As our community is aware, state lawmakers got together in a smoke-filled room to lengthen tenant protections until September 30.

Despite the much-touted roaring back of California, the misery of many landlords has been elongated, but if tenants’ advocates had their way, the ban on evictions for nonpayment of rent would have been extended until the end of the year. 

One of our biggest grievances with the earlier legislation of SB-91 was that in order for landlords to access governmental stimulus dollars to recoup COVID-related rent debt, the tenant must have been in possession of the rental unit.

This stipulation excluded many landlords and tenants from receiving relief when the renter abandoned the unit to seek cheaper and greener pastures.

The replacement bill of AB-832 has eliminated this requirement, opening up funds to rental property owners who have been unable thus far to tap into sorely needed funds. 

Moreover, while rental assistance was designed for tenants most in need, California is making some exceptions for higher-earning households who can demonstrate a loss of wages or increased expenses.

We know that this is of little solace to most landlords who have not received any help in what has been a convoluted application process and a slow and dysfunctional system of dispersing funds, but let’s hope that the promise of reform is a promise kept. 

A new law begets another set of notice requirements. In every time and season, the biggest reason why unlawful detainer (eviction) actions fail is because of improper preparation or service of notices.

After wading through the most recent bill, we are able to furnish to our clients proper notices that are compliant with the law. 

Finally, many of you are curious if California’s eviction moratorium has any effect on a patchwork of local moratoria. We will be addressing this quandary and much more in our Tuesday, July 27th webinar.

By this point, you are likely fatigued by yet another set of landlording rules to follow, but we hope and fully expect that as the pandemic dissipates, AB-832 is the last upheaval before returning to a state of normalcy in how we manage landlord-tenant relationships. 

Thanks so much, and we look forward to reconvening soon in our mutual goal of powering through your real estate challenges.