SocketSite reports that San Francisco (and Oakland) rents were down from the beginning of 2017.
Legislative Update San Francisco Ordinance 95-17 Expanding Use of Accessory Dwelling Unit Density Bonuses in Conjunction with Seismic Retrofit
San Francisco’s Ordinance 95-17 expands the use of accessory dwelling units (“ADUs”) in existing structures from the previous ADU density bonus ordinance.
Continue reading “Legislative Update San Francisco Ordinance 95-17 Expanding Use of Accessory Dwelling Unit Density Bonuses in Conjunction with Seismic Retrofit”
Justin Goodman Featured in SF Apartment Magazine Legal Q&A for November 2017
Justin Goodman was featured in the Legal Q&A for the November 2017 issue of SF Apartment Magazine – the official publication of the San Francisco Apartment Association.
Justin engaged an interesting issue about a tenant violating a lease provision concerning their parking space – one that called for forfeiture of the space – in the context of San Francisco’s prohibition against severing housing services without “just cause” and in the context of case law preventing evictions other than for violations of “material” lease terms.
SFAA is dedicated to educating, advocating for, and supporting the rental housing community so that its members operate ethically, fairly, and profitably. SFAA’s is a trade association whose main focus is to support rental owners by offering a wide variety of benefits that address all aspects of rental housing industry.
“Costa-Hawkins Repeal” Effort May Be Heading Directly To Voters
This Monday, Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, filed a proposed ballot initiative with Office of the Attorney General, aiming to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.
The ballot measure would send the issue of repeal directly to the voters, following the decision of Assemblymembers Chiu and Bloom to slow-track their legislative effort for repeal (AB 1506).
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Governor Brown Prohibits “Price Gouging” Following North Bay Fires
Following Governor Brown’s declaration of a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma and Yuba Counties after the October 2017 “Tubbs” and “Atlas” Fires, the Governor has signed an executive order extending protections against “price-gouging”.
The invocation of California Penal Code §396 now makes it unlawful “to sell or offer to sell any consumer food items or goods, goods or services used for emergency cleanup, emergency supplies, medical supplies, home heating oil, building materials, housing, transportation, freight, and storage services, or gasoline or other motor fuels for a price of more than 10 percent above the price charged by that person for those goods or services immediately prior to the proclamation or declaration of emergency”.
This prohibition includes rent increases in the affected areas, and a recent executive order extends this limitation through April 18, 2018.
Second District publishes City of West Hollywood v. Kihagi – Application of Ellis Act Constraints in the Context of Settlement Agreements
Today, the Second District Court of Appeal published its decision in City of West Hollywood v. Kihagi, interpreting Ellis Act re-rental constraints and their application in the context of settlement agreements.
Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC Attends Congressman Jim Costa Fundraiser: “A Conversation about Costa-Hawkins 20 Years Later”
Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC attended a Bay Area reception supporting Jim Costa, U.S. Representative for California’s 16th Congressional District. In 1995, then-California State Senator Costa co-sponsored AB 1164 with then-Assemblyman Phil Hawkins, known as the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (Cal. Civ., §§1954.50, et seq.).
(Featured: Justin A. Goodman of Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC (left) and U.S. Representative Jim Costa (right))
Representative Costa, now advancing California’s interests in Washington, gave an insightful presentation on the political climate beginning with the adoption of rent control in the early 1980s leading up to the passing of Costa-Hawkins. He also discussed AB 1506, the recent legislative effort to repeal Costa-Hawkins, and political strategies on fighting repeal efforts at the ballot.
The event was sponsored by the Berkeley Property Owners Association and the East Bay Rental Housing Association.
Justin Goodman Featured in SF Apartment Magazine Legal Q&A for September 2017
Justin Goodman was featured in the Legal Q&A for the September 2017 issue of SF Apartment Magazine – the official publication of the San Francisco Apartment Association.
Justin discussed the ability of a landlord to prohibit tenants from posting signs that had the effect of driving away prospective renters, in the context of San Francisco’s Planning Code and the First Amendment.
SFAA is dedicated to educating, advocating for, and supporting the rental housing community so that its members operate ethically, fairly, and profitably. SFAA’s is a trade association whose main focus is to support rental owners by offering a wide variety of benefits that address all aspects of rental housing industry.
California Legislative Update (2017) – AB 291 Prohibits Landlord Threats and Actions Based on Immigration Status
AB 291 now imposes broad restrictions against threats by landlords (and attorneys) relating to immigration status. In addition to now making it lawful to “Threaten to disclose information regarding or relating to the immigration or citizenship status of a tenant, occupant, or other person known to the landlord to be associated with a tenant or occupant”, the new law also provides for defenses to unlawful detainer actions where the tenant can establish that the landlord filed the action because of the tenants immigration status.
In fact, a tenant may establish this by showing that the action is based on any of the following:
(A) The failure at any time of a previously approved tenant or occupant to provide a valid social security number.
(B) The failure at any time of a previously approved tenant or occupant to provide information required to obtain a consumer credit report under Section 1785.11 of the Civil Code.
(C) The failure at any time of a previously approved tenant or occupant to provide a form of identification deemed acceptable by the landlord.
As some of these may innocuously relate to the landlord’s ability to verify the creditworthiness of their renters, both property managers and practitioners will want to be cautious in crafting three day notices as unlawful detainer complaints.
The full text of AB 291 is available here.
Rosemary Court Properties, LLC v. Walker (Unpublished) – “Gatekeeper Duty” Justifies Reversal of Unlawful Detainer Judgment upon Failure To State Cause of Action
“Rosemary Court’s allegations that Parsi moved out of the premises and lived elsewhere for a time do not constitute termination under the lease or any law that we are aware of and, therefore, do not support Rosemary Court’s legal conclusion that Parsi terminated her leasehold interest. Rosemary Court relied on Walker’s purportedly unauthorized assignment of the lease to Parsi for its unlawful detainer cause of action, but regardless of any such assignment, by Rosemary Court’s own allegations, including the terms of the lease incorporated into the complaint by reference, Parsi was a colessee of a month-to-month tenancy who had moved out of the premises for a time, which remained occupied by Walker, and then moved back into the premises around the time that Walker moved out. These allegations establish only that Parsi was a colessee of the premises with an ongoing right to a month-to-month tenancy. Therefore, Rosemary Court did not state an unlawful detainer cause of action against Parsi.”
In Rosemary Court Properties, LLC v. Walker (unpublished), the First District Court of Appeal reversed the appellate division of the superior court decision upholding a default judgment in an unlawful detainer case against a co-lessee (Parsi) who, while temporarily out of occupancy, had resumed occupancy prior to the attempted termination of the tenancy. In so doing, the Court determined that the “gatekeeper duty” of the trial court required that it not enter a default judgment where the complaint is insufficient to state a cause of action.
Continue reading “Rosemary Court Properties, LLC v. Walker (Unpublished) – “Gatekeeper Duty” Justifies Reversal of Unlawful Detainer Judgment upon Failure To State Cause of Action”
