News: COVID-19
Filter
When San Jose’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium ends, tenants who’ve fallen behind on their rent due to the virus will have six months to pay half of their rent debt and another six months to cover the rest.
The changes, secured by the California Apartment Association, came by a unanimous vote Tuesday night. CAA’s work is also expected to result in lower city fees for landlords.
The eviction moratorium does not suspend the obligation of rent but prohibits eviction of renters unable to pay their rent for as long as the eviction moratorium is in effect.
“Ensuring that residents have safe… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19 Tri-County
Ninder Grewal
In this week’s podcast, Ninder Grewal, CAA’s policy and compliance counsel, discusses “Guidelines for Reopening California,” the ”association’s latest COVID-19 compliance page: caanet.org/reopening.
Listen here
More CAA podcasts
CAA Podcast: Bills to help landlords, tenants during COVID-19 crisis
CAA Podcast: Tom Bannon on positive and negative COVID-19 legislation
A bill that would authorize the California courts to cut rents by 25% won’t get a hearing until summer at the earliest.
AB 828 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, last week was placed in the Senate Rules Committee, which postpones any possibility of a hearing for several weeks.
Assemblyman Philip Ting
The California Apartment Association has led a grassroots campaign to defeat the measure. In recent weeks, more than 55,000 messages opposing the bill have flooded lawmakers’ inboxes.
AB 828 threatens to do the following:
Allow the courts to force landlords to reduce rents by 25% — even if… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19Legislation
The California Apartment Association said it looks forward to working with Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and other Senate leaders to refine a rental-relief proposal unveiled this week.
Under the proposal, landlords who voluntarily forgive unpaid rent would receive tax credits to cover their losses. The tax credits would be fully transferable.
“During these unprecedented times, we appreciate the Senate Pro Tem’s creative effort to help tenants and rental property owners,” said Tom Bannon, chief executive officer for CAA. “The California Apartment Association is committed to working with the Senate to refine this voluntary program to ensure tenants… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19Legislature
A bill strongly opposed by CAA that would create a statewide rental registry has been amended to target landlords who’ve received government assistance in response to the coronavirus.
AB 2406 by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, would now require landlords to submit a long list of information about their buildings and their tenants to the state if they own five or more rental units — and accept rental assistance payments from federal or state COVID-19 programs.
Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks
The California Apartment Association also opposed a previous version of the bill that would have applied to all landlords with five units or… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19Legislation
The California Apartment Association has asked the U.S. Small Business Administration to ensure that rental housing owners are included in its COVID-19 relief efforts.
The Small Business Administration manages the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, part of the CARES Act stimulus program. The PPP is providing forgivable loans of up to 2.5 times average monthly payroll costs to small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. These includes sole proprietors and the self-employed.
But under pre-existing rules governing the SBA, the federal government considers many landlords to be “passive businesses,” which generally makes them ineligible for SBA loans.
In a letter… Read More
Debra Carlton
In CAA’s second podcast, Debra Carlton, CAA’s executive vice president for state public affairs, discusses legislative efforts to bring financial relief to both tenants and landlords during the COVID-19 crisis.
Listen here
Tagged: COVID-19
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact Mike Nemeth, communications director, mnemeth@caanet.org or (916) 449-6426
The California Apartment Association today said it looks forward to working with Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and other Senate leaders to refine a rental-relief proposal expected to be unveiled this morning.
Under the proposal, landlords who voluntarily forgive unpaid rent would receive tax credits to cover their losses. The tax credits would be fully transferable.
“During these unprecedented times, we appreciate the Senate Pro Tem’s creative effort to help tenants and rental property owners,” said Tom Bannon, chief executive officer for CAA. “The California Apartment Association… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19LegislaturePress Release
CAA has sponsored legislation designed to lower the property taxes of landlords who’ve suffered financial damages due to COVID-19.
SB 1431 by Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, would clear the way for landlords to request property tax reassessments based on financial losses attributable to the virus. Specifically, these damages would need to come from rent freezes, eviction moratoria, and other tenant protections imposed by governments in response to the outbreak.
Sen. Steven Glazer
SB 1431 is one of two CAA-sponsored bills that went into print in recent days to provide landlords with relief during the pandemic. The other bill, SB 1410… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19Legislation
The California Apartment Association this week vowed to continue its efforts to fix aspects of a rent freeze measure in Santa Ana that violate the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.
CAA has warned Santa Ana that its rent freeze ordinance runs counter to state law. Unmoved, the council this week voted 5-1 to affirm the measure. The lone no vote came from Councilman Jose Solorio, who acknowledged several issues with the rent freeze and identified conflicts with state law.
“I do worry that even though this might sunset, there is still a statute of limitations and landlords … could sue and… Read More
Tagged: COVID-19