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The California Apartment Association is delighted to unveil its new website. With its streamlined pages and intuitive search tools, navigating CAAnet.org is a snap. Click the dropdown menus and links on the sides to quickly access legal information, rental housing forms and other vital tools. When you have a few minutes, explore the beefed-up news pages, the blog and content-rich portals for CAA’s local associations. Check back for frequent updates. CAA’s digital team is here to save you time, spare you frustration and improve your online experience. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Email Mike Nemeth, strategic communications manager, at… Read More

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Over the past week, the California Apartment Association has negotiated more positive amendments into Sen. Lois Wolk’s bill on water sub-meters, resolving one of the rental housing industry’s biggest concerns: penalties. Under new changes to SB 750, all penalty provisions have been removed. Those terms would have imposed attorneys’ fees and penalties against landlords and their billing agents if they failed to follow the provisions of Wolk’s sub-meter legislation, even if minor missteps were made. In addition, the author has agreed to extend the sub-meter installation requirement for an additional year – to 2016. Moreover, the parties have agreed to… Read More

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The city of Los Angeles may soon begin a study to inventory “soft story” apartment buildings — ones in which the ground floor may not be strong enough to support upper levels during a major earthquake, the L.A Times reported Wednesday, Aug. 21. Locating and counting these vulnerable structures could lay the groundwork for an eventual proposal to require seismic retrofitting on soft story buildings in L.A. The push comes as the 20-year anniversary of the Northridge quake approaches. The 1994 temblor destroyed or seriously damaged roughly 200 soft story buildings, according to the Times story. If Los Angeles ultimately… Read More

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After receiving roughly three truck loads worth of donations, the California Apartment Association has wrapped up its collection drive for victims of an arson fire Aug. 18 in San Bernardino. During the two-week donation drive, the AAGIE office collected an assortment of clothes, toys, food, furniture, gift cards and more. The items are helping four women and 13 children who lost everything. The fire started in an unoccupied duplex before expanding to a pair of apartment buildings. Authorities arrested 30-year-old transient Allen Simms in connection with the blaze, the San Bernadino County Sun reported. CAA’s Inland Empire Division worked closely… Read More

Tagged: Greater Inland Empire

While the California Apartment Association helped prevent any split roll legislation from becoming law this year, threats to Proposition 13 are manifesting themselves beyond the Capitol. Groups including ReFund LA Coalition and California Calls, both with strong union ties, are working to undermine Prop. 13, which limits property tax increases by basing them on the initial assessed value. A split roll would allow counties to reassess rental and commercial property annually based on current market value, potentially costing California rental housing providers billions of dollars in new taxes. In 2009, CAA created Rental Housing Against Higher Taxes to battle split… Read More

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Senate Bill 750 — sponsored by tenant and environmental lobbies to mandate sub-meters in new construction and establish consumer protections in affected properties — remains pending in an Assembly committee. As originally drafted, SB 750 by Sen. Lois Wolk prohibited RUBS, banned administrative fees for water sub-meters and required that, as of Jan. 1, 2014, all new multifamily construction units would be sub-metered. The California Apartment Association and the Utility Conservation Coalition, an alliance of utility billing companies, have been diligently working to address the negative aspects of the bill and to create a “win-win” situation for owners, residents, and… Read More

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If a renter in Riverside allows underage drinking at a party, the tenant could face expensive penalties under a “social host” ordinance passed earlier this summer. The landlord, however, can avoid punishment by working with the city to prevent future violations. The California Apartment Association-AAGIE worked with the city to eliminate impacts to responsible property owners and to provide safeguards when violations are caused by tenants. The city’s social host ordinance targets those who hold parties where attendees younger than 21 drink alcohol or take illegal drugs. If the violation occurs at an apartment, the tenant could face financial penalties,… Read More

Tagged: Greater Inland Empire

The California Apartment Association would like to thank Fresno-area members who are helping residents bounce back after a fire at Scottsmen Apartments in Clovis. The July 30 fire destroyed 18 units and displaced 40 residents, according to this article in the Fresno Bee. In response to an email from CAA soliciting assistance, the following members stepped up: Clovis Apartment Group ConAm Management Corporation Fox Property Management GSF Properties, Inc. Manco Abbott, Inc. Omninet Property Management Robert L. Jensen & Associates Royal T Management San Mar Properties, Inc. Vandenberghe Management Westco Equities, Inc. Winn Residential These companies helped displaced tenants in… Read More

Tagged: Greater Fresno

The California State Legislature is finishing up its summer recess and will return in August to wrap up the first year of the 2013-14 Legislative sessions. To date, 2013 has been one of the most challenging Legislative sessions for the apartment industry in a decade. The California Apartment Association has actively lobbied on 75 bills to make certain that the industry is protected from over-reaching legislative proposals. Three measures in particular would have had far-reaching economic impacts on the industry but were successfully stopped or amended by CAA. Senate Bill 750 – Water sub-metering and RUBS The issue of ratio-utility… Read More

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The California Apartment Association and Vallejo Fire Department have extinguished some confusion over the city’s new Fire and Life Safety inspection program. After notifying property owners in mid-January that annual inspections would begin, the Vallejo Fire Department began the checkups on multifamily residences this past spring. The Vallejo Fire Department had not conducted fire inspections in more than 15 years, and most small-income property owners had no idea what to expect. Moreover, the Fire Department hadn’t told owners they could schedule and be present for the inspection. Instead, fire inspectors began arriving unannounced and listed violations in poor handwriting that… Read More

Tagged: Contra CostaSolano