtors, 2010
- "Turning Tenant-Occupied Buildings into TIC Opportunities in San Francisco,” Fidelity Title Insurance Company, 2007
- “Landlording 101: Property Management for Those Who Manage Their Own Property,” San Francisco Apartment Association
- “The Importance of Having a Written Residential Lease,” Fidelity Title Insurance, 2007
- “Residential Landlord/Tenant Law in California After Passage of Measure EE in Oakland,” Asian Real Estate Association of the East Bay, 2006
- “Advanced Landlord and Tenant Law in California,” Lormans, September 2005
- “Evictions: Residential and Commercial in California,” Lormans, October 2005
- “Cultural Diversity Day Workshops on TDS and Supplemental TDS for Realtors,” San Francisco Association of Realtors, 2005
Professional & Civic Engagement
- San Francisco Association of Realtors, Board of Directors (2009 – Present); President (2012)
- California Association of Realtors, Board of Directors (2012 – Present)
- National Association of Realtors, Board of Directors (2010, 2019)
- San Francisco Apartment Association, Board of Directors (2004 – 2006)
- • Chinese Real Estate Association of America, Board of Directors (1992 – 2016); President (2006)
- Asian Real Estate Association of the East Bay, Founding Director
- Bar Association of San Francisco (1988 – Present)
- Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco, Board of Directors (1994 – 2004); Treasurer (1996)
Honors & Awards
- Super Lawyers Honoree, Northern California Super Lawyers Magazine (Thomson Reuters), 2006 – 2010, 2022 – Present
- BASF Volunteer Legal Services Program, Outstanding Volunteer in Public Service Award, 2003, 2009
