It’s been over two years since the eviction moratorium, and some landlords have collected no rent for that entire period. Many housing providers received no relief from housingiskey.com while others have given up on the whole idea of providing housing and sold their units. Investors are avoiding California and are investing in more “landlord-friendly” environments.
To add insult to injury, other government-imposed restrictions in some jurisdictions are not allowing rent increases – in some areas not until 2023 and 2024!! And still … they continue to twist that knife in deeper.
Going for the Throat!
And as if enough damage hasn’t been done, they’re coming for more!
- Proposed bills SB 1335 and AB 2203 want to disallow tenant screening
- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to extend the county’s pandemic-related eviction moratorium until December 31, 2022, and to reinstate protections for failure to pay rent beginning April 1, 2022. (There is a current lawsuit pending against them)
- Tenants across San Francisco are poised to gain new collective bargaining powers to affect conditions in their buildings, thanks to a move by lawmakers in March.
- A San Francisco proposed legislation would require an additional 10-day cure and written warning letter before pursuing evictions. (There is a current lawsuit against this and it is on hold as of this writing)
- Supervisor Dean Preston is currently collecting the 9,000 signatures required to place an “Empty Homes Tax” measure on the November ballot.
- L.A. City Rent Control – Unnecessary moratorium continues until April of 2023.
- More and more California cities are slowly adopting their own rent control laws – Unincorporated L.A. County just implemented its own rent control with $90 registration fees and rent caps.
- Assembly Bill 1771 aims to discourage real estate speculation. The bill, introduced in March, would impose a 25 percent tax on the profits from a home resold within three years after it is bought.
- AB 2179 passed in March extended part of California’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium through June 30, but only for tenants whose applications for rental assistance have been submitted on or before March 31, 2022.
Stifling the Housing Industry
How is a rental housing provider supposed to run a successful business? It seems that every month, month politicians propose new legislation that would further strangle the rights of property owners. Below are some of the insane restrictions that housing providers currently have to deal with:
- Can’t Cannot reject an applicant because they haven’t paid past due rent to their previous landlord
- Cannot refuse applicants with certain criminal histories – they are protected
- No attempts are allowed to collect rents for units under LA City Rent Control until April of 2023 and civil lawsuits for rent cannot be filed until April of 2024
- In some areas, you cannot raise rent at all and “banked” increases are prohibited
- Rental increases are limited by government determinations
- Although rent has been “waived” for years, you must still pay SCEP and registration fees
- Owners are forced to use trash monopolies with exorbitant prices
Bottom Line
Rental property owners, who haven’t received rents for years, are struggling to find funds for general maintenance and repair while their tenants, who haven’t paid rent for two years, come home from vacations or have a new Lexus in their driveway.
They seem to have total disregard to the very people who provide housing and as Attorney Dennis Block said, “are just leaving them to rot”. The bottom line is that politicians are speeding up their destruction of the California housing industry.
Take Action to End the Madness
Join us on June 28th to call and mail our local and state representatives. We are now calling our representatives on the representatives the last Tuesday of every month until the madness stops. Please visit the political action page on our website for talking points for eviction moratoriums and tenant screening restrictions. You can also find your local politicians on the political action page.
Update on LA County Lawsuit
We are now getting our motion ready for a new hearing in federal court, which we anticipate will occur in May. You can find out more about this lawsuit by visiting the political action page on our website: AOAUSA.com/PAC. To support this lawsuit along with other political action, you can make a donation to the AOA Political Action Committee.