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The California Apartment Association is calling on its members to continue writing letters to help defeat a bill that would require landlords to pay interest on security deposits.
The legislation, SB 603 by Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would also dramatically increase penalties when they fail to return the deposits as required by law.
On Monday, May 13, Leno passed on his first opportunity to present SB 603 for a vote on the Senate floor. His next opportunity comes Thursday, May 16.
The CAA letter-writing campaign to defeat the bill appears to be working. If you haven’t yet written a to… Read More
Tagged: Legislation
A bill that would require installation of water submeters on all new multifamily units no longer would ban ratio-utility billing systems — also known as RUBS.
SB 750 by Senator Lois Wolk, D-Davis, advanced from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and heads to the Senate floor without the troubling provision.
RUBS are used by property owners to divide the water bill among tenants, based on the number of renters in the building or square footage.
Three primary areas of concerns remain for CAA:
The early date for the installation of submeters, now Jan. 1, 2014.
The limited availability of… Read More
Tagged: Legislation
A bill that would require landlords to pay interest on security deposits advanced Tuesday from the Senate Judiciary Committee and is headed for the Senate floor for a vote as early as next week.
The legislation, SB 603 by Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, does not make financial sense for tenants or landlords.
Under SB 603, a tenant would receive less money in interest than the costs incurred by his or her landlord to account for and return the security deposit.
Along with the requirement for interest payments, the bill includes a second troubling proposal: With no consideration for the owner’s… Read More
Tagged: LegislationSecurity Deposits
A CAA-opposed bill that would have encouraged jury trials in eviction cases — greatly delaying a landlord’s ability to speedily eject a nonpaying tenant — failed in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, May 7, and cannot return until at least next year.
AB 969 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, focused on cases in which a tenant claims he or she withheld rent because a landlord failed to make repairs to an apartment.
Under current law, a tenant already can use this argument in court to fight an eviction. The tenant, however, must be current on rent to do… Read More
Tagged: CourtsEvictionsLegislation
The Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee today stubbed out a bill by Assemblyman Marc Levine that would have banned smoking in apartments, condos and townhomes.
“Assembly Bill 746 would have created an enforcement nightmare for property managers while infringing on the privacy rights of law-abiding tenants,” said Debra Carlton, senior vice president of public affairs for the California Apartment Association. “We also want to remind Californians that property owners already have the right, thanks to legislation we sponsored, to ban smoking at individual properties.”
Tagged: In the newsLegislationSmoking
A statewide coalition will work to educate California opinion leaders and the public about the devastating impacts of increasing property taxes, the group announced today.
The coalition, Californians to Stop Higher Property Taxes, will inform lawmakers and the public about the importance of Proposition 13’s protections for California families and small businesses. The California Apartment Association is a member of the coalition.
To that end, the group, including organizations that represent businesses and taxpayers, will provide studies, analyses and other information.
A key goal is to raise awareness about how proposals for higher property taxes, including “split roll” and parcel… Read More
Tagged: LegislationLegislature
The California Apartment Association and state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, believe legislation spelling this out is necessary — and would help prevent all too frequent scams associated with the practice.
In addition to requiring those who offer prepaid rental listings to hold a real estate license, Hill’s SB 269 would mandate that those selling prepaid rental lists include their real estate license number on contracts with prospective tenants.
A prospective tenant might want to buy a prepaid rental list to avoid the time and hassle of searching through classified ads, scouring Craigslist, searching rental-housing websites — and even driving… Read More
For the first time in 2013, the California Apartment Association has taken official positions on a series of bills, from whether to ban smoking in multifamily complexes to a proposal that would require interest payments on security deposits.
CAA staff is continuing to analyze and debate the merits of hundreds of bills sponsored by the state Legislature.
As the CAA Legislative Steering Committee takes formal positions in the months to come, we’ll report that information in this newsletter, as well as on our blog, caapartments.org.
Here’s a rundown on CAA’s positions thus far:
Oppose: SB 603 (Leno-D) Interest on security… Read More
Debra Carlton, senior vice president of public affairs for CAA, took part in an NPR forum Wednesday morning about a proposed ban on smoking in apartments across California.
Carlton and Assemblyman Marc Levine, the author of the anti-smoking bill, took questions
from “Forum” host Michael Krasny. Several listeners also participated in the show, aired on San Francisco’s NPR affiliate, KQED.
Click here to listen to the interview and read listener comments.
Under Levine’s proposal, California would become the first state in the nation to ban tobacco smoking in apartments. His bill also would apply to condos.
AB 746 focuses on… Read More
Tagged: In the newsLegislationMultimedia
California could become the first state in the nation to ban tobacco smoking in apartments, regardless of what tenants, landlords and local government have to say about it.
In addition to forbidding smoking inside all multifamily dwellings, Assembly Bill 746 would
prohibit the practice outside rental units — except in conspicuously marked, designated areas that meet several criteria.
Violating AB 746, an infraction, would bring a fine of up to $100. Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, introduced the bill Feb. 21. It’s sponsored by the American Lung Association.
The California Apartment Association has not taken a position on the bill,… Read More
Tagged: LegislationSmoking