San Francisco Apartment Association
SFAA Magazine Archives

January 2004

Sacramento Report

New Landlord-Tenant Laws for 2004

by Debra Carlton

Over the past year, the California Apartment Association (CAA)—through its volunteer members, leadership team, and staff—have worked diligently to positively impact the state’s legislative environment for the rental housing industry. We have many successes to report to you. Admittedly, our job has not been an easy one. The legislature introduced over 3,200 bills and most bills were amended four times, requiring CAA staff to review over 12,800 bills. Unfortunately, many of these proposals were not business friendly. We were able to stop many of the measures or force amendments that made the measures less onerous for rental property owners and managers. An overview of these measures is provided below. Additional information can be found on the CAA’s Web site at www.caanet.org. Also watch your mailbox for CAA’s extensive Year End Report. It includes bill summaries, new laws and an overview of the recent gubernatorial recall election.

Senate Bill 345 (D-Kuehl):
Law Clarifies Owner’s Ability to Enter Tenant’s Unit Without a Written Notice. This law specifically gives owners the right to enter an occupied unit to make repairs or other agreed-upon services without a 24-hour written notice when the tenant makes the request for repairs or service.

Senate Bill 345 (D-Kuehl):
Eviction Court Records Will Be Sealed When Tenant Wins. This law seals court records when a tenant prevails in an eviction case.

Senate Bill 345 (D-Kuehl):
Property Owners Must Attach Documents to Eviction Complaint. Beginning January 1, 2005, rental property owners must attach a copy of a lease and any applicable addenda to an eviction complaint when the owner claims the tenant violated the lease or other rules. The owner must also attach to the complaint a copy of any termination notice served on the tenant.

Assembly Bill 1059 (D-Lieber):
Penalties for Landlords Who Harass Tenants. Civil penalties of $2,000 can be imposed against landlords who, among other things, defraud a tenant of any real or personal property or who use force, threats or menacing conduct that interferes with the tenant’s quiet enjoyment of the premises.

Assembly Bill 647 (D-Nunez):
Damages Increased for Slumlords Who Try to Evict Tenants or Increase Their Rents. Damages that may be awarded by a court judge to a tenant will be increased from a maximum of $1,000 to a maximum of $5,000 against slumlords who increase or demand rent from tenants when the property is declared substandard by an enforcement agency.

Assembly Bill 1576 (D-Liu):
Government Can Impose Penalties Against Property Owners Who Fail to Strap Hot Water Heaters. A local government may impose a penalty against rental property owners who have not strapped their hot water heaters in compliance with a 1996 state law. The new law gives a cited rental property owner 30 days to correct the violation without a penalty.

Assembly Bill 1217 (D-Leno):
Residential Hotel Owners Must Remain Open For Business Indefinitely. San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego lawmakers may impose a local law that compels the owners of guestrooms or efficiency units within a residential hotel to stay in operation. The owner of a building is no longer protected by the state’s Ellis Act, which prohibits any local law that requires a property owner to stay in business. This law applies to owners in the specified cities who (1) have a permit of occupancy for a residential hotel issued prior to January 1, 1990, and (2) have not sent a notice of intent to withdraw the accommodations from rent or lease prior to January 1, 2004.

Senate Bill 1661 (D-Kuehl):
Employers Must Provide Workers Six Weeks of Time Off to Care for Sick Family Members or New Children. Beginning July 1, 2004, disability and insurance rights and benefits are extended to employees who need to provide care for any sick or injured family member, or the birth, adoption, foster care placement of a new child, or to bond with a new child. The law also creates a family temporary disability program to provide up to six weeks of time off to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, parent, or domestic partner, or to bond with a new child.

Assembly Bill 76 (D-Corbett):
Business Owners Are Responsible for the Actions of Non-Employees at Their Properties. Business owners are responsible for the actions of third parties (nonemployees such as tenants or contractors) in the workplace when those nonemployees allegedly sexually harass another person, and the business owner has some responsibility for, or legal control over, the offending party.

Assembly Bill 1384 (R-Maddox):
No Move-Out Unit Inspection Required When Owner Serves Tenant a Three-Day Notice. This CAA-sponsored law clarifies that a rental property owner need not provide tenants a walk-through of the rental unit at the termination of the tenancy when the owner evicts the tenant with a Three-Day Notice for Failure to Pay Rent or for violating any other lease term.

Senate Bill 90 (D-Torlakson):
Rental Property Owners Required to Provide Tenants Receipts When Spending Tenants’ Security Deposits. Rental property owners are required to provide tenants with receipts, invoices or a vendor price list for any labor or materials that the owner purchases and deducts from the tenant’s security deposit. For compliance materials, go to CAA’s Web site at www.caanet.org.

Assembly Bill 309 (D-Chu):
Business Owners Who Negotiate in Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese or Korean Must Provide Contracts in These Languages. A business or trade person who negotiates a contract in Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean must provide a copy of any contract in that language. This law is added to existing requirements that mandate a contract in Spanish when businesses negotiate in that language.

Senate Bill 146 (D-Escutia):
Please note that current law requires a person in a trade or business who negotiates contracts or agreements primarily in Spanish to deliver to the other party, prior to execution of the contract, a Spanish language translation of the contract. This new law clarifies that this translation requires the inclusion of a translation of every term and condition in that contract, with specified exceptions. Rules and regulations governing a tenancy and inventories of furnishings provided by the business are not included in the term “contract” or “agreement” and need not be provided in Spanish.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Debra Carlton is the Vice President of Policy and Research for the California Apartment Association and is CAA’s chief lobbyist. Copyright © 2004.