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There are two protections under the California Tenant Protection Act: eviction protection and rent-ceiling protection. Under eviction protection, a landlord can only evict a tenant for fifteen reasons, or just causes. The rent-ceiling protection caps rent increases to five percent per year, plus the annual percent change in the annual cost of living adjustment. Determining whether your unit and tenancy are covered by just-cause eviction protection and rent caps is a complicated analysis.
Tobener Ravenscroft LLP is the leading tenant rights law firm in California and has been in business for over twenty years. The firm serves tenants in California and focuses on wrongful evictions, intractable repair issues, landlord harassment, tenant discrimination, landlord sexual harassment, and landlord-caused injuries.
Determining whether you have just-cause eviction protection is a two-step analysis. First, you must determine whether your unit qualifies. Second, you must determine whether you have met the length-of-tenancy requirement. Below, we explain how to determine whether you have eviction protection.
Unless your unit falls under one of the following exemptions, you have eviction protection:
A tenant or group of tenants who have continuously and lawfully occupied a unit for twelve months from the beginning of the tenancy have eviction protection. However, if another adult tenant is added to the unit after the beginning of the lease, the household does not have eviction protection until either (1) all adult tenants have continuously and lawfully resided in the unit for twelve or more months, or (2) at least one adult tenant in the unit has continuously and lawfully resided in the unit for twenty-four months.
There are fifteen just causes under the Tenant Protection Act:
Landlords must comply with the following requirements for an owner or relative move-in:
No. Unlike other rent-control ordinances, the California Tenant Protection Act is silent on protections against an owner or relative move-in eviction for tenants who are elderly or disabled.
Yes. If the owner or relative does not move into the unit within 90 days or does not live in the unit for at least 12 months, the landlord shall offer unit back to the evicted tenant under the same lease terms and at the same rent in effect when the eviction notice was served.
Tenants who discover that they were not offered their unit back according to the law should immediately contact a tenant lawyer to understand their rights.
Substantial remodel under the law means the replacement or substantial modification of any structural, electrical, plumbing or mechanical system that requires a permit, or the abatement of hazardous material, including lead, mold or asbestos that cannot be reasonably accomplished in a safe manner with the tenant in the unit and that requires the tenant to vacate for more than 30 days.
Cosmetic improvements alone, including painting, decorating, and minor repairs, do not qualify, nor does any work that can be done safely with the tenant in the unit.
A landlord must provide the following information with the eviction notice:
No. The California Tenant Protection Act is silent on protections against demolition or substantial remodel eviction for tenants who are elderly or disabled.
Yes. Tenants should timely provide their landlord a written notice of intent to reoccupy their unit when they receive a substantial remodel/demolition eviction notice.
The eviction notice must include the following statement:
“If the substantial remodel of your unit or demolition of the property as described in this notice of termination is not commenced or completed, the owner must offer you the opportunity to re-rent your unit with a rental agreement containing the same terms as your most recent rental agreement with the owner at the rental rate that was in effect at the time you vacated. You must notify the owner within 30 days of receipt of the offer to re-rent of your acceptance or rejection of the offer, and, if accepted, you must reoccupy the unit within 30 days of notifying the owner of your acceptance of the offer.”
Tenants should timely provide their landlord a written notice of intent to reoccupy their unit. Tenants who discover that they were not offered their unit back according to the law should immediately contact a tenant lawyer to understand their rights.
Yes. The eviction notice must include a statement that if the tenant desires to reoccupy the unit after the remodel, the tenant needs to provide their address, telephone number, and email address.
Although the landlord must offer the unit back to the tenant after the remodel is complete if the tenant provided notice of their desire to return, the landlord does not have to offer the unit back under the same lease terms or the same rent the tenant was paying before the eviction.
A landlord who evicts a tenant for an owner move-in, a relative move-in, demolition, substantial remodel, pursuant to city or county abatement order, or to withdraw the unit from the rental market, must provide one of the following forms of tenant assistance at the landlord’s discretion:
The eviction notice must inform the tenant of the right to relocation assistance. If the tenant does not vacate at the expiration of the notice, the landlord may recover the relocation assistance as damages. A landlord is entitled to credit the relocation against relocation required by a different statute or ordinance.
