News: COVID-19
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The Assembly Judiciary Committee this week approved a bill that would create a voluntary tax credit program to help landlords recoup rent that’s gone unpaid during the COVID-19 crisis.
The bill, SB 1410 by Sens. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, and Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, passed the Judiciary Committee on a 7-3 vote with one abstention. The legislation now heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
To qualify for the credits, a rental owner would need to sign an agreement, pledging to defer rent that’s gone unpaid due to the coronavirus and not to evict the tenant for nonpayment. The tenant also would need… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19LegislationLegislature
The California Apartment Association this week issued a letter explaining its continuing opposition to a “free rent” bill to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee later this month.
AB 1436 by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would make rental property owners defer rent payments for tenants who are either unable — or unwilling — to pay for housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assemlyman David Chiu
The rent-deferral period would last until April 1, 2021 or until 90 days after the state’s COVID-19 state of emergency is lifted – whichever comes first.
“The bill does not provide for – nor… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19Legislation
A newly released survey highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on California’s “mom and pop” landlords.
The report comes from the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
“The results of the survey are sobering,” Ben Metcalf, managing director of the Terner Center, writes in this web post. “The majority of survey respondents — more than 80% of whom own or manage buildings with fewer than 20 units — reported a decline in their rental income compared to the first quarter of the year. We should all be worried that one… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye on Friday announced that California’s Judicial Council will vote “very soon” whether to sunset its emergency suspension of virtually all unlawful-detainer cases throughout the state.
The announcement came during the Judicial Council’s regularly scheduled meeting Friday, July 24.
After hearing from CAA, Los Angeles County supervisors this week agreed to do more research before deciding whether to force its strict eviction control policies on all 88 cities within its boundaries.
Supervisors had been scheduled to vote on the matter Tuesday but opted to delay the matter for two weeks.
Tagged: COVID-19Evictions Los Angeles
A tenant’s guest shoots and kills someone at the rental property.
Another tenant threatens to behead the landlord.
And a third renter runs a prostitution ring out of the unit.
In each case, the landlord pursues an eviction, and each time, the judge says no.
These are just some of the eviction-worthy situations that have gone nowhere since April 6, when the California Judicial Council suspended virtually all unlawful-detainer proceedings in the state.
In the cases above, the landlords pointed to the Judicial Council’s exception for threats to health and safety.
The plaintiffs were still denied.
The justification? Rule 1… Read More
The California Apartment Association this week issued opposition letters regarding three of the most troubling rental housing-related bills of 2020.
The bills include AB 1703, which would give tenants and certain community groups an unfair head start in purchasing rental housing; AB 1436, which would force landlords to defer rents for possibly months on end; and AB 828, an unfair attempt to allow the government and the courts to give extended tenancies to all renters — even those not facing economic hardships.
Tagged: COVID-19LegislationNews
Amid a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday once again closed indoor fitness centers — including those in apartment communities — in many parts of California.
These closures apply to counties that have appeared on the County Monitoring List for three consecutive days. A list of those counties can be found about halfway down this page.
In impacted counties, fitness centers must be shut down unless they can be modified to operate outside.
For more information about COVID-19 and its impacts on the rental housing business, visit CAA’s COVID-19 resources page or its page about reopening efforts.
Tagged: COVID-19
If you’re a Los Angeles landlord whose tenants can’t pay the rent because of COVID-19, you may want to refer them to the city.
The L.A. City Council has approved a $100 million rent relief fund to help cover the rent of lower-income tenants who’ve been financially hurt by the virus.
To qualify for a grant, a tenant must earn 80% of the area median income or less and be able to document an inability to pay the rent because of coronavirus.
Only tenants can apply for the subsidies, not landlords. And renters must act quickly. The city will only… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19 Los Angeles
Debra Carlton
Joshua Howard
In the fifth edition of the CAA Podcast, Debra Carlton, CAA’s executive vice president of state public affairs, and Joshua Howard, the association’s executive vice president of local public affairs, discuss the many problems with AB 1436, which would force landlords to defer rents for possibly years on end for tenants who’ve been unable — or unwilling — to pay for housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen here