1.
The cost of filing Unlawful Detainer actions was increased
by emergency legislation throughout all of the California courts.
The current filing fee for an Unlawful Detainer in Los Angeles
County is $106.30.
2.
A 60-day notice is now required throughout the State of California
to terminate a tenancy. Of course, other situations may
require an additional amount of time. The tenant however, still
is only required to give the maximum of thirty days notice to
terminate the tenancy. This law has a "sunset provision"
as of January 1, 2006 when the issue will most likely be revisited
by California Legislation. Remember, to increase rents more
than 10% also requires a 60-day notice.
Also, you
should be aware of the fact that in addition to the usual methods
of service of a notice that a sixty day notice of termination
may be served by certified or registered mail. However, if you
do utilize the mail service method, you must add an extra five
days.
3.
Relief from Forfeiture, CCP section 1179: Under the
prior law, if you prevailed in an eviction action, the tenant
could file a petition for relief from forfeiture due to hardship
and the petition had to be made in writing within thirty days
of the Court's judgment. It was also unclear as to whether the
remedy was available for a month to month tenancy as opposed
to a lease. We had successfully obtained a ruling in a case
which indicated that this form of relief was only available
on a long term lease, but the Court did not publish the decision
and therefore, this was not a Court decision followed by other
courts. The new law, however, makes it much easier for a
tenant to obtain the relief from the forfeiture because
the tenant can now request a court to do so on an oral motion.
The motion can be made at any time prior to the tenant being
locked out of the premises.
4.
Notice of Entry Civil Code section 1954, the
new law mandates that the landlord shall give a written notice
to enter the premises. However, the law now makes special
provisions for a forty-eight hour notice for the purpose of
inspecting the premises during the final two weeks of the tenancy
to determine pre-termination damages and deductions from the
security deposits. Also, this new law makes it easier to
enter the property if your purpose is to show the property for
sale in which case you can actually give an oral notice
if you gave written notice of your desire to sell the property
within 120 days. You must leave a business card or a written
note indicating that you have entered at the time of your entry.
5.
Security Deposit Civil Code section 1950.5: The
new law requires a procedure by which you must inform the
tenant of his right to have an initial pre-termination inspection,
which must occur the last two weeks of the tenancy. You
must do so in writing and agree upon a time of entry for the
purpose of the inspection. Of course, the tenant can waive the
inspection. If the initial inspection is conducted, the landlord
must identify the proposed cleaning and repair items which are
apparent for which the landlord intends to deduct from the security
deposit. This method allows the tenant the opportunity to remedy
the deficiencies, but cannot conflict with the written rental
agreement which may prohibit the tenant from conducting repairs
or alterations without the landlord's prior consent. A written
statement of the deficiencies must be given to the tenant at
the time of the inspection. Further, if the landlord fails to
follow the procedure, the penalty is no longer a $600 penalty,
but can be two times the amount of the security deposit. The
landlord still has 21 days from the vacancy to refund or state
the deductions from the security deposit still remains in effect.
There is no interest obligation on the security deposit.
There are
additional new state laws concerning toxic mold, release of
illegal chemicals, and new cases come down everyday which change
or interpret existing law.
6.
LOCAL LAWS. There is a plethora of amendments to the Santa
Monica Rent Control Law that affect property owners and some
of them are set for below:
(a)
Tenants now have the right to have a specified number of occupants
share their apartment with them. When a tenant moves in,
he has the continuing right to the same number of occupants
as allowed at the move in time. In other words, if two tenants
are allowed at the time the tenant moves in, then the tenant
is allowed to have an additional roommate throughout the tenancy,
however, if only one person moves in, then there is no right
to have an additional roommate.
The property
owner can still reasonably disapprove a proposed replacement
tenant, but must do so within 14 days from the tenant notification
of the replacement tenant. Therefore, you should obtain information
concerning the credit and criminal background of the proposed
roommate.
(b) Section 1806 B
is revised to allow a tenant's family member or domestic
partner to live in the unit after the original tenant vacates
or dies if that family member or domestic partner has been living
there for at least one year prior. However, there is nothing
in 1806 B that prevents the property owner from raising the
rent pursuant to the Costa-Hawkins Law, in the event that this
circumstance occurs. Under Costa-Hawkins, when a tenant vacates
and leaves behind a subtenant or roommate, the property owner
can give a 60-day notice of rent increase and raise it to market
level rent. Remember, if the tenant asks permission of you to
allow a family member to stay, say no.
(c) Section 1806 (a) (d): This
revision seeks to force a requirement on the property owner
who wants to Ellis his property that he must "intend"
to complete the Ellis process and intend to go out of the residential
business. It appears to be an attempt to give tenants who
have moved out grounds to sue the property owner for wrongful
eviction if the housing provider goes back into business or
does not complete the Ellis eviction process.
(d) All notices, except three
day notices to pay rent or quit upon which you will file an
Unlawful Detainer must be served on the Santa Monica Rent Control
Board within at or about the time that the tenant is served.
Failure to do so could result in denial of the Unlawful Detainer
action.
(e) An amendment allows
the tenant further protection from harassment, however,
generally, tenants are harassed by other tenants, and therefore,
this section can be quoted to support an eviction for nuisance.
(f) The Board has set forth
an amendment which provides that the first rent charged pursuant
to a Costa Hawkins vacancy shall be the base rent, provided
that the base rent is collected for approximately one year.
If you give the tenant the twelfth month free, then the Board
will not agree with your monthly rental figure and will lower
it by averaging all payments.
In addition,
please remember that the state law now requires specific information
be given to tenants in the rental agreement as well as in the
three day notice. For example, the tenant must be told how to
pay the rent, where to pay the rent, the hours in which you
can pay the rent, as well as an identification of the owner
of the property.
Finally,
the Ellis Act has been amended by the Legislature of the State
of California which now provides that if an owner has Ellised
the property then whenever the owner comes back to the rental
market, the rents must stay at the rent controlled levels which
existed when the notice of intent to Ellis was served for five
years from the date the property was deemed withdrawn from the
market. In other words, all new tenancies after coming back
into the market must stay at the old levels for five years.
Of course, this restriction does not apply to units that have
been rented prior to December 31, 2002.
