To alleviate the homelessness crisis and housing problems that have been happening in California, The Tenant Protection Act of 2019, also known as AB-1482 has been passed. New policies related to housing vouchers, rental fee increase, and evictions have been put into effect at the beginning of 2020 and will continue to exist for the next 10 years.
Here are the new policies that landlords in California must know so that they can continue doing business without getting in trouble with the law:
RENT INCREASE
Rent can only be increased by not more than 5% plus the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or by 10%, whichever’s lower. Rental increase must also not be more than two increments within 1 year of a tenancy.
Should there be more than a 10% increase, the landlord must provide tenants with a 90-day notice.
LEASE RENEWAL / EVICTION
A landlord cannot refuse lease renewal from a tenant just to get around the rent increase. It is only legal if there is “just cause” such as:
- failure to pay rent
- violation of leasing agreement
- illegal subletting of the rental property
- criminal activity
- denying the landlord of entry in allowable circumstances
If there’s just cause, the landlord is required to issue an eviction notice and allow the tenant to fix the violation in a certain amount of time. If the latter fails to do so, the landlord can start the eviction process.
Other than “just cause,” it’s possible to evict for “no-fault” reasons such as:
- owner will occupy the vacated unit
- owner will stop renting the property to tenants
- property will be demolished or remodeled
- local or government agencies require tenants to vacate the property
Under these circumstances, if the tenant moves out in the agreed timeframe, the landlord must either give relocation assistance that is equivalent to one month’s rent, or to waive the rental for the last month of tenancy.
NO DISCRIMINATION
Based on the Fair Housing Act, a landlord should also deny housing to members of a protected class, such as:
• Section 8 tenants
Tenant under the government housing program must be accommodated by landlords. These are low-income families whose rent is partly shouldered by the government.
You have the right, however, to require section 8 tenants to qualify based on your criteria, such as minimum credit score.
• Veterans and Military
Those in military service as well as veterans should be given certain privileges. One privilege is that landlords cannot charge them a security deposit that is more than 1 month’s rent for unfurnished units, or 2 month’s rent for furnished ones.
Denying them of accommodation because of this will be considered as a form of discrimination.
• Persons at Risk of Homelessness
Your tenant can share their shelter to people at risk of homelessness as long as:
- it doesn’t violate the occupancy limits of the building.
- the person at risk abides with the leasing agreement
- the tenant must agree to pay if the landlord will adjust rent for the duration of the adopted tenant’s stay. The agreement must be put into writing.
Should the landlord need to evict a person at risk of homelessness because of reasonable causes, the former must give the latter a 7-day notice.
Constantly updating yourself with new federal and state housing laws will help you better protect yourself from lawsuits that might kill your business.
Once you find the ideal tenant after posting high-quality listings on property management websites like Padleads, make sure that you have prepared a leasing agreement with terms and regulations that do not violate existing and new policies.