News: Legislation

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With the following bills scheduled for hearings in coming weeks, the California Apartment Association’s staff is analyzing their potential impacts on rental housing — and CAA subcommittee members are preparing appropriate positions on the legislation: AB 1513 (D-Fox, Palmdale) – Residential Property Trespass: This bill would provide that a person who knowingly holds and occupies any residential property, owned or managed by another, by force or threats of violence, or knowingly enters residential property without the property owner’s express written permission and refuses or fails to leave the property after being requested to leave by the owner or agent of… Read More

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Gov. Jerry Brown will return to a CAA podium next month as the keynote speaker at the California Apartment Association’s annual Legislative Conference. Brown will address California’s top rental housing officials Tuesday, April 22, at the Sacramento Convention Center. Shortly after the governor’s morningtime speech, attendees will head to the Capitol to educate lawmakers about the important roles the rental housing industry plays in California. The governor last spoke at CAA’s Legislative Conference in 2012. In 2013, the governor canceled his appearance to attend the funeral of a slain police officer. State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, addressed CAA in his… Read More

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The California Apartment Association is analyzing thousands of bills introduced by the Feb. 21 deadline and is preparing to take positions on those relevant to the rental housing industry. Below are summaries of some key measures on which CAA will likely take positions in the coming weeks: Ellis Act — Legislation has been introduced to substantially weaken the state Ellis Act and allow local jurisdictions to prohibit rental property owners from selling or converting their buildings. This would force rental property owners to stay in business even if they are losing money. Seismic retrofit – Legislation would require the seismic… Read More

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The city of Anaheim on Tuesday unanimously approved a self-inspection program for multi-family housing, allowing property managers to examine apartments themselves — without paying inspection fees. This represents a big improvement over Anaheim’s original proposal to charge property owners $16 per unit for city officials to handle the inspections. After learning of this proposal last year, the California Apartment Association immediately began negotiations with the city. Over a nine-month period, CAA’s South Coast/Orange County division successfully eliminated the fee and created the self-inspection program.  To show further support of CAA, the Anaheim City Council amended the ordinance during Tuesday’s meeting… Read More

Tagged: Orange County

Foster City will likely ban smoking in most public places, but the city won’t regulate the habit on private property, including apartments. During a study session Monday, the City Council told staff to proceed with an anti-smoking ordinance but to leave out multi-family and single-family homes. The vote was 4-1. The California Apartment Association has been working with the city on the smoking ordinance since the idea came up in September. At Monday’s session, CAA pointed out that renters increasingly demand smoke-free housing, and property owners are listening. “Due to the fact that most multifamily building communities are voluntarily smoke-free,… Read More

Tagged: Tri-County

The California Apartment Association has launched a website to educate the public about the Ellis Act, a law that allows landlords to exit the rental housing business. Passed in 1985, the Ellis Act says no local government can compel a landlord to keep offering his or her housing for rent. Without this legal protection, property owners could be forced to continue letting their properties, even if they’re losing money, or want to convert their rentals into housing for their own families. Some politicians and tenant advocacy groups are bent on repealing the Ellis Act, basing their arguments on inaccurate information.… Read More

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A chapter of the California Apartment Association and two other groups have sued the city of San Francisco, claiming it passed legislation that violates building owners’ rights under the state’s Ellis Act. The legislation, approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and signed by Mayor Ed Lee, prohibits owners of multi-unit buildings from combining units in a building for 10 years following an Ellis Act eviction or for five years following an owner-move-in eviction. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, Jan. 28, says the state Ellis Act pre-empts the city legislation. The Ellis Act allows building owners to take a building… Read More

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In line with a request from CAA to the California Department of Industrial Relations, when minimum wage goes up, so will the lodging credit that a property owner may use to offset an employee’s minimum wage payment or as a credit against wages when the employee lives on site. For an employee required to live on a rental property, an employer can pay wages for the time worked and charge that employee up to two-thirds of the fair market value of the unit he or she lives in. Alternatively, the owner can use the rental unit value as a credit… Read More

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Every year, laws are adopted that can directly or indirectly increase the costs of doing business. On Wednesday, Jan. 29, learn about them at the California Apartment Association’s first Professional Property Managers’ Forum. You’ll hear from industry professionals on local and state laws passed in 2013 that will affect the rental housing industry. The forum is a revamped version of Lunch Club. In addition, the mayor of Riverside, Rusty Bailey, will provide his vision for the city of Riverside and discuss other issues on the horizon that may affect you. Lastly, CAA’s Greater Inland Empire Division will present the 2014… Read More

Tagged: Greater Inland Empire

The California Apartment Association has helped derail a bill that would have given tenants new avenues to stall the eviction process. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, tried to bring back the legislation as a two-year bill last week, but CAA’s arguments against AB 969 helped stamp out the measure shortly after lawmakers reconvened for 2014. The bill would have encouraged tenants who face eviction to claim retaliation by a landlord  and stop paying the rent.  It also promoted jury trials for eviction cases in courts where juries were not currently being used to decide cases. By law, the eviction process… Read More

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