September 2019 - Bay East

Attention REALTORS® in Castro Valley, Hayward, Union City and Fremont! RED ALERT! Help stop AB 1482. If this bill passes it will ultimately restrict or even reduce the supply of rental housing.

Take action here

C.A.R. had reached an agreement with the sponsors and the bill’s author to make reasonable amendments to remove C.A.R.’s opposition. The consensus language would have promoted tenant protections and protected property ownership. However, because the consensus language was not incorporated into the bill, C.A.R. is opposing AB 1482.

Stop State-Wide Rent Caps in three steps:

1. Call your Senator to OPPOSE AB 1482. Call 1-855-215-0152 and enter your PIN number to be connected to your senator’s office to voice your opposition to AB 1482.

2. Call your Assembly Member to OPPOSE AB 1482 and enter your PIN number to be connected to your Assembly Member’s office to voice your opposition to the bill.Use this script for both calls: “Hi, this is (insert your name). I’m a REALTOR® from your district. Please ask the Assembly Member/Senator to Vote No on AB 1482. It discourages the building of rental housing.

3. Use Twitter to tell your legislators to vote NO! You can use this Tweet and attach the graphic below:
“As a local REALTOR® I encourage <<insert legislator’s Twitter handle>> to vote NO on #AB1482 because it discourages new rental #housing and won’t help more people find an affordable place to live.”

Download image here.

Issue Background:

Under current law, unless a local government has enacted rent control, there is no statewide cap on rent. Additionally, current law allows landlords to end a tenancy without cause when a lease expires.

As introduced, AB 1481 and AB 1482 – previously combined into one bill, AB 1482 – would have established a rent cap of 5% plus regional CPI, as well as “just cause” evictions after 6 months of tenancy, through 2030 on all rental properties; required relocation assistance up to 3 months when a tenant is evicted under specified conditions; and included insufficient vacancy decontrol language.

Per the C.A.R. agreement reached with the author and the sponsors, AB 1482 would have established a rent cap of 7% plus regional CPI, as well as “just cause” evictions after 12 months of tenancy, through 2023; limited relocation assistance to 1 month when a tenant is evicted under specified conditions; exempted single-family homes owned by a natural person, an LLC, or in a trust; and contained sufficient vacancy decontrol language. As proposed to be amended contrary to the C.A.R. agreement, the bill would revert back to its original rent cap of 5% plus regional CPI and last for a decade until 2030.

C.A.R. Opposes AB 1482 because:

AB 1482 negatively impacts small property owners. For example, the bill does not allow for “pass throughs” for substantial repairs, such as a broken HVAC system or leaky roof. A small property owner has no way to offset these repair costs and is unable to absorb such costs under such restrictive rent caps. As a result, small property owners may decide to their pull units off rental the market rather than be forced to limit rents to such a degree. Small property owners will also be discouraged from entering the rental market, leaving a greater concentration of ownership in the hands of large corporate entities.
AB 1482 discourages the creation of rental housing. Establishing restrictive rent caps and “just cause” eviction standards creates a disincentive for developers to build rental housing.
AB 1482 doesn’t address the core cause of the housing affordability crisis, which is the lack of supply. As other legislation designed to increase the housing supply languishes in the Legislature, AB 1482 not only doesn’t increase the supply, it discourages the provision of rental housing.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Julie Tran, Government Affairs Field Representative California Association of REALTORS® at Juliet@car.org