News: Posts by Mike Nemeth

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The California Apartment Association is mobilizing its members and coalition partners to help stop a temporary rent control measure from coming to unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. On Tuesday, Sept. 11, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will decide whether to pursue a temporary 3 percent rent cap for areas of the county that fall outside city jurisdictions. Click here to read the motion by Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda L. Solis and here to see Tuesday’s agenda.

Tagged: Los Angeles

A bipartisan coalition of political leaders from across California has urged voters to reject a ballot measure that would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act and return radical forms of rent control to the state. The coalition, including officials from the city, county and state levels, says Proposition 10 would hurt local budgets while underming efforts to tackle California’s affordable housing crisis,  the No on Prop 10 campaign said in a news release. If voters approve Prop 10 in the Nov. 6 election, cities will be authorized to apply rent control to single-family homes and new multifamily housing. They’ll also… Read More

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Thanks to CAA, a recently signed law ensuring a tenant’s ability to pay rent through a third party also contains protections for landlords. Historically, landlords have been unwilling to accept payments from third parties over concerns that a third party would claim a right to possession of the unit. The California Apartment Association worked with the author, Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, to prevent this from happening.

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Question: If a rental unit is broken into and there is subsequent damage, who is responsible for the repairs? Answer: If the damage is to the rental property as opposed to the tenant’s personal items, the tenant could be held responsible if the landlord could prove the tenant was negligent for instance by leaving their doors or windows unlocked. Otherwise, the landlord would likely be responsible to fix the repair, but would not be responsible for the tenant’s personal items.

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After missing a deadline to place rent control before Sacramento voters this fall, tenant advocates on Thursday submitted signatures in hopes of qualifying their initiative for the March 2020 ballot. Sacramento city officials will now determine whether tenant activists submitted the required number of valid voter signatures to qualify the measure. If the petition is rejected, tenant activists, including members of Service Employees International Union and Alliance of Californians for Community Engagement, would need to start the initiative process over for any chance at making the ballot in 2020.

Tagged: Sacramento Valley

After resoundingly rejecting rent control and just-cause eviction proposals in October 2017, the city of Palo Alto early Tuesday morning adopted a relocation-assistance emergency ordinance for no-fault evictions. Since the ordinance was adopted as an emergency, it took effect immediately following the City Council’s vote. The new law only applies to rental properties with 50 or more units. Under the new law, affected property owners can continue to remove tenants without cause. However, a relocation payment to the household of up to $20,000 will be required if the household makes up to 100 percent of the area median income, or… Read More

Tagged: Tri-County

A CAA-supported bill that would increase high-density housing near San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit stations has reached the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown. The legislation on Tuesday cleared its final legislative hurdle by passing off the Assembly floor. The bill, AB 2923, would give BART zoning authority on property it owns near transit stations. The BART board recently passed a plan to fully build out BART-owned land around its stations by 2040, which would add more than 20,000 housing units — at least 7,000 of them designated as affordable. BART Director Nick Josefowitz, an outspoken proponent of building mixed-use… Read More

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The California Apartment Association today published revised versions of several forms related to the tenant-screening process. The revisions come in response to an Aug. 20 California Supreme Court decision in Connor v. First Student. The ruling expanded the application of a California law known as the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act. Under this act, landlords, employers and consumer-reporting agencies must follow the procedures for “investigative consumer reports” when seeking and providing reports that relate to an applicant’s “character, general reputation, personal characteristics, and mode of living.” The law doesn’t define these terms, but in the rental housing context, unlawful-detainer eviction… Read More

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Question: If a guest causes problems or damages the property, what is my recourse? Answer: The tenant is responsible to pay for the repair of any damage caused by their guest’s negligence or intentional act. If they fail to pay, a three-day notice to perform conditions and covenants or quit can be served, followed by an eviction.

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Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has informed the California Apartment Association that he will propose a temporary 5 percent rent cap as part of his strategy to address the city’s affordable housing shortage. Steinberg plans to make his proposal at the Tuesday, Sept. 4, City Council meeting. CAA urges rental owners and property managers to attend this meeting and demonstrate the industry’s opposition to any form of rent control. Members are urged to sign up to speak against the mayor’s proposal during the public comment period. “We attempted to reach an agreement with the mayor on reasonable alternatives to rent control,”… Read More

Tagged: Sacramento Valley