Over strong objections from the California Apartment Association, the Alameda City Council has given preliminary approval to a rent ordinance that includes binding arbitration to settle rent disputes.
Under Alameda’s ordinance, owners must justify rent increases over 5 percent through a mediation process. Should this process fail, rent disputes will be decided during binding arbitration, which is effectively a form of rent control.
With binding arbitration, the city — not the owner or free market — is placed in charge of how much rents can go up.
Following this week’s tentative approval, the council will take a second and final vote on the ordinance March 1. In the meantime, CAA and local owners are evaluating possible amendments or other challenges to the ordinance.
The city’s ordinance also requires property owners to pay thousands of dollars in relocation assistance when they terminate a tenancy without listing a reason. Owners must also offer incoming tenants a one-year lease, and owners are limited to rent increases once per year.
The council gave initial approval to the new rent rules during a meeting that stretched from 7 p.m. Tuesday to about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. The lone dissenting vote came from Councilman Frank Matarrese.
About 130 residents signed up to testify about the ordinance at the meeting, held at Kofman Auditorium.
“As a housing provider myself in Alameda, I can tell you that once there’s a rent control ordinance set up, we will have a lot of housing providers not being able to afford to keep their properties up,” said landlord Eunice Edwards, according to this article in the Contra Costa Times.