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Landlords and their advocates are preparing for an epic battle after the sharp-elbowed president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation threatens to upend the rental housing industry with yet another attempt to repeal Costa Hawkins. Yet our industry partners are getting creative.
With the Protect Patients Now Act, Michael Weinstein gets a taste of his own medicine.
A ballot initiative would prohibit the sprawling international nonprofit from spending vast amounts of taxpayer money to advance radical rent control measures and make it clear that these funds must go where they are intended - to direct patient care.
One thing we've learned about tenants' advocates is that they are a resilient bunch and given an inch, they will take a mile. After the ink barely dried on a new state law limiting security deposits, there are calls to further tweak security deposit rules.
More concerning to us is the effort to require housing providers to foot the entire bill to vet prospective tenants vying for a rental unit.
With a glut of vacancies, there is pressure to reduce rents, but amid skyrocketing costs of operating a rental business, there is also pressure to get the highest rent amounts.
Given the tension between these two competing forces, what's to give?
What is driving insurance companies away from California in droves, and what are rental property owners to do? This is an endemic problem with no easy solution in sight, leaving landlords in a pickle.
Let's discuss it.
One sensible piece of legislation would change how landlord taxes are spent and make more types of homes exempt from rent control.
Another ominous bill seeks to add teeth to the city’s rent control ordinance and extend rent control to “golden duplexes.”
If you or your clients own a rental property in San Francisco, please note that when a tenant is evicted through no fault of their own, there are increased relocation payments to escort them out.
To give the city a birds-eye view of housing stock, landlords and their agents must update their status in the “Housing Inventory” portal, which is a clever way of saying a rent registry. Moreover, March 1st is when annual Rent Board fees are due.
Lock landlord and tenant groups in a room until an agreement is reached.
That was the message we got from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in their March 26th meeting. Advocates for tenants can’t see eye-to-eye with housing providers on mandatory mediation, expanded just cause requirements, increased relocation payments, and other items on the agenda.
In the coming weeks, we’ll see the final iteration of legislation that would bar property owners from asking about pets on applications, prohibit additional monthly fees for pet owners - dubbed “pet rent” - and limit pet security deposits.
The bill would mark a turning point in what has been a long and storied evolution of pet laws that housing providers have had to comply with.
We were privileged to discuss our origins, transitioning squatters out of a property, vetting tenants, and creating a culture of good citizenship in rental communities, among other topics.
A rental unit need not be a pristine palace, but it must be fit for human habitation. This gives us a good opportunity to review California’s habitability standards for residential units and how some lawmakers are attempting to redefine “substandard” conditions.
Let’s talk about tenant buyout agreements in San Francisco in light of recent numbers
We’re often asked about how much money landlords have to offer to transition tenants out in a legal, properly negotiated, and enforceable tenant buyout agreement.
How much money is required to entice the tenant to move out? The answer is it is all across the board but recently published metrics give us some context and a springboard to impart a few thoughts.
A ballot measure that would benefit small landlords? That might be a first.
After a spirited primary season, we pivot to November. The main event will be Weinstein 3.0 as voters decide the fate of Costa-Hawkins. Yet our friends at the Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition are rolling out a ballot measure of their own.
The Renters Relief & Homeowners Protection Act would create a pool of funds for rental relief and give small property owners in Berkeley a financial cushion.
Bed bugs continue to bite Bay Area tenants and present pestering legal problems for their landlords
It’s been years since we’ve taken on this subject but in light of recent Orkin numbers that confirm that San Francisco has a bed bug problem, we felt obligated to revisit the many issues involved in detecting and eradicating these stealthy, blood-sucking insects.
Whenever bed bugs are discovered, landlords and tenants have mutual responsibilities to address these parasitic guests. We discuss them here.
2024 San Francisco lease agreement is off the press. Are your leases in the Stone Age?
Lease agreements should be a living, breathing creature to reflect new changes in the law, yet a recurring theme of our practice is housing providers using stale, outdated documentation that does not account for ever-changing requirements imposed on us.
Our office is always willing to review your lease agreements to ensure that they are modernized and that we anticipate all potential conflicts in a landlord-tenant relationship.
The stench surrounding lawsuits over Oakland's garbage removal
In a rarity, Oakland goes to bat for rental property owners by settling a lawsuit with California Waste Solutions for overcharging them for bringing recycling carts out to the curb.
