PROPOSAL BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA

TO BE SUBMITTED TO THE VOTERS OF A PROPOSED

AMENDMENT TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA

            Section 1800 of the City Charter of the City of Santa Monica is amended to read as follows:

            Section 1800. Statement of purpose.

A growing shortage of housing units resulting in a low vacancy rate and rapidly rising rents exploiting this shortage constitute a serious housing problem affecting the lives of a substantial portion of those Santa Monica residents who reside in residential housing. In addition, speculation in the purchase and sale of existing residential housing units results in further rent increases.  These conditions endanger the public health and welfare of Santa Monica tenants, especially the poor, minorities, students, young families, and senior citizens. The purpose of this Article, therefore, is to alleviate the hardship caused by this serious housing shortage by establishing a Rent Control Board empowered to regulate rentals in the City of Santa Monica so that rents will not be increased unreasonably and so that landlords will receive no more than a fair return. 

In order to accomplish this purpose, this Article provides for an elected Rent Control Board to ensure that rents are at a fair level by requiring landlords to justify any rents in excess of the rents in effect one year prior to the adoption of this Article.   Tenants may seek rent reductions from the rent in effect one year prior to the adoption of this Article by establishing that those rents are excessive. In addition to giving tenants an opportunity to contest any rent increase, this Article attempts to provide reasonable protection to tenants by controlling removal of controlled rental units from the housing market and by requiring just cause for any eviction from a controlled rental unit.

Through this Article, the City exercises its police power in order to address the serious housing problem recognized in the original enactment of this Rent Control Law in 1979 and still existing in 1984 2002. The 1984 and the 2002 Amendments to the Rent Control Law is are intended to clarify the law and ensure that the Rent Control Board possesses adequate and independent authority to carry out its duties.  It is They are intended to ensure due process of law for landlords and tenants, effective remedies for violation of the law, and consistency with constitutional requirements. It is They are also intended to enable the Board to provide relief to persons facing particular hardship and to protect and increase the supply of affordable housing in the City. Termination or erosion of the protections of this Article would have serious disruptive consequences for persons in need of protection and the supply of affordable housing in the City.

            Section 1801 of the City Charter of the City of Santa Monica is amended to read as follows:

Section 1801. Definitions.

The following words or phrases as used in this Article shall have the following meanings:

(a) Board. The term "Board" refers to the elected Rent Control Board established by this Article. 

(b) Commissioners. The members of the Board and Interim Board are denominated Commissioners.

(c) Controlled Rental Units. All residential rental units in the City of Santa Monica, including mobile homes, and mobile home spaces, and trailers and trailer spaces, except single family homes to the extent provided for in Section 1815 and those units found by the Board to be exempt under one or more of the following provisions:

  (1)   Rental units in hotels, motels, inns, tourist homes and rooming and boarding houses which are rented primarily to transient guests for a period of less than fourteen (14) days.

(2)   Rental units in any hospital, convent, monastery, extended medical care facility, asylum, non‑profit home for the aged, or dormitory owned and operated by an institution of higher education.

(3)  Rental units which a government unit, agency or authority owns, operates, manages, or in which governmentally subsidized tenants reside only if applicable Federal or State law or administrative regulation specially exempt such units from municipal rent control.

(4) Rental units in owner‑occupied dwellings with no more than three (3) units. For purposes of this Section:

(i) The term "owner" means a natural person who owns a fifty (50) percent ownership interest in the building and resides on the property as his or her principal place of residence.

(ii) An exemption under this Section shall expire by operation of law when the owner ceases to reside on the property as his or her principal place of residence; thereafter, all units on the property shall be subject to all provisions of this Article.

(5) Rental units and dwellings constructed after the adoption of this Article; this exemption does not apply to units created as a result of conversion as opposed to new construction.

(6) Where a unit is actually used for purposes of providing, on a nonprofit basis, child care or other residential social services in accordance with applicable laws. This exemption shall expire when the use upon which exemption is based ceases. This exemption shall only apply to units as they become vacant and shall only operate to allow the specified use without the necessity of obtaining a removal permit under this Article. This exemption shall not be construed to authorize the eviction of any tenant nor to authorize the charging of rent in excess of that permitted under this Article. The Board may adopt regulations to determine whether a unit qualifies for an exemption under this Section.

(7) Exemptions are not automatic but shall be granted by the Board upon application by the owner pursuant to Board rules, provided that if the Board does not act upon a completed application for exemption within ninety (90) days of its filing it shall be deemed approved.

(d) Housing Service. Housing services include, but are not limited to repairs, maintenance,  painting, providing light, hot and cold water, elevator service, window shades and screens, storage, kitchen, bath and laundry facilities and privileges, janitor services, refuse removal, furnishings, telephone, parking, the right to have a specified number of occupants, and any other benefit, privilege or facility connected with the use or occupancy of any rental unit. Services to a rental unit shall include a proportionate part of services provided to common facilities of the building in which the rental unit is contained.