All units in California are covered by the rent-ceiling limitations of State of California rent control except:
For units covered by the rent-ceiling limitations of State of California rent control, a landlord may only increase the rent each year by 5% plus the annual percent change in the Consumer Price Index, up to a maximum of 10%. If the landlord chooses to do smaller increases, the landlord can only increase the rent two times in one year. The law is retroactive to March 15, 2019. If a landlord has raised the rent above the allowable amount from March 15, 2019, to January 1, 2020, the rent will be rolled back, but the landlord shall not be liable to the tenant for any rent overpayments.
For applicable mobilehome tenancies, the law is retroactive to February 18, 2021. If a landlord raised the rent above the allowable amount from February 18, 2021 to January 1, 2022, the rent amount will be rolled back to what it was as of February 18, 2021, but the landlord shall not be liable to the tenant for any rent overpayment.
Under State of California rent control, a master tenant cannot charge subtenants more than the master tenant is paying to the landlord.
Under State of California rent control, if a landlord does not take a rent increase in any given year, the landlord cannot bank the prior rent increase.
In cities and counties with rent control, single-family homes and condominiums are covered by state-law rent caps where the units are not otherwise covered by local rent caps, as long as the units are not otherwise exempt under state law. For example, the San Francisco Rent Ordinance does not have rent caps for single-family homes and condominiums for post-1996 tenancies. As long as the single-family home or condominium is built more than fifteen years ago (and the tenancy and unit meet all other state rent control requirements), state rent control would apply to limit rent increases.
Any lease signed or renewed after July 1, 2020, or July 1, 2022, if the lease is for a mobilehome tenancy, must include the below disclosure in the original lease agreement. For tenancies that existed before July 1, 2020, or July 1, 2022, if the lease is for a mobilehome tenancy, the landlord must provide the notice by August 1, 2020, or August 1, 2022, for tenants renting a mobilehome. This disclosure requirement does not apply to tenants already covered by more stringent city or county rent control. Nor does it apply to units that will never be covered by eviction protection or rent-ceiling protection.
“California law limits the amount your rent can be increased. See Section 1947.12 of the Civil Code for more information. California law also provides that after all of the tenants have continuously and lawfully occupied the property for 12 months or more or at least one of the tenants has continuously and lawfully occupied the property for 24 months or more, a landlord must provide a statement of cause in any notice to terminate a tenancy. See Section 1946.2 of the Civil Code for more information.”
If the unit is a single-family home or condominium that is not owned by a 1) real estate investment trust, 2) a corporation, or 3) an LLC in which at least one member is a corporation, the owner must disclose that the property is exempt. For tenancies existing before July 1, 2020, the disclosure of exempt status need not be stated in the lease but must be sent in writing. For tenancies commencing on or after July 1, 2020, the exemption must be included in the original lease agreement.
If the unit is a mobilehome that is not owned by 1) a real estate investment trust, 2) a corporation, 3) an LLC in which at least one member is a corporation, or 4) management of a mobilehome park as defined in Civil Code Section 798.2, the owner must disclose in writing that the home is exempt. For mobile home tenancies existing before July 1, 2022, the disclosure of exempt status need not be stated in the lease but must be sent in writing. For tenancies commencing on or after July 1, 2022, the exemption notice must be included in the original lease agreement.
If you had just cause eviction protection for your tenancy before California state rent control was enacted, your local ordinance will apply to your tenancy, even if the state law rent control offers more protection. However, if your city or county enacts a new ordinance with just-cause eviction protection after September 1, 2019, the local ordinance will only apply if it offers stronger protections than the state law.
If your tenancy is subject to rent caps under an existing local rent-control ordinance, the local ordinance will apply if it is a more restrictive than state rent control. For example, if your local rent-control ordinance allows a 10% annual increase and the state rent control statute allows 8%, the state rent control statute will apply.
Tenants can sue their landlord for demanding, accepting, receiving, or retaining payment of rent in violation of the rent control provisions of the law. A tenant may sue for an injunction, damages in the amount of the excess rent payment, and reasonable attorney fees and costs in the court’s discretion. If the landlord is found to have acted “willfully or with oppression, fraud, or malice,” the tenant will be awarded three times the amount of rent paid in excess of the maximum allowable rent.
Tenants can also sue their landlord for any attempt to recover possession of a rental unit in violation of the law. A tenant may sue for their actual damages and reasonable attorney fees and costs in the court’s discretion. If the landlord is found to have acted “willfully or with oppression, fraud, or malice,” the tenant will be awarded three times their actual damages, plus punitive damages.
Tenants should call Tobener Ravenscroft LLP at (415) 504-2165 to speak with a tenant attorney if they believe their landlord has violated the California Tenant Protection Act or any of its new amendments.
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