News: Posts by Mike Nemeth
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After facing aggressive opposition from CAA, a measure to impose rent control and just-cause eviction policies in Alameda has failed passage at the ballot box.
Ballots cast to approve Measure M1 garnered just 34 percent of the vote. Rent control measures also failed in San Mateo and Burlingame, although they passed in Mountain View and Richmond.
Voters on Tuesday rejected strict rent control laws in Burlingame, San Mateo and Alameda but approved them in Richmond and Mountain View.
All five measures proposing rent control faced strong opposition from local property owners, homeowners, businesses, real estate groups and the California Apartment Association.
In Burlingame and Alameda, voters rejected rent control by a roughly 2-1 margin. Ballots cast in favor of Burlingame’s Measure R garnered 33 percent of the vote, while yes votes for Alameda’s M1 earned 34 percent. In San Mateo, the rent control measure also failed decidedly, with Measure Q receiving just 39 percent approval.
Question: The lease for one of my tenants expires at the end of this month. He told me to take the month’s rent out of his security deposit because he would leave the apartment clean and in good repair. He told me since it is his deposit, he has the right to deduct rent out of the deposit. What should I do?
Answer: California law requires the owner or manager to account for the use of the deposit no later than 21 calendar days after the tenant vacates the unit. The law also provides that the deposit shall not be… Read More
Tagged: ColumnsComplianceLegal Q&A
Over the objections of CAA and rental property owners, the Sebastopol City Council on Tuesday imposed a temporary rent control measure, effective immediately.
Tagged: Rent Control North Bay
Several months after imposing stricter rent control in San Jose, the city is holding a series of hearings on further changes to its rent ordinance.
In May, the City Council lowered the maximum annual rent increase on rent controlled units from 8 percent to 5 percent, a change that took effect the following month. The council also greenlighted further changes to its rent ordinance and directed the Housing Department to incorporate them into a draft ordinance.
The city is now holding a series of public meetings on those recommended changes. These hearings offer the city’s housing providers an opportunity to… Read More
Question: Someone told me that if a resident is committing a crime on the premises, they can be evicted in three days. I have never heard of this law, and I rent to someone I suspect is dealing in drugs. Can you tell me more about it?
Answer: California law does allow an owner or manager of rental property to serve a three-day notice to quit the premises based upon the commission of an illegal act on the property. The illegal conduct must, however, relate to the rented property. If your tenant was dealing with or possessed illegal drugs on… Read More
Tagged: ColumnsComplianceLegal Q&A
The Sebastopol City Council on Tuesday will vote on a temporary rent control measure that would take effect immediately upon approval.
To pass, the Urgency Rent Moratorium Ordinance requires approval from four out of five council members.
The California Apartment Association urges its members in Sebastopol to voice their opposition to this draconian housing policy at the Nov. 1 meeting. See the agenda here.
It is critical that the City Council understand that:
Rent control isn’t an affordable housing program; it will not build one new unit of housing nor will it bring rents down.
Most renters in Sebastopol would… Read More
Tagged: Rent Control North Bay
Political mailers that highlight criticism of rent control as noted by the Legislative Analyst’s Office do not violate the Fair Political Practices Act, a state agency concluded this week.
The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission said it found no evidence of campaign violations, concluding that the mailers appear to be “properly identified as coming from the California Apartment Association Issues Committee.”
Tenant advocates filed a complaint with the FPPC after the CAA Issues Committee published campaign literature detailing the LAO’s conclusion that rent control doesn’t work.
The mailers are intended to inform the electorate of the LAO’s misgivings about rent… Read More
Tagged: ElectionsRent Control Tri-County
After confirming the success of a signature-gathering effort to stop Santa Rosa rent control, election officials now say they certified the petition prematurely and need to conduct a hand count of signatures.
On Oct. 14, the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters confirmed that petitioners had collected the necessary 8,485 signatures to qualify a referendum on Santa Rosa’s rent control and just-cause-for-eviction ordinance.
Citing pending litigation, the California Apartment Association has urged Marin County supervisors to defer work on an ordinance that would force rental property owners to participate in the Section 8 program.
Despite CAA’s objections, county supervisors are scheduled to formally adopt such a law at their Nov. 8 meeting. The board granted preliminary approval of the proposal, an “ordinance to establish source of income protection,” on Oct. 25.
Yet as the Board of Supervisors considers its measure, the city of Santa Monica is embroiled in a lawsuit challenging its adoption of a similar ordinance.
Mallori Spilker, CAA’s vice president of… Read More