(e) Landlord. An owner, lessor, sublessor or any other person entitled to receive rent for the use and occupancy of any rental unit, or an agent, representative or successor of any of the foregoing.

(f) Rent. All periodic payments and all nonmonetary consideration including but not limited to, the fair market value of goods or services rendered to or for the benefit of the landlord under an agreement concerning the use or occupancy of a rental unit and premises including all payment and consideration demanded or paid for parking, pets, furniture, subletting and security deposits for damages and cleaning.

(g) Rental Housing Agreement. An agreement, oral, written or implied, between a landlord and tenant for use or occupancy of a rental unit and for housing services.

(h) Rental Units. Any building, structure, or part thereof, or land appurtenant thereto, or any other rental property rented or offered for rent for living or dwelling house units, together with all housing services connected with use or occupancy of such property such as common areas and recreational facilities held out for use by the tenant.

(i) Tenant. A tenant, subtenant, lessee, sublessee or any other person entitled under the terms of a rental housing agreement to the use or occupancy of any rental unit.

(j) Recognized Tenant Organization. Any group of tenants residing in controlled rental units in the same building or in different buildings operated by the same management company, agent or landlord, who requests to be so designated.

(k) Rent Ceiling. Rent ceiling refers to the limit on the maximum allowable rent which a landlord may charge on any controlled rental unit.

(l) Base Rent Ceiling. The maximum allowable rent established in Section 1804(b).

(m) Property. All rental units on a parcel or lot or contiguous parcels or contiguous lots under common ownership.

(n) Single Family Home. A property that has been developed with only one one‑family dwelling and any lawful accessory structures, or a lawfully created condominium, stock cooperative or similar unit that is part of a larger residential structure or complex, excepting those condominiums, stock cooperatives, or similar units converted after April 10, 1979 for which no removal permit or vested right determination has been issued by the Board, and those created pursuant to Article XX of this Charter.

            Section 1804 of the City Charter of the City of Santa Monica is amended to read as follows:

Section 1804. Maximum allowable rents.

(a) Temporary Freeze. Rents shall not be increased during the one hundred‑twenty (120) day period following the date of adoption of this Article.

(b) Establishment of Base Rent Ceiling. Beginning one‑hundred‑twenty (120) days after the adoption of this Article, no landlord shall charge rent for any controlled rental units in an amount greater than the rent in effect on the date one year prior to the adoption of this Article. The rent in effect on that date is the base rent ceiling and is a reference point from which fair rents shall be adjusted upward or downward in accordance with Section 1805. If there was no rent in effect on the date one year prior to the adoption of this Article, the base rent ceiling shall be the rent that was charged on the first date that rent was charged following the date one year prior to the adoption of this Article.  For tenancies commencing on or after January 1, 1999, which qualify for a vacancy rent increase pursuant to state law, the base rent ceiling is the initial rental rate in effect on the date the tenancy commences.  As used in this subsection, the term “initial rental rate” means only the amount of rent actually paid by the tenant for the initial term of the tenancy.

(c) Posting. As soon as the landlord is aware of the maximum allowable rent, the landlord shall post it for each unit in a prominent place in or about the affected controlled rent units. The Board may require that other information it deems relevant also be posted. 

            Section 1806 of the City Charter of the City of Santa Monica is amended to read as follows:

Section 1806. Eviction.

(a)  No landlord shall take action to terminate any tenancy including service of, but not limited, to making a demand for possession of a rental unit, threatening to terminate a tenancy, serving any notice to quit or other eviction notice or bringing any action to recover possession or be granted recovery of possession of a controlled rental unit unless:

(a1) The tenant has failed to pay the rent to which the landlord is entitled under the rental housing  agreement and this Article.

(b2) The tenant has committed material and substantial breach of an obligation or covenant of his or her tenancy which the landlord has not waived either expressly or impliedly through the landlord's conduct and which the landlord is not estopped from asserting, other than the obligation to surrender possession upon proper notice, and the tenant has failed to cure such violation after having received written notice thereof from the landlord in the manner required by law.

Notwithstanding any contrary provision in this Section, and notwithstanding any contrary provision in the rental housing agreement, a landlord shall not take any action to terminate a tenancy based on a tenant’s  sublease of the unit if the following requirements are met:

                        (i) The tenant continues to reside in the rental unit.

(ii) The sublease replaces a departed tenant(s) under the rental agreement on a one-for-one basis.

(iii) The landlord has unreasonably withheld the right to sublease following written request by the tenant.  If the landlord fails to respond to the tenant in writing within fourteen (14) days of receipt of the tenant’s written request, the tenant’s request shall be deemed approved by the landlord.

(c3) The tenant is committing or expressly permitting a nuisance in, or is causing substantial  damage to, the controlled rental unit, or is creating  a substantial interference with the comfort, safety, or enjoyment of the landlord or other occupants or neighbors of the same.

(d4) The tenant is convicted of using or expressly permitting a controlled rental unit to be used for  any illegal purpose.

