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Question: An applicant came into my office and is clearly pregnant. Do I count the baby to determine whether her household meets our occupancy standards?
Answer: No. You should not count the baby until it is born. You should also have a reasonable policy about what happens when the addition of a minor to the household during the tenancy puts the household over occupancy. A suggested policy would be that the household gets to stay through the end of their lease or a certain number of months, whichever is longer. That number should be at least six months in order… Read More
Tagged: ColumnsComplianceLegal Q&A
Rent control activists in National City on Thursday submitted signatures in hopes of placing a rent control measure before voters this November.
Signatures filed at City Hall numbered more than 3,500, more than enough to qualify the initiative.
The petition must now undergo a signature count and verification process. If enough valid voter signatures were collected, the National City Rent Control and Community Stabilization Ordinance (accessible here) will be officially slated for November’s ballot.
The ballot measure would create a rent board funded by annual landlord fees, cap annual rent increases based on the rate of inflation and impose “just… Read More
The Torrance City Council on Tuesday, May 15, kicked off the creation of a seismic-retrofit ordinance for the city’s building stock.
The ordinance would include soft-story construction prior to 1997, including multifamily buildings. A staff report is available here.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the council asked city staff to report back within 60 days with further information about a potential program and to specifically research seismic ordinances in other municipalities.
The council also asked staff to begin outreach to the community and building owners as soon as possible.
After receiving the next staff report, the council will consider recommendations on potential… Read More
The California Apartment Association is supporting a bill that would add protections for property owners and tenants who make calls to law enforcement for help.
AB 2413 by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would prohibit local agencies from penalizing property owners or residents if they call law enforcement to report domestic abuse or other crimes or emergencies at the property. The bill also would prohibit landlords from evicting or otherwise penalizing tenants simply because they call authorities to get help. CAA did, however, help to make clear in the bill that tenants can be evicted if they create a nuisance… Read More
Tagged: Crime PreventionLegislation
An Assembly bill intended to curb illegal marijuana cultivation could have unintended consequences for landlords whose tenants secretly set up growing operations in their units.
Under AB 2164 by Assemblyman Ken Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova, individuals accused of violating local cannabis laws – including tenants and their unsuspecting landlords — could face fines and other penalties without first getting a chance to appeal and remedy the problem.
The legislation is intended to deal with marijuana growers who violate local laws but avoid fines by simply picking up and moving their operations elsewhere, effectively curing the violation before fines can be levied.… Read More
Tagged: Legislation
A bill aiming to help moderate-income families — or the “missing middle” — find housing within their price range continues to advance in the Legislature.
Last week, AB 3152 by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, won unanimous passage in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee and now heads to the Appropriations Committee.
Under AB 3152, nonprofit developers would qualify for a property tax exemption when they build rental housing in high-cost areas exclusively for people earning between 80 percent and 120 percent of the area median income.
High-cost areas are defined as areas identified as having high fair market… Read More
Tagged: Affordable housing
Question: In our lease agreements, we require tenants to pay their rent on the first of the month. If the first falls on a holiday, do you have to give the tenants until midnight on the second to pay the rent, or can you still enforce the late fee as of midnight on the first?
Answer: Rent is not “legally late” unless one business day has expired from the date the rent is due. So if the first is a weekend or holiday, the rent is not late until the next business day has expired.
Question: Can I ban alcohol… Read More
Tagged: ColumnsComplianceLegal Q&A
Rent control activists in the city of Santa Cruz filed signatures in hopes of qualifying a rent control measure for the November ballot.
The Movement for Housing Justice submitted over 10,000 signatures, significantly more than the 5,600 required to qualify the measure.
The Santa Cruz County Registrar of Voters will now count and check the validity of the signatures, a process that the California Apartment Association will monitor closely.
The Santa Cruz initiative would create a rent control board, cap rents based on the Consumer Price Index, and impose “just cause” eviction policies.
In February, the Santa Cruz City Council… Read More
The California Apartment Association has added landlord safeguards to a bill that would ensure a tenant’s ability to pay rent through a third party.
Historically, landlords have been unwilling to accept payments from third parties over concerns that a third party would claim a right to possession of the unit.
CAA worked with the author, Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, to prevent this from happening.
AB 2219 now provides that a landlord who accepts a rent payment from a third party can require that the third party sign a document acknowledging that the transaction does not make him or her… Read More
Tagged: Legislation
A movement to spread rent control throughout California has now reached the far-eastern portion of Los Angeles County.
Tenant activists have begun collecting signatures to place a rent control and “just cause” eviction measure before Ponoma voters this November.
A group called Pomona United for Stable Housing is circulating the petition. To place the measure on the ballot, the group needs to collect 6,256 valid voter signatures by the end of this month.
The measure, dubbed the Pomona Housing Stabilization, Fair Rent, and Homeowner Protection Ordinance, would create a rent board and cap annual rent increases based on the rate… Read More