The California Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to review a lower-court decision that undermines the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a 1995 state law that places limits on local rent control ordinances.

Under Costa-Hawkins, cities may not apply local rent controls to post-1995 construction, single-family homes, and condominiums.

The court case at issue focused on a San Francisco law prohibiting “bad faith” rent increases at properties protected from rent control under Costa-Hawkins. The City argued that the ordinance is a permissible way to stop property owners from side-stepping eviction restrictions by doubling or tripling the rent. Costa-Hawkins preserves the ability of local governments to “regulate and monitor the basis for eviction.”

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