News: Rent Control
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The city of Sacramento is rushing to get the procedures, information and staffing in place before its newly approved rent control ordinance takes effect Sept. 12. The new ordinance, officially the Tenant Protections and Relief Act, passed as an urgency measure on Aug. 13, giving city staff only 30 days to put together the program.
Because the ordinance was unveiled and passed with short notice, rental owners and property managers have many unanswered questions with less than two weeks before they must comply with the new restrictions on rent increases and evictions.
An overflow crowd gathered outside City Hall during last week’s Westminster City Council meeting.
After hearing from the California
Apartment Association, the Westminster City Council decided last week to steer
clear of rent control policies.
The topic of capping rents came up during the city’s Aug. 14 meeting, which included eight hours of testimony from over 100 speakers. The council also received this staff report on rent control, which highlights the legal and administrative risks of the policy for the city of 91,564.
Tagged: NewsRent Control Orange County
Lawmakers will decide next week whether a statewide rent control and “just cause” eviction bill will move forward this year.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday, Aug. 30, will elect to either move Assembly Bill 1482 to the Senate Floor or leave it on suspense file for the remainder of 2019.
Tagged: Rent Control
The California Apartment Association today published new forms
to help landlords comply with updates to Hayward’s rent control law.
As of July 25, 2019, Hayward’s 39-year-old Residential Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protection Ordinance has been amended to do the following:
Expand the properties subject to the ordinance.
Prohibit harassment and retaliation.
Prohibit discrimination based on source of income, including Section 8 vouchers.
Limit the reasons for which a tenancy may be terminated, and
Establish an annual rent limitation of 5% for “covered units” and a mandatory mediation and binding arbitration program for increases above that threshold.
Hayward City Council
The… Read More
Tagged: ComplianceRent Control
The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday approved a rent control and “just cause” eviction ordinance that will affect about 44,000 multifamily rental units in the city.
The ordinance, accessible here, only applies to multifamily units built before February 1995, as well as downtown single-room residential hotels and mobile home rentals.
Single-family and condo units are exempt, as are units owned, operated or subsidized by a government entity.
Despite massive turnout in opposition, the
Culver City Council voted this week to impose a 12-month cap on rent increases.
The ordinance,
approved on a 4-1 vote on Monday, took effect immediately. It limits rent
adjustments to 3% and brings both eviction controls and a rent registry to the
city.
The U.S. Supreme Court ‘s June ruling in Knick vs.
Township of Scott may open the door for landlords to file federal lawsuits
alleging that rent control ordinances violate the Fifth Amendment, however, the
prospects for victory with such challenges remain distant.
The Fifth Amendment’s takings clause prohibits the
government from taking private property unless it is for a public purpose and
just compensation is provided.
Up until now, landlords have had to file these kinds of suits in state court, where they’ve had limited success. Some believe federal benches would be more sympathetic to landlord arguments over property rights.
Tagged: CourtsRent Control
The California Apartment Association is rallying rental housing owners and managers in Culver City to oppose a temporary rent cap going before the City Council on Aug. 12.
The yearlong rent freeze proposal is expected to cap rent increases at 3%, although that figure could change. The interim ordinance also would impose “just cause” eviction restrictions.
The Mountain View City Council is eyeing a potential ballot measure that would make changes to the city’s rent control law.
It’s unclear, however, what changes would be included in the potential measure – and whether they could make the city’s rent control ordinance even worse.
City staff has suggested the council might explore asking voters to bolster its rent control law with a rent registry, vacancy control for landlord-caused tenancy terminations, new noticing requirements, and possible limits on how housing providers share utility costs with renters.
Tagged: ElectionsRent Control Tri-County
The Vallejo City Council passed an urgency ordinance on July
16 making it unlawful to increase rent for an existing or prospective tenant by
more than 10% during a declared emergency.
The rent cap already was in place following a proclamation
of emergency declared by the city manager on June 27 and later ratified by the City
Council on July 3. The new ordinance simply places the rent cap into the
municipal codes so that it automatically becomes effective during any
proclaimed emergency.
Tagged: Rent Control Solano