Image credit – CAA

The battle over rent control in the State of California continues as lawmakers announced on Thursday that they have finalized a rental housing legislation package (AB 1482) that if it’s approved will cap rent increases statewide and also enable local governments to apply their own versions of rent control to single family homes and 10-year-old construction.

Although many of the details of this legislation are lacking, the David Chiu bill would seek to cap annual rent increases based on things like the rate of inflation. This bill isn’t expected to supersede existing rent control laws but it’s sure to excite people who fought hard to have rent control enacted in California last year before Proposition 10 was defeated.

Image credit – caanet.org

About AB 36

AB 1482 along with AB 36 are sure to make 2019 another busy year for the fight against rent control in California especially as Oregon just recently passed its own statewide rent control so it’s easy to see why politicians here are eager to do the same.

AB 1482, as introduced, Chiu. Property: owner’s rights.

Existing law specifies the rights and obligations of property owners in the state and provides that a tenant for years or a tenant at will has no other rights to the property than the rights given by the agreement or instrument by which tenancy is acquired unless otherwise specified.

This bill would make non-substantive changes to the provision specifying the rights of a tenant for years or a tenant at will.

BILL TEXT

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Section 820 of the Civil Code is amended to read:

A tenant for years or at will has no other rights to the property than such as the rights that are given to him by the agreement or instrument by which his tenancy is acquired, or by the last section.

The likelihood that Governor Newsom is going to sign either bill is especially high since he’s promised lawmakers in California that he would sign rent control legislation if they sent something to his desk.

Sadly, either measure doesn’t address the underlining issue of supply vs. demand which is responsible for the housing shortage in California. If we don’t have enough new housing construction to keep up with the demand for rental properties in this state, the issue of housing affordability is going to get even worse since it’s likely that fewer investors will want to build new construction here.

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