SACRAMENTO REPORT B y R on K ingston
My Lessor, Not My Lord
T
he Apartment Association of Orange County (AAOC) is proud to sponsor AB 2503, by Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, who represents the cities of Downey, Bellflower, Norwalk, Cerritos, Commerce, and Montebello in the 58th Assembly District. AB 2503 was introduced upon the principal of equitability with emphasis
on purging an outdated and in the opinion of many, offensive terminology for rental housing providers — “landlord.” In our neck of the woods, “landlord” is often used as a tool to legitimize changes in law that we have to unfortunately oppose. We believe the term “landlord” started 1066, when the Normans of France conquered England, and William
the Conqueror pronounced himself as King William. The King used a feudal framework of land control to retain political power in lands far away. Under this framework, land was owned by the King; the King gave portions of that land to lords, who then permitted a vassal (tenant) to use smaller portions of the lord’s land — so long as the vassal pledged his allegiance to the lord.1
1 https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/landlord-and-tenant#:~:text=The%20landlord%20and%20 tenant%20relationship,the%20tenth%20and%20thirteenth%20centuries.&text=Feudalism%20as%20a%20means%20of,land%20use%20and%20 ownership%20remained.
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Apartment News
www.aaoc.com
April 2022
