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5 New Laws and Regulations You Should Be Following Already

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5 New Laws and Regulations You Should Be Following Already

Categories: Planning Real Estate

Published 01/24/2020

The most noteworthy changes in the latest real estate laws and regulations originate from the passage of Assembly Bill 1482, a statewide rent-gouging prohibition and "just cause for eviction law that will give California the country's most powerful statewide resident protection.

Other resident securities that have begun this year include a ban for "No Section 8" procedures, an increase in the amount of time rent increase notices can be served, and a lower security deposit requirement for active U.S. military personnel. In this post, we’ll summarize these newly required laws and other statewide policy changes that will shape the way rental housing providers operate in 2020.

STATEWIDE RENT CAP AND ‘JUST CAUSE’

AB 1482 by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, has set a yearly 5% cap in addition to CPI top on rent increments and created new criteria for evictions across California. The signing of AB 1482, formally the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, marks the most meaningful policy change for California's rental housing owners and their occupants in 25 years. Assembly Bill 1482 will apply to most of the state’s multifamily housing stock, however not all of California's multifamily housing inventory. Specifically, homes built within the last 15 years and non-corporate owned single-family homes and condos are exempt from this law. Another significant highlight of AB 1482 is vacancy decontrol, which enables an owner to list a unit on the market when the occupant moves out.

MANDATORY CONSIDERATION OF SECTION 8 VOUCHER HOLDERS

SB 329 by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, will make it illegal to deny a forthcoming occupant exclusively dependent on the applicant's utilization of Section 8 federal housing vouchers. The law additionally forbids strategies against accepting Section 8 candidates and will expect property owners to treat Section 8 voucher-holders like every other candidate. "No Section 8" advertisements will also be prohibited.

FAIR HOUSING REGS THAT AFFECT USE OF CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS

Property Owners should have already adopted these fair housing procedures, but if they have not; this is the ideal opportunity for them to audit their current fair housing policies. Especially with regards to criminal background verifications and taking care of service animal requests. The "disparate impact" impact regulations specifically address how a plaintiff would make a claim based on the discriminatory use of criminal background checks. With regard to reasonable accommodations, the guidelines contain explicit arrangements identified with assistive animals and service animals.

LONGER NOTICING REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN RENT INCREASES

Assembly Bill 1110 by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, will expect property owners to give 90 days' notice when they raise the rent on month-to-month renters by over 10%. Up to this point, a 60-day notice was required. Initially, Friedman's bill would have required 120 days' notice for lease increments over the 10% limit. Note, the section of AB 1482 will restrain the effect of this law since increments in an abundance of 10% will be denied for a great part of the state's multifamily housing inventory.

LOWER SECURITY DEPOSITS FOR MEMBERS OF U.S. MILITARY

SB 644 by Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, decreases the sum California landowners can collect for security deposits from U.S. military. members. The law will restrain security deposits for active military to one months' lease for empty unfurnished units and two months' lease for furnished units. Limits on security deposits for non-military tenants will remain the same: two months’ rent for unfurnished units, three months’ rent for furnished ones.

For more details on this information, please refer back to our previous blog post covering AB 1482. If you have more detailed questions about AB 1482 and how it affects your property and tenants, please call (510) 500-7531) or email dglass@adventpropertiesinc.com, and we will help answer your questions and concerns.

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