(e5) The tenant, who had a rental housing agreement which had terminated, has refused, after written request or demand by the landlord, to execute a written extension or renewal thereof for a further term of like duration and in such terms as are not inconsistent with or violative of any provisions of this Article and are materially the same as in the previous agreement.

(f6) The tenant has refused the landlord reasonable access to the controlled rental unit for the  purposes of making necessary repairs or improvements required by the laws of the United States, the State of California or any subdivision thereof or for the purpose of showing the rental housing to any prospective purchaser or mortgagee.

(g7) The tenant holding at the end of the term of the rental housing agreement is a subtenant not approved by the landlord.

(h8) The landlord seeks to recover possession in good faith for use and occupancy by herself or himself, or her or his children, parents, grandparents, brother, sister, father‑in‑law, mother‑in‑law, son‑in‑law, or daughter‑in‑law. For purposes of evictions under this Subsection:

(1i) A "landlord" shall be defined as a natural person who has at least a fifty (50) percent ownership interest in the property.

(2ii) No eviction may take place if any landlord or enumerated relative already occupies one unit on the property, or if a vacancy already exists on the property and the vacant unit is comparable to the unit for which eviction is sought. Where the vacant unit is determined not to be comparable, thereby permitting eviction under this Subsection, the evicted tenant or tenants shall be first given the right to occupy the vacant unit and the rent thereof shall be the lesser of the maximum allowable rent for the vacant unit and the maximum allowable rent of the unit from which the tenant or tenants are evicted. The Rent Control Board shall promulgate regulations defining when a unit is comparable for purposes of this paragraph.

(3iii) The notice terminating tenancy shall contain the name, address and relationship to the landlord of the person intended to occupy.

(4iv) The landlord or enumerated relative must intend in good faith to move into the unit within thirty (30) days after the tenant vacates and to occupy the unit as a primary residence for at least one year. The Board may adopt regulations governing the determination of good faith.

(5v) If the landlord or relative specified on the notice terminating tenancy fails to occupy the unit within thirty (30) days after the tenant vacates, the landlord shall:

(i)A. Offer the unit to the tenant who vacated it.

(ii)B. Pay to said tenant all reasonable expenses incurred in moving to and/or from the unit. 

(6vi) No eviction pursuant to this Subsection shall be allowed in any condominium or stock cooperative unit which has been converted from an apartment or other rental unit after April 10, 1979, unless the Rent Control Board has issued a removal permit or declared a vested right for said unit. As used in this subpart, a unit shall be deemed converted after April 10, 1979, if on April 10, 1979, the recorded tract map or parcel map for the property showed the unit as included in the property.

(i9) The landlord seeks to recover possession to demolish or otherwise remove the controlled rental unit from rental residential housing use after having obtained all proper permits from the City of Santa Monica.

(j10) The landlord has filed the requisite documents with the Rent Control Board initiating the procedure for withdrawing units from rent or lease under Government Code Section 7060 et. seq. and the Board’s regulations, with the intention of completing the withdrawal process and going out of the residential rental business.

(b)  Notwithstanding any contrary provision in this Section or in the rental housing agreement, if the tenant’s spouse, child(ren), and/or domestic partner who has filed an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership with the City have lived in the unit for at least one year at the time the tenant vacates the unit due to death or incapacitation, the landlord is prohibited from taking any action to obtain possession of the unit from the tenant’s spouse, child(ren), and/or registered domestic partner on the ground that the spouse, child(ren) and/or registered domestic partner are not authorized to occupy the unit.

(c)  Notwithstanding the above provisions, possession shall not be granted if it is determined that the eviction is in retaliation for the tenant reporting violations of this Article, for exercising rights granted under this Article, including the right to withhold rent upon authorization of the Board under Section 1803(q) or Section 1809 or for organization other tenants.

(d)  In any notice purporting to terminate tenancy the landlord shall state the cause for the termination, and in any action brought to recover possession of a controlled rental unit, the landlord shall allege and prove compliance with this Section.  The landlord shall file with the Rent Control Board a copy of any notice terminating tenancy, except a three day notice to pay rent or vacate, within 3 days after serving the notice on the tenant.

(e) Failure to comply with any requirement of this Section may be asserted as an affirmative defense in an action brought by the landlord to recover possession of the unit.  Additionally,  Any any attempt to recover possession of a unit in violation of this Section Article shall render the landlord liable to the tenant for actual and punitive damages, including damages for emotional distress, in a civil action for actual and punitive damages wrongful eviction. The tenant or the Rent Control Board may seek injunctive relief and money damages for wrongful eviction.  The prevailing party in an action based upon this Section for wrongful eviction shall recover costs and reasonable attorneys fees.

            Section 1821 is added to the City Charter of the City of Santa Monica to read as follows:

Section 1821.  Tenant harassment.

Tenants living in rental housing units have the right to quiet enjoyment, privacy and freedom from harassment by the property owner.  In order to effectuate this right, the City Council shall at all times maintain a Tenant Harassment Ordinance in force which protects tenants from landlords’ conduct in derogation of tenants’ rights.

 

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