From the President
by Eric Andresen
With the arrival of the New Year, we are now required to implement new, far-reaching and historic legislation that dramatically changes the way we do business. Amazingly, the staffs at both the San Francisco Apartment Association (SFAA) and the California Apartment Association (CAA) were right on top of this issue. They prepared and presented classes and forms as well as offered reliable advice in a relatively short period of time. I shudder to think where we would be if the SFAA and the CAA network had not been successful in so dramatically minimizing the impact of this legislation. Once again, even though weíve been hit pretty hard, what had originally been proposed would have made our lives all but impossible.
One issue, yet to be resolved, stems from the new Notice of Right to Request an Initial Inspection (pre-move-out). As you all should know, we are required to provide each tenant with a written notice of his/her rights to request an inspection, and this notice must be given within "a reasonable time" after either party informs the other of the intent to terminate the tenancy. In the case of a routine termination of tenancy, this is fairly simple to implement although there is little clarity in terms of three-day notices. Three-day notices can include such rental housing forms as the Three-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit or a Three-Day Notice to Perform Conditions or Quit. The puzzle for all of us is whether or not the language in this new Initial Inspection Notice should be included in these distinct types of three-day notices.
When the tenant fails to comply, the Three-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit is an official notice of the owner's intention to terminate the tenancy. Conceivably the new language pertaining to initial inspections could be included. One concern, however, is that when the three-day notice is served months before actual termination or eviction, a judge or jury could find that the initial inspection language does not satisfy the intent of the law. If the tenant complies, another question is whether or not the initial inspection language should be included in a notice that is not a termination notice. Many attorneys believe that this new language about initial inspections should be served with the unlawful detainer action rather than with the three-day notice. An equal number of attorneys maintain that the inclusion of minimal language in the three-day notice is all that is required.
Here in San Francisco we have to add yet another consideration to this dilemma - the way our local courts behave during the eviction process. The majority opinion of our local attorneys is that the addition of any unnecessary language to a three-day notice is not only inappropriate but could result in cases getting thrown out of court; and there is precedent to support this concern.
How then do we conceive a workable plan? First, CAA has introduced legislation in Sacramento (AB 1384 — Maddox) to clarify that the initial inspection language is not required in a three-day notice. The legislation will first be heard, hopefully, within the next month or so. The whole process, however, will take several months. In the meantime, we believe that you should take the advice of our local attorneys and do not include the initial inspection language in current three-day notices.
What we recommend is that you use the current three-day notices available at the SFAA offices. There is nothing wrong with these notices and there is certainly no reason to be concerned about using them now. You must, however, also remember to ensure that the Notice of Right to Request an Initial Inspection is served at some point right after, or at the time of, the service of an unlawful detainer action. Most of our local real estate attorneys are already aware of this requirement, and they will help ensure that the initial inspection language is included when performing an unlawful detainer action. In your best interest, you should certainly make sure that the required information is given to the tenant at an appropriate time.
We will continue to update you on any important changes relating to serving a Notice of Right to Request an Initial Inspection, as well as any other issues related to dramatic changes in rental laws.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the SF Apartment Magazine. Eric Andresen owns West Coast Property Management and West Coast Property Maintenance Companies. Eric is also the Treasurer of the California Apartment Association's Executive Board and serves on the boards of many other leading housing industry organizations. Copyright © 2003 San Francisco Apartment Magazine