From Screening to Eviction: Navigating FCRA Compliance, Rental Junk Fees, and Unlawful Detainer Practice

Ariel Nelson, Senior Attorney | National Consumer Law Center

Ariel Nelson is a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, where she serves as one of the nation’s leading voices on credit reporting, tenant and employment screening, consumer protections for renters, and the consumer issues facing justice-involved individuals and their families. She directs NCLC’s Criminal Justice Debt & Reintegration Project and is widely recognized for research and advocacy that has reshaped how policymakers, regulators, and practitioners understand the systemic failures in the background screening and rental fee industries.

• Education & Credentials

Ms. Nelson holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude; an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center; and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, summa cum laude. She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, California, and the District of Columbia

• Recognition & Leadership

Ms. Nelson is the recipient of NCLC’s Rising Star Award in recognition of her contributions to consumer protection advocacy. She is the author or co-author of several landmark NCLC publications that have driven national policy conversations, including Digital Denials: How Abuse, Bias, and Lack of Transparency in Tenant Screening Harm Renters and the Commercialized (In)Justice Litigation Guide: Applying Consumer Laws to Commercial Bail, Prison Retail, and Private Debt Collection.

• Professional Involvement

Ms. Nelson has provided expert legislative testimony before multiple state legislatures, including the Connecticut General Assembly and the Maryland General Assembly, on issues ranging from tenant screening reform to consumer reporting accuracy. She serves as faculty for the Practicing Law Institute (PLI) and is a co-author of NCLC’s Fair Credit Reporting treatise and a contributing author of Collection Actions — both standard references for consumer law practitioners nationwide.

• Experience

Prior to joining NCLC, Ms. Nelson investigated and litigated administrative and environmental law cases as a staff attorney and clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown University Law Center. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable David O. Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and to the Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Steve Sharpe, Senior Attorney | National Consumer Law Center

Steve Sharpe is a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, where he leads NCLC’s federal mortgage servicing policy work and is recognized as one of the country’s foremost practitioner advocates on foreclosure defense, mortgage lending, and housing finance. His work spans direct policy engagement with federal
agencies, congressional testimony, and the development of authoritative legal treatises that serve as essential references for consumer law attorneys and housing counselors nationwide.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Sharpe holds a J.D. from Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.

• Recognition & Leadership

He is a cohort member of the Shriver Center’s Racial Justice Institute and a former Consumer Fellow with the American Bar Association’s Consumer Financial Services Committee. He has testified before the United States House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, on the state of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Home Loan Guaranty Program — advocating for foreclosure protections and loss mitigation options for VA-guaranteed borrowers.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Sharpe is a co-author of several cornerstone NCLC publications, including Mortgage Servicing and Loan Modifications; Home Foreclosures; and How GSE Note Sales Undermine Homeownership, which examines the impact of bulk sales of hundreds of thousands of home loans to investors. He is also a contributing author of NCLC’s Truth in Lending treatise.

• Experience

Prior to joining NCLC, Mr. Sharpe represented homeowners at the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio. He began his career in 2005 at Indiana Legal Services as a Skadden Fellow, where his practice focused on representing borrowers trapped in predatory loans — grounding his policy and treatise work in years of direct client representation on the front lines of the housing crisis.

Avi Sinai, Founder | Sinai Law Firm

Avi Sinai is the founder of Sinai Law Firm (https://sinailawfirm.com/), a Santa Monica-based practice concentrated on real estate transactions, landlord-tenant disputes, and eviction litigation throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Since establishing the firm, Mr. Sinai has built a reputation for trial-ready, results-driven representation — handling contested residential and commercial evictions, unlawful detainer jury trials, habitability claims, broker disputes, and multimillion-dollar real estate transactions across some of California’s most heavily regulated rental markets, including Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Sinai holds a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law (2011) and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley (2008). He is admitted to practice law in the State of California.

• Recognition & Leadership

His published work addresses rent control compliance, just cause eviction frameworks under the California Tenant Protection Act, and the procedural demands of unlawful detainer practice in rent-stabilized jurisdictions. His courtroom results have attracted national attention, including a unanimous 12–0 jury verdict in a contested eviction involving one of Los Angeles’s most well-known professional tenants — a case that required post-judgment enforcement, a restraining order, and a $30,000 money judgment.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Sinai maintains an active publishing and practitioner education presence, producing substantive legal content on eviction procedure, rent regulation, lease structuring, cash-for-keys negotiations, habitability defense, and real estate transaction risk.

• Experience

His litigation experience spans multiple jury trials, contested residential and commercial mediations, administrative hearings, and complex transactional disputes. His selected results include a commercial eviction that added over $700,000 in property value through strategic lease restructuring, an 89-day jury trial eviction following three prior failed attempts involving over $250,000 in unpaid rent, and transactional work exceeding $10 million in commercial portfolio sales.

SESSION 1 – Unlawful Detainer Procedure, Habitability, and Lease Strategy in 2026 | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Masters just cause eviction regimes, UD notice requirements, and dismissal traps across key jurisdictions. Examine habitability as both defense and affirmative claim, security deposit litigation, post-COVID protections, and AI’s impact on landlord-tenant practice.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Tenant Screening Under the FCRA and the Rental Junk Fees Crackdown | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

Examine FCRA obligations under §§ 1681e(b), 1681i, and 1681m for screening vendors and landlord-users. Analyze the rental junk fee typology of driving UDAP claims, AG enforcement, and post-tenancy debt collection litigation.