As a thank-you gesture, landlords sue the city for franchise fees that inordinately burden multi-family owners. We felt obligated to chime in.
The news gets worse for Oakland housing providers besieged by new regulations
Housing providers could potentially wait months before getting cash flow if the rent owed is less than at least one month of “fair market rent,” as dictated by HUD. Those numbers just went up, making the wait longer for many landlords already bereft of thousands of dollars in rent during the COVID pandemic.
Do you know to whom you are renting?
Evictions, bad credit, broken leases, and any other blemishes are no barrier to renting as some shadowy online merchants peddle a new identity that conceals the rental risks of applicants seeking to disguise their checkered past.
Although credit privacy numbers are not inherently illegal, they are ripe for abuse, as we discuss in our latest article.
Let's talk about the epic battle of Weinstein 3.0
The impulse of local jurisdictions to enact draconian tenant protections has been put in check by Costa-Hawkins, a decades-old law that is one of the last bastions of property owner rights.
While efforts to repeal Costa-Hawkins have twice failed, we have serious concerns that given the political climate, the third time may be the charm unless rental housing providers and real estate practitioners mount a massive campaign to articulate a counternarrative.
Empty promises to be called out
If you want more holiday cheer, you can find it in a recent court decision that allows a lawsuit challenging San Francisco's Empty Homes Tax to move forward.
The City Attorney's Office argued that the lawsuit shouldn't proceed until owners pay the tax. A sober-minded judge disagreed, as we discuss in our latest article.
What will federalized tenant protections look like if they come to pass?
The feds have recently pushed a Request for Input (RFI) after soliciting public input on issues faced by tenants housed in multifamily properties, as well as a study of the opportunities and impacts associated with imposing additional tenant protections in properties backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
While California law is more protective than federal law, for the most part, this balance may shift if the Biden Administration's policy objectives come to fruition.
Caution is urged when accepting rents from third parties
It’s not uncommon for a family member or caregiver to pay a portion of or all of a tenant’s rent and this third party later claims they are entitled to possession of the premises. Dismayed landlords may be disappointed to learn that they have inadvertently created a tenancy
This can be avoided if there is firm groundwork laid out before any money exchanges hands.
Putting nuisances into context in light of new state law
A new California law bans local “nuisance property” laws and “crime-free housing” programs that have emboldened landlords to act as their own police force and evict tenants for vaguely defined criminal activities.
We wholeheartedly support the prohibition of these types of laws, but point out that landlords can still terminate tenancies based on nuisance activities and, absent any local restrictions, can still conduct criminal background checks.
A mixed bag of news in Alameda County
While some East Bay locales have resisted calls for increased regulations, Oakland has marched to the beat of its own drum by ushering in a sweeping package of new landlord-tenant rules at the behest of tenant activists.
SB 602 gives trespass letters added teeth
When owners encounter parasitic trespassers, they can file a declaration that puts law enforcement on alert that none belongs on the premises. This gives responding officers the discretion to arrest or cite the unwelcome person on the spot. Under SB 602, these documents are good for a full year.
Handling noise disputes and avoiding larger problems down the road
One of the consequences of living in an apartment is noise from neighboring residents.
Some of it is tolerable, but when the decimals become excessive, it can lead to larger disputes. This makes it important to lay out noise policies early on and have an approach to respond to loud tenants.
When there is mental illness, addiction, and other societal woes, it will inevitably spill into and around buildings.
There are new tools for landlords, their agents, and other professionals to respond to upsetting behavior while improving the health, wellness, and quality of life of residents suffering from severe illnesses.
Mama Boys overstay their welcome, mother wins a lawsuit to evict her sons
Sensationalist stories plastered in the news about owners evicting their children and trusted caregivers may seem amusing, but this is no laughing matter.
It is disturbing when guests overstay their welcome, take control of the property, and worse yet, prey upon vulnerable individuals.
Rules are changing with evicting a tenant on the grounds of a substantial remodel
Deeply distrustful of these types of evictions, state lawmakers have put additional guardrails in place.
Effective April 1, 2024, owners should have their drawing plans and permits in hand before endeavoring to recover possession of the unit through a substantial remodel.
