After hours of public testimony and debate, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday voted to eliminate RUBS in rent-controlled housing.

RUBS is short for ratio-utility-billing systems, which some property owners use to divide utility bills among tenants based on the number of renters in the building or square footage.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the council also approved changes to the city’s “just cause” eviction ordinance and an ordinance related to the Ellis Act. The council is expected to formally approve the changes with a another reading of the ordinances May 8.

Although the council’s vote on RUBS dealt a blow to …

At this point, the Housing Department will create a process for owners with existing RUBS contracts to petition to add the tenant’s average monthly RUBS bill for water, sewer, trash, gas and electricity to the base rent as a one-time rent adjustment. This would be separate from the 5 percent annual allowable rent increase.

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