Sacramento Report

Several New Bills to Impact the Rental Housing Industry

by Debra Carlton

Now that the deadline has come and gone for bill introductions, here is a glimpse of the bills legislators have introduced that will impact the rental housing industry if signed into law:

AB 488 (D-Parra) Sex Offenders: This bill would make available on the Internet the names, photographs and, for the first time, the addresses of registered sexual offenders. Current law prohibits a rental property owner from discriminating against a tenant in the rental of housing if the tenant is listed in the Megan’s Law database.

AB 2088 (D-Dutra) Rent Control: This bill provides that in a rent control community where the original occupant no longer resides in the rental unit, the owner may increase the rent for any remaining occupants (roommates) who did not reside in the dwelling prior to January 1, 1996.

AB 2400 (R-Keene) Controlled Substances: This bill declares a building substandard indefinitely once a methamphetamine lab is discovered within the building.

AB 2521 (D-Nation) Rental Property Eviction: This bill declares the legislature’s intent to enact legislation protecting tenants from eviction if they have a terminal illness.

AB 2582 (D-Lieber) Environmental Hazards: This bill requires residential rental property owners to provide prospective tenants with a notice, prior to the execution of the lease, regarding whether the owner has knowledge that in, on or beneath the property there are any products, substances or materials that may be a hazard.

AB 2583 (D-Lieber) Tenancy/Personal Information: This bill prohibits a rental property owner from demanding private or personal information from existing tenants as a condition of continuing residency. It provides that an owner who violates the provisions of the act will be liable for actual damages, a civil penalty and attorneys’ fees.

SB 115 (D-Torlakson) Cash Payments: This bill prohibits a rental property owner from requiring cash as the exclusive payment of rent or deposit of security.

SB 1145 (D-Burton) Tenant Protections: This bill makes three tenant-protection laws permanent that were previously scheduled for removal from the law books in 2006 and 2007. Specifically, these laws require that rental property owners (1) give certain tenants a 60-day notice prior to terminating the tenancy; (2) provide tenants a 60-day notice prior to increasing the rent in excess of 10 percent; and (3) are prohibited from discriminating against a tenant based upon a tenant’s source of income.

SB 1508 (D-Ducheny) Real Property Loans: This bill prohibits a person or entity from making a loan secured by a deed of trust or mortgage on nonowner occupied residential real property, if a notice of code violation has been recorded against the property by the local code enforcement agency.

SB 1634 (D-Alarcon) Real Property Substandard Conditions: This bill requires the State Department of Housing and Community Development to develop a statewide grading system and minimum inspection standards for local enforcement agencies to use when inspecting buildings. Buildings that receive an “F” grade would be posted on a state Web site.
There are many more bills that the CAA’s State Government Committee will review in the coming weeks. We will report back to you on those additional bills and the position taken by CAA on each of them.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Debra Carlton is the Vice president of Policy and Research for the California Apartment Association and is CAA's chief lobbyist. Copyright ©2004.