It stands to reason that larger units with more bedrooms and household members will be heavier consumers of water, sewage, electricity, gas, trash collection, and waste management.
Yet a billing system whereby a master-metered landlord is paid for utilities may rub tenants and rent boards the wrong way and we get into murky legal territory on if we can transition into RUBS and if so, when to do so in the lifespan of the tenancy.
Governor Newsom takes aim at anti-crime housing policies by inking AB 1418
Although we practice landlord-tenant law and are not criminal attorneys, these areas often intersect. When there is addiction, violence, mental illness, crime, and other societal woes, it inevitably spills into and around rental units.
Having seen all manner of dysfunction, we sound off in this piece.
Oakland is at it again, considering another set of tenant protections
When Oakland's eviction moratorium expired, policymakers availed the opportunity to enact additional protections unrelated to the pandemic. Before the ink dried on those new laws, tenants' advocates floated even greater guardrails in a November 14 meeting convened by the City’s Community Economic Development Committee (CED).
Steadily, local rent boards and regulators have decreed that if rental units do not add to the housing stock and the owner merely upgrades or converts the unit without providing a net gain of new housing, rent and eviction controls will apply. The courts have agreed with this logic, so this matter appears to be resolved.
A newly minted law aims to reduce barriers to housing, limits security deposits to one month’s rent
Going into effect July 1, 2024, AB 12 is a landmark piece of legislation that limits security deposits to one month’s rent. The law makes no distinction between furnished and unfurnished units, but certain small landlords will be exempt.
Section 8 discrimination case settled for $105K
Another landlord was served with a helping of humble pie, and this time the slice was $105,000 in damages after discriminating against apartment hunters bearing housing subsidies, prying into sex and marital status, and doubling the amount that could be legally charged for a rental application fee.
The rest of us should take heed.
Potential tax savings in underperforming rental units when tenants are chronically not paying rent
If your property's value declines, the Alameda County Assessor's Office is willing to hear you out, provided you have supporting documentation and can make a compelling case.
The options for housing providers to protect their investments dwindle
As insurance companies leave California in droves, there are calls for reform. The Governor and regulators at the Department of Insurance have gotten the memo.
Eviction moratoriums have met their demise, but now what? There will be no instant gratification
San Franciso's pillow test requires fire alarm systems to be loud enough to awaken the dead
Depositing online payments after an eviction action is filled puts housing providers in a pickle
Reforming security deposit rules is just one item on the wish list of a renters' caucus
As a bit of trivia, only five state legislators are renters, but if their agenda comes to pass, the impact on housing providers will be anything but trivial.
In-depth: San Francisco tenant buyout agreements
We dig deeper into San Francisco tenant buyout agreements. While rules may differ in other locales, the fundamental way we approach buyouts is the same.
Housing providers overwhelmed with ever-changing notice requirements
Regulators have made a massive, concerted effort to educate tenants on the protections afforded to them, but there has been little outreach to landlords on their rights and responsibilities.
Parking wars in the Bay Area
The irony doesn't escape us. Although there is a false narrative in some quarters that rental property owners are fomenting homelessness, San Francisco's policy of towing thousands of vehicles puts renters at greater risk of displacement.
With space such a scarce and coveted commodity, we revisit the friction over parking.
Some sense of finality in Alameda County, but we are not done just yet.
While some Alameda County Supervisors were eager to revisit the county's eviction moratorium, the board was unable to take action because of obstructions, protests, and saddening losses. The only viable choice was to let the eviction ban sunset on April 29.
Yet this saga is not over. Like stubborn children, some East Bay cities are sorting out their own ordinances and attempting to cling to outlived tenant protections by their fingernails.
The legal implications when a tenant moves in a romantic partner
What are housing providers to do when a tenant wants to give the keys to a domestic partner who is an unfamiliar face to the landlord? This is one of the questions posed to Daniel in a recent online meetup and his response follows.
Fair housing "testers" look to push landlords off of a cliff
There are nonprofits hiring imposters for the sole purpose of catching landlords in the act of discriminatory housing practices, making it imperative that we are careful in our communication with prospective tenants.
Think before you press send
We can't live without texts and emails, but messaging with tenants should be well thought out, and the limitations of technology should be recognized - texts and emails are no substitute for legally prescribed notices.
