Santa Monica’s City Council has placed three rent-control ballot measures before voters Nov. 3, including one that could let a rent-controlled tenancy continue indefinitely as qualifying occupants replace the original tenant.

Under that measure, a landlord could not evict a tenant for moving in a spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling or dependent, provided the tenant has lived in the unit at least a year and gives written notice within 14 days. Tenants could also add unrelated household members, and a landlord could refuse only for reasons unrelated to the person’s creditworthiness — with a request deemed approved if the landlord doesn’t respond within 14 days.

The provision that matters most for turnover comes next: Any qualifying occupant who has lived in the unit at least a year could stay when the original tenant leaves, for any reason, including simply moving out. Current law is far narrower, covering only a spouse, children or registered domestic partner, and only when the tenant died or became incapacitated. Nothing in the measure limits how many times one qualifying occupant could replace another.

The same measure would extend Santa Monica’s just-cause eviction protections to single-family homes and condominiums for the first time and would tighten owner-move-in rules for non-rent-controlled units generally: an owner or qualifying relative would have to move in within 60 days of the tenant vacating, rather than 30, and stay two years rather than one.

A second measure would bar evictions for unpaid rent below one month’s worth of the average federal fair-market rent for an equivalent-sized unit in Santa Monica ZIP codes, recalculated annually. The council’s own resolution cites eviction notices served over debts as low as $73.87 and lawsuits filed over debts as low as $405.67.

The third measure is largely administrative. It reaffirms the city’s existing just-cause eviction standard, adjusts Rent Control Board term limits, lets the board’s $288 per-unit registration fee cap rise with inflation each year — capped at 5%, beginning in 2028 — clarifies deadlines for deciding rent-adjustment petitions, and adds an eviction ground for affordable-housing tenants who fail to document income eligibility.

All three began as Rent Control Board recommendations following public hearings earlier this year. Two cleared the council unanimously; the occupancy measure drew two dissenting votes. None take effect unless voters approve them in November.

The occupancy measure’s open-ended succession right is the standout — the kind of provision CAA will be watching for in other rent-controlled California cities.