Most local eviction moratoriums are in lockstep with Governor Newsom's executive orders, and so the unprecedented police powers of municipalities continue after the Governor extended an original directive to July 28. We provide some context in our latest update/article.
Although emergency measures were designed to be temporary in nature, many localities have attempted to push the envelope to rewrite the law and San Francisco is a prime example. In this article, we take on an ordinance that would prohibit landlords from evicting tenants for non-payment of rent when the shortfall is is traced back to the pandemic. We echo the concerns of our industry partners that the proposal doesn't pass constitutional muster.
Also, owners of single-family homes should not get a false sense of bravado that they are exempt from rent control if they rent out rooms separately to multiple people. The Court of Appeal has recently affirmed that a single-unit dwelling legally can be considered a multi-unit dwelling, and we expound on it here.
Under the dome of the State Capitol, the call for a statewide rent registry has been reincarnated. This time around, it targets rental housing providers if they have received any financial assistance related to COVID-19. Although this measure has been defeated before, we hope that the third time is not the charm for one adamant lawmaker. You can learn what's at stake here.
In these most bizarre of times and against the backdrop of an ever-changing legal landscape, it is more important than ever to tether yourself to a team specializing in landlord-tenant law. We welcome the opportunity to assist and thank you for your continued engagement.
Dedicated to the success of your real estate business in every season but especially so in times of adversity,
This past Sunday, May 31, came and went without much fanfare. That was the date when an earlier executive order paving the way for localities to use their newfound police powers to usher in sweeping tenant protections was set to expire. That was never a drop-dead date, and Governor Newsom now has extended his original order to July 28.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is tinkering with owners’ rights once again. Ordinance No. 200375 would prohibit landlords from ever evicting tenants for non-payment of rent, so long as the missed rent owed is due to a hardship related to COVID-19. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Land Use and Transportation Committee was originally scheduled to deliberate the ill-conceived proposal on June 1, but that was postponed until June 8.
When a landlord rents out his or her bedrooms in a single-family home to separate tenants, is the home exempt from local rent control under Costa-Hawkins? We have gotten a sense of finality to that riddle after an appellate court affirmed the trial court’s interpretation that these types of boarding situations were indeed subject to rent control protections.
A bill strongly opposed by CAA that would create a statewide rental registry has been amended to target landlords who’ve received government assistance in response to the coronavirus. AB 2406 by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, would now require landlords to submit a long list of information about their buildings and their tenants to the state if they own five or more rental units — and accept rental assistance payments from federal or state COVID-19 programs.
