If draconian rent control measures fail, try, try again

After voters decisively rejected Proposition 10, undeterred tenants' advocates bring it back to the ballot box again.

“We need real solutions, not the same poorly written initiative on the ballot year after year.” That’s the big, bold intro on a newly launched website by an arm of the California Apartment Association aimed at fighting an extreme rent control measure dubbed Prop 10 2.0. The CAA’s interactive website also empowers rental property and owners to join the movement. 

The chief architect behind the latest iteration of California’s Costa-Hawkins repeal, of course, is none other than Michael Weinstein, whose deep-pocketed AIDS Healthcare Foundation has made it a mission to restore the extreme rent control that was rampant in the 1970s. 

Although Californians decisively voted against a nearly identical measure at the ballot box in 2018, Weinstein and his cohorts are pleading with voters to have a change of heart with the rebranded “Housing Freeze” initiative. 

If the ballot measure is passed, Costa-Hawkins would be axed and the floodgates would be open to extreme forms of rent control. Permanent price caps could be set on all forms of housing, including single-family homes and condos. 

The latest initiative undermines Assembly Bill 1482, a law that ushered in statewide rent caps and eviction controls. Listen to Daniel chime in on the legislation and what landlords need to know to stay in compliance, with a bit of strategy offered to future-proof your business, as well. 

AB-1482 attempted to strike a balance by ensuring renters will not face astronomical rent hikes or be unfairly displaced from their homes while simultaneously providing stability for property owners. At the same time, developers still have the incentive to build sorely-needed housing stock to get to the root issue of the affordable housing crisis.

As a sidebar, owners and operators are reminded that with July almost upon us, the legislation requires new tenancies to include specific language that must be included in the lease as of July 1.

Bornstein Law did not go on a hiatus once COVID-19 reared its ugly head and we have made it a mission to educate our community about the temporary laws that have upended the way landlords, property managers, and real estate practitioners have done business. Yet it’s time to begin thinking post-pandemic and pivot to other orbits of life and business as emergency declarations are lifted and a state of semi-normalcy is returned. 

It is in that spirit we host a July 9 webinar on landlording on the other side of COVID and recouping lost rents. We invite you to register here.