News: COVID-19
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The California Apartment Association has asked Bay Area health officers to adopt a uniform set of guidelines for the opening of pools, gyms, and other amenities at apartment communities.
In a letter to area health officers, CAA points out that recently published guidelines for reopening swimming pools have differed from county to county, which can lead to confusion when rolling out reopening rules at the rental property. This is especially true of companies that manage properties in multiple jurisdictions.
Tagged: COVID-19
Legislation unveiled in the California Senate this week would create a voluntary tax credit program to help landlords recoup rent that’s gone unpaid during the COVID-19 crisis.
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 to sign the pact.
Tagged: COVID-19Legislation
The California Apartment Association has filed letters urging a state appellate court to accept two cases that directly challenge the Judicial Council’s rules prohibiting nearly all evictions.
Both cases involve tenants who did not pay rent well before the COVID-19 pandemic.
California courts are expected to begin processing unlawful-detainer actions again in roughly two months.
The Judicial Council of California will decide by Wednesday whether to let its suspension of evictions expire Aug. 3.
The council’s eviction suspension took effect in April in response to the coronavirus and its financial impacts on renters.
The council’s anticipated decision this week comes as California begins a phased reopening, and courts restore services shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Housing policy decisions are usually left to the state Legislature, which was unable to hold sessions during the statewide shelter-in-place order,” Judge Marla Anderson, chairwoman… Read More
Whitney Prout
In the fourth edition of the CAA Podcast, the association’s policy and compliance counsel, Whitney Prout, discusses Gov. Newsom’s latest executive order on evictions, as well as other COVID-19 related evictions rules still in effect in California..
Listen here
More CAA podcasts
What landlords should know as California slowly reopens
Bills to help landlords, tenants during COVID-19 crisis
Tom Bannon on positive and negative COVID-19 legislation
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday extended an executive order from March 16 that cleared the way for local governments to enact COVID-19 related eviction moratoria.
The order had been set to expire Sunday but will now remain in effect through July 28.
Most locally approved eviction moratoria were set to expire this weekend in line with Newsom’s March executive order. With that order now renewed, local eviction moratoria that were tied to the order also will remain in place.
For information on locally imposed eviction moratoria, visit CAA’s COVID-19 resource page at caanet.org/coronavirus.
While Newsom extended his March 16 executive… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19
A CAA-sponsored bill that would help landlords recover rent lost to the COVID-19 crisis — while also guarding tenants against mountains of rent debt — has passed its first hearing.
The Senate Housing Committee on Wednesday approved SB 1410 by Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, and Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, on a 10-0 vote.
“SB 1410 is critical to the financial security and well being of California’s renters who by no fault of their own, lost or had significant reductions in their incomes as a result of this pandemic,” Caballero told the committee.
Sen. Anna Caballero
The COVID-19 Emergency Rental… Read More
CALIFORNIA APARTMENT ASSOCIATION’S SAFE AT HOME GUIDELINES
Although California is slowly reopening its economy, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create health challenges and financial adversity throughout the state.
In response to these lingering difficulties, the California Apartment Association this week extended its Safe at Home Guidelines by one month.
Instead of expiring May 31, the guidelines will remain in place through June 30. Landlords are encouraged to:
Freeze rents on all residents & pledge to not issue any rent increases.
Halt evictions on renters affected by COVID-19, absent extraordinary circumstances.
Waive late fees for residents who pay rent after the rent due date… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19
The most egregious provision of AB 828 by Assemblyman Phil Ting is gone.
The bill by the San Francisco Democrat no longer mandates that the courts reduce rent by 25%.
Ting removed that rent-cut provision from the bill following a grassroots opposition campaign spearheaded by the California Apartment Association. This included having members to send more than 55,000 opposition messages to lawmakers.
Assemblyman Phil Ting
While rent-reduction provision is out, AB 828 still includes problematic provisions such as:
Requiring very limited proof on the part of the tenant that they faced a COVID hardship in order to stay in the unit;
Protecting nuisance tenants by allowing them to initially ignore the unlawful detainer complaint and remain the unit;
Mandating that rental property owners demonstrate… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19LegislationNews
A CAA-sponsored bill designed to lower the property taxes of landlords who’ve suffered financial damages due to COVID-19 has passed out of the Assembly Government and Finance Committee.
SB 1431 by Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, advanced on a 4-3 vote Thursday and now heads to the Appropriations Committee.
Sen. Steven Glazer
Glazer’s bill would clear the way for landlords to request property tax reassessments based on financial losses attributable to the virus. Specifically, these damages would be calculated by taking into consideration the loss of rent and other tenant protections imposed by governments in response to the outbreak.
In response… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19Legislation