It's been said that home is where the heart is, but what happens when that heart is broken? That answer has been revisited by new legislation that builds upon protections already in place for survivors of domestic violence.
Dealing with squatters who have no relationship with the property owner whatsoever
A property owner can be horribly shocked and disappointed to find unauthorized squatters who have overtaken the property.
With all of the social dysfunction found in the Bay Area, squatting has become more and more of a thorn in the sides of owners.
SCOTUS decision will impact those of you with resident managers. Now is the time to review your agreements.
As many divided Americans were affixed on the high court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade, we were following Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, a seminal case that puts the California Private Attorneys General Act under scrutiny.
We explain the implications for rental housing providers who employ resident managers and submit that the time is ripe to take a hard look at the documentation that governs your relationships.
San Francisco regulators clamp down on 'corporate rentals' and Intermediate Length Occupancy units in the city
There are instances when nomadic guests want to stay in San Francisco for more than 30 days, but less than a full year. These types of arrangments have been around for years and the companies offering these accommodations, often for decades.
Now, owners and operators are subject to a new regulatory regime as regulators look to police another iteration of the modern-day temporary flop.
An uptick in Owner move-in evictions as people yearn to return home
With a societal shift of people going to and fro during and after the pandemic, it was inevitable that property owners would want to come back home, but there is a deep distrust among regulators of these no-fault evictions.
There are several procedural requirements and potential pitfalls, making it prudent to seek counsel.
Effectuating an OMI/RMI properly, legally, and without ulterior motive →
A win for landlords in the most unlikely of places
San Francisco landlords will not have to give tenants a 10-day warning period to tenants who have failed to pay rent. That is according to a recent court decision overruling a portion of Ordinance No. 18-22. It flies in the face of state law, a judge ruled.
Bornstein Law applauds the tenacity of our industry partners in achieving this hard-won victory. Yet clearly, it is not a perfect world our landlording community lives in and many challenges remain, as we explain here.
Revisiting the laws and best practices surrounding tobacco use and cannabis in rental units
After certain portions of Alameda County put an anti-smoking ordinance in place and reports of tenants growing an abundance of pot plants, we felt obligated to chime in and give a 360-degree view.
Privacy concerns with Ring and other smart doorbells
Solving simple problems can create billion-dollar ideas. They can also stir up legal quandaries.
The glass is half-full after lawmakers extend California's eviction moratorium past April 1
In what is likely to be the last elongation of statewide eviction protections, AB 2179 should come as good news for rental housing providers.
Justice delayed, justice denied for San Francisco landlords?
The lawsuit isn't over until it's over, but landlord groups successfully blocked the city's ordinance that makes it necessary for landlords to issue a 10-day warning notice to tenants prior to serving a traditional 3-day notice.
A pair of ill-conceived bills gets reincarnated
Attacks on the Ellis Act and calls for a statewide rent registry persist despite earlier defeats, proving once again that tenants' advocates are a tenacious bunch that won't take no for an answer.
Punitive tax proposed for "greed-fueled" investors
To discourage cash-rich, corporate investors from gobbling up homes and quickly selling them for a profit, AB 1771 would impose a massive capital gains tax on transactions that are sold within three years of purchase. The tax dissipates the longer the home is owned.
SF tenants can potentially stave off eviction by asserting a COVID-related hardship, courtesy of a new ordinance
San Francisco has done some soul searching in balancing the public policy of keeping renters housed while ensuring that landlords get cash-flowing again. Many questions linger and it will have to all be sorted out in court.
Ask a landlord attorney: 15 minutes with Daniel Bornstein
Daniel talks about owner move-in evictions, the status of the courts, and litigation challenging eviction moratoriums throughout Alameda County in this interview
Meet John, a sad casualty of the archaic eviction moratoriums that exist in Alameda County and Oakland
An Oakland landlord was so riddled with stress about losing his property because the tenant refused to pay rent, he was hospitalized, became disabled, and was forced to quit his job.
Meet Sheanna, another victim of outdated eviction moratoriums
A wonderful landlord poured her heart out to vulnerable people but her independent living arrangement had to be closed because of a harassing, non-paying tenant that could not be evicted.
From the archives
Offices in San Francisco and the East Bay to best serve our clients.
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Suite 310
San Francisco, CA 94102
482 W MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94609
Tel: 415-409-7611
Fax: 415-409-9345
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