After more than two years and multiple extensions, most remaining elements of California’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium have come to an end.

June 30 was the last day for both the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act (CTRA) and the COVID-19 Rental Housing Recovery Act.

By this point, many aspects of the moratorium had already lapsed — a key exception being protections against nonpayment-based evictions for tenants with applications for rental assistance still pending.

Although this protection is over, the California Apartment Association continues to ask its members to hold off on eviction, as money is likely to arrive soon. At the same time, CAA realizes that many landlords, particularly mom-and-pop owners, have gone more than two years without collecting rent, making further delays in eviction untenable. 

“Someone must pay the rent, or many housing providers will lose their property,” said Tom Bannon, chief executive officer of the California Apartment Association. “Evictions are the last resort, but after two years of some residents not paying rent, nothing remains for many rental property owners to do.” 

The ability to evict hinges mainly on the location of the property. In addition to the state’s moratorium expiring, so did California’s preemption of new COVID-19 eviction moratoria at the local level.

Anticipating the June 30 expiration, some localities, such as Los Angeles County and the City of San Diego and San Francisco, already had nonpayment eviction moratoria ratified and ready to take effect July 1.

Some other cities and counties have had their own COVID-related eviction moratoria all along, having passed them before state preemption. Examples include the cities of Los Angeles and Oakland and the County of Alameda. Other jurisdictions may also have moratoria in place – either now or in the future.

CAA continues to oppose any new local eviction laws tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s been more than two years now,” said Debra Carlton, CAA’s executive vice president of state public affairs. “Most eligible Californians are vaccinated, and people are back to work. It’s time to put COVID eviction moratoria behind us and get back to paying the rent on time.”