Lost Clause

written by DEBRA L. CARLTON

The California State Legislature is back in session, looking for new ways to control an already over-regulated rental housing industry.

Bills introduced so far address a myriad of landlord-tenant issues, ranging from rent control to criminal background checks to security deposits.

In the following paragraphs, we’ll review some of the highest-profile bills introduced.

Rent Control

SB 466 by Senator Aisha Wahab (DHayward) would authorize California cities and counties to impose strict rent controls on single-family homes, condominiums, and apartments as soon as they turn fifteen.

The legislation would dissolve core elements of the landmark CostaHawkins Rental Housing Act, California’s most important rental housing protection law.

Wahab’s proposal is one of two attacks on Costa-Hawkins at present. The other attack began late last year when anti-housing activists launched a campaign to repeal the landmark legislation through a proposed statewide ballot initiative targeted for 2024.

Costa-Hawkins prohibits cities and counties from imposing local rent control ordinances on any type of housing built after 1995, although the cutoff is earlier in some cities with rent control ordinances that pre-date Costa-Hawkins. It also bans local rent controls on single-family homes and condos of any age. SB 466 would undo these tenets of Costa-Hawkins.

At the same time, a proposed ballot measure, “Justice For Renters Act,” would go further by eliminating the landmark legislation. It would thereby allow strict local rent controls on all residential rental buildings. It would also allow local governments to control rents even after a tenant has moved out—a policy known as vacancy control. Without vacancy decontrol (which Costa-Hawkins mandates), cities and counties would regain the ability to regulate rents between tenancies, preventing rents from ever returning to market rates.

The assaults on Costa-Hawkins come despite the passage of California’s Tenant Protection Act of 2019, America’s strongest statewide tenant-protection law. This legislation, passed as AB 1482, created a statewide rent cap of 5% plus the change in the consumer price index, or 10%, whichever is lower.

For the most part, AB 1482’s rent cap applies to properties at least fifteen years old and smaller properties, like single-family homes, controlled by corporations. Note: The CostaHawkins prohibition on rent controls for post-1995 construction only applies to local ordinances. AB 1482 applies in areas not controlled by a local rent control law.

Criminal Records

SB 460, also from Wahab, would prohibit most California landlords from using criminal background checks as part of the tenant-screening process. The legislation would create the “Fair Chance Access to Housing Act” and prohibit most rental housing providers from directly or indirectly:

• inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history

• requiring an applicant to disclose their criminal history

• requiring an applicant to authorize the release of their criminal history

The bill also would prohibit property owners from denying housing based on their knowledge of an applicant’s criminal records obtained from prior landlords or other sources.

The bill would not apply to singlefamily homes, accessory units, and duplexes where the property owner