News: Posts by Mike Nemeth
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The California Apartment Association next week will help address housing issues facing the Inland Empire.
Tom Bannon, chief executive officer for CAA, will speak at “Housing the Future: The Inland Empire as Southern California’s Indispensable Geography.” Bannon is taking part as a member of the Industry Solutions Panel.
The symposium is Thursday, Feb. 5, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Ontario. Local leaders at the event will discuss the Inland Empire’s great potential and its unique challenges.
National CORE, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, has commissioned a series of studies on how the market can begin producing enough homes that families… Read More
When he was 13, Brian Govender and his family moved into a San Francisco apartment with rent control.
Naturally, the boy didn’t sign the lease. His parents, being grownups, took care of that.
Fast forward a decade. Govender, now in his mid-20s, still lives in the rent-controlled apartment. His parents do not.
This posed an interesting question regarding when rent control can expire. On one hand, Govender was a young teen when he moved in, so he didn’t sign the rental agreement. Some might say rent control protections for the unit lapsed when his parents moved out. Others would consider… Read More
Question: One of our single tenants who was renting a small one bedroom unit recently died. There are still three months remaining on his lease. What should I do with the security deposit?
Answer: A tenancy for a specified term does not terminate on the death of either the landlord or the tenant. Once the executor or administrator of the decedent’s estate returns possession, you should account for the use of the deposit and direct the accounting to the administrator or executor.
Question: I understand that if a building contains 16 or more units there must be a resident manager.… Read More
Question: This month’s rent check from a tenant had a second name printed below the tenant’s name on the upper left corner of the check. If I cash the check for this month’s rent, am I changing the terms of tenancy?
Answer: The mere fact that another person is listed on the check does not change the terms of the tenancy. You should inquire about the other person or find other ways to determine if there is an unauthorized occupant, and if so, either have the extra person apply for residency or serve a 3-day notice to perform covenants or… Read More
The California Apartment Association will present a pair of economic forecasts in the next week – one in the Silicon Valley, the other in Southern California.
Both events take place Thursday, Jan. 29.
At the Southern California event, Greg Willett of MPF Research will speak at CAA Orange County’s Professional Property Managers’ Forum in In Newport Beach.
Willett, head of the research and analysis team at MPF, tracks and evaluates evaluating trends in multifamily market fundamentals. He is well versed on multifamily market conditions and activity nationally, by metro, and in many individual neighborhoods.
Willett began his tenure in the… Read More
Tagged: Events Orange CountyTri-County
The California Apartment Association is taking a close look at proposed revisions to Proposition 65 warning regulations.
Released Jan. 16 by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the revisions are intended to provide more information to consumers and other members of the public.
While the current proposal is less onerous for the rental housing industry than the earlier version, significant issues remain, both with the proposed regulations and Proposition 65 in general.
In addition to analyzing the regulations, CAA will continue to work with its partners, such as the California Chamber of Commerce, and submit comments where necessary.
Enacted… Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 21 heard oral arguments in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project. This case, which deals with tax credits for low-income housing, will address the validity of disparate impact claims under the Federal Fair Housing Act.
Disparate impact discrimination occurs when a neutral, non-discriminatory policy has a disproportionate, adverse impact on members of a protected class. The classic example in such a neutral policy in the housing context is denial of tenancy based on criminal arrest records, which has a disproportionate impact on African-Americans. In the Texas case, the… Read More
Question: What is the best way to say no to an application and avoid a discrimination lawsuit? The prospect’s credit is worse than he said it was, and I want to avoid trouble.
Answer: You are required by law to inform the tenant of the reasons in writing for denying the application if the reason was partially or wholly based upon the credit report. The best way to deliver this news is to inform the prospective tenant that if he or she can get the credit history cleaned up, you would be happy to have this person reapply. Reject the… Read More
Under California law, smoke detectors with disposable batteries are vanishing from store shelves.
But they don’t have to disappear from your rental units. If you have an old fashioned device, you can leave it alone. Just make sure it works and has fresh batteries. Have some old fashioned smoke detectors in stock? You can install them, but only until July.
New regulations are being implemented across a variety of dates, and this has caused confusion about what landlords must do and when.
Watch this video from the California Apartment Association to help clear the air. Still have questions? Check out… Read More
Question: My rental property is a house in a rural area. I do allow animals but do not want any pit bulls. Can I specifically state that?
Answer: You can determine what type of animals, if any, you allow on the property and should make this clear in the lease or lease addendum. If the animal is a support animal for a disabled resident, however, different rules apply.
Question: Our tenant has a roommate who is paying him half the rent. The roommate is not on the rental agreement. When the tenant vacates, can I ask the roommate to also… Read More
Tagged: ColumnsComplianceLegal Q&A