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Mountain View returned from the brink of approving binding arbitration — a form of rent control — during the City Council’s Tuesday night meeting.
The California Apartment Association played a pivotal role in mobilizing property owners to speak at the meeting and advocate for sensible landlord-tenant measures.
Mountain View had been considering binding arbitration, which allows a third party to decide how much rent can increase — if at all — making it a form of rent control. The city of Alameda formally approved such a policy March 1.
CAA succeeded in fending off this type of rent control in… Read More
Tagged: NewsRent Control Tri-County
According to one lawmaker, a law already requiring property owners to have low-flow plumbing fixtures installed by 2019 doesn’t go far enough.
Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, has proposed legislation to require plumbing fixtures conserve more water than mandated by an existing Jan. 1, 2019 deadline, and he’s adding more fixtures to the list.
The current law demands water-conserving fixtures for residential, multi-family, and commercial properties. Fixtures that don’t comply must be replaced.
Hertzberg’s SB 1173, however, changes the definitions of noncompliant plumbing fixtures.
The bill calls for the replacement of the following:
Toilets that use more than 1.28 gallons… Read More
Tagged: LegislationNews
If you plan to place a single-family home on the rental market, you may want to do it before the end of this year.
Under a bill by Assemblyman Ian Calderon, areas throughout California would limit the number of single-family homes used mainly as rental properties. The bill wouldn’t affect homes intermittently available for rent.
Calderon, D-Whittier, frames the bill as a way to promote the “American dream of family home ownership by maintaining and, over time, increasing the market of homes that are available for purchase.”
The legislation, however, would limit the already scarce availability of rental housing in… Read More
Tagged: Legislation
The window is quickly closing for rental housing owners to voice their opposition to stricter rent control in San Jose.
The San Jose City Council is expected to vote on a harsher version of its current policy April 19.
Before it does, the city next week will hold one more committee meeting on the issue.
The California Apartment Association is calling on its members to speak out at this meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 16, at San Jose City Hall, 200 East Santa Clara St.
San Jose’s Housing Department will review its recommendations for the city’s rent control… Read More
Tagged: Rent Control Tri-County
CAA has expressed concerns in a letter to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment about the office’s proposed changes to regulations interpreting the state law commonly referred to as Proposition 65.
OEHHA’s proposed changes to Proposition 65 warning requirements would force rental housing owners and managers to replace all existing warning materials and signs to avoid litigation. The California Apartment Association outlined its concerns to OEHHA last month.
To date, more than 73,000 metal and plastic warning signs have been provided by CAA to its members.
Moreover, the changes would not provide more useful or meaningful warnings for housing… Read More
Tagged: Proposition 65
Marin County supervisors abandoned plans for a just-cause eviction ordinance this month, opting instead for CAA-supported alternatives, including voluntary rent guidelines and a landlord-incentives program.
The decision came Feb. 9 as the county board explored various policy options to preserve affordable housing and prevent resident displacement.
Heading into the meeting, the California Apartment Association North Coast objected to two ordinances under consideration. One of them, a just-cause eviction measure, would require rental owners to prove “cause” in court or, in some cases, before a political body whenever needing to remove a problem resident. The other would enforce source-of-income protection.
In… Read More
In light of the burgeoning medical marijuana industry in California, CAA will pursue legislation this year clarifying that landlords can prohibit the smoking of marijuana by tenants in apartments, just as they can ban the smoking of tobacco products.
The California Apartment Association’s bill comes amid conflicting marijuana laws at the federal, state and local levels that have created challenges for both landlords and tenants.
One of the most prolific problems rental property owners face today is the tenant who uses marijuana with a valid medical card. Many neighboring tenants complain that smoking marijuana is a nuisance and that it… Read More
Tagged: LegislationLegislature
On Dec. 1, 2015, the Mountain View City Council approved a “right to a lease” law. Owners are required to provide notice of the law and to offer residents the option of a 6- or 12-month fixed-term lease.
Specifically,
New tenants and tenants currently on lease: A written lease must be offered to every prospective tenant renting a rental beginning Jan. 7, 2016, and to tenants whose pre-existing leases expire after Jan. 7, 2016.
Month-to-month tenants: For rental units not under a written lease (month-to-month) on Jan. 7, 2016, the landlord has until March 1, 2016, to offer a written… Read More
Tagged: News Tri-County
To help California’s low-income families secure housing, elected officials should focus more on encouraging private residential development and less on existing government programs that subsidize construction or impose rent control, the Legislative Analyst’s Office says.
Removing barriers to private construction, however, will take time and a political shift, says the report, released Wednesday by the nonpartisan office, which advises the Legislature on fiscal and policy matters.
“Doing so will require policymakers to revisit long–standing state policies on local governance and environmental protection, as well as local planning and land use regimes,” says the study, Perspectives on Helping Low-Income Californians Afford… Read More
The Alameda City Council next week will consider placing disputes over rent increases into binding arbitration, a move that effectively imposes rent control in the local market.
Under such a system, owners would have to justify any rent increase over 5 percent and participate in a process in which the city — not the owner or market — determines how much rents can go up.
The California Apartment Association is calling on its members to attend the meeting, scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 16, and speak out against the proposal. The city’s strategy would add layers of red… Read More