All Points Bulletins

JUST-CAUSE EVICTION (Mar 31, 04)

THE APARTMENT ASSOCIATION'S VIEW (Oct 23, 03)

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The San Diego County Apartment Association (CAA) has begun a campaign to defeat any effort by San Diego to enact a just-cause eviction law. Without being too detailed, a just-cause eviction law requires landlords to state why an eviction is being done, and it restricts the list of causes that are considered "just". A few cities have just-cause eviction laws.
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Just-cause eviction laws came up in the deliberations of the Affordable Housing Task Force in early to mid-2003. The two sides are predictable; renter groups who want such a law and landlord groups who don't. Nothing new there. Renter groups argue that such laws prevent capricious evictions. Nothing new there. Landlord groups argue that the laws infringe on their rights to own and manage their properties. Nothing new there either.
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The CAA mailed an appeal directly to renters whose landlords are members of the association. Their appeal lists all the reasons why renters should oppose just-cause eviction laws, and asks renters to sign and mail in a postcard stating their opposition. You might have received one of these in the mail.
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The City Council has generally been cool to just-cause eviction laws. There might not be five votes to enact the law, so for the moment, the old rules apply. The landlord can evict you on 30-day notice, without telling you why. The landlord can evict you on three-day notice for failure to pay rent or for material breach of any provision of the rental agreement you signed. Of course, you can move out too, with 30-day notice. Nothing new in any of this,
is there?
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LU&H RECOMMENDATION (Nov 5, 03)

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LU&H voted to approve proposed draft cause-eviction ordinance with new title "Tenants' Right to Know" and revise the just-cause provision of the draft ordinance (subject to review and revision from the City Attorney) with the following language:
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"A tenant who has resided in the same dwelling unit for at least two years may only be evicted for good cause; including serious or repeated violation of the terms and conditions of the lease; violation of a federal, state or local law which imposes an obligation on the tenant in connection with the occupancy or use of the dwelling unit and surrounding premises; or other good cause.
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Other good cause includes but is not limited to: failure by the tenant to accept the offer of a new lease; a tenant history of disturbance of neighbors or destruction of property, or of living of housekeeping habits resulting in damage to the unit or property; criminal activity by tenants involving crimes of physical violence to persons or property; the owner's desire to utilize the unit for personal or family use or for a purpose other than use as a residential rental unit; or a business or economic reason for termination of the tenancy such as sale of the property or renovation of the unit."
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(LU&H Committee members Zucchet, Atkins, Lewis, and Frye voted yea. Committee member Peters voted nay.)
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THE STATUS (March 31, 2004)

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On Tuesday, March 16, the City Council took up agenda ITEM-330: Tenants' Right
To Know (Cause Eviction), to Introduce ordinance: (O-2004-55) amending Chapter
9, Article 8, of the San Diego Municipal Code, by adding a new Division 7, titled "Tenants' Right to Know Regulations;" and by adding new Sections 98.0701, 98.0702, 98.0720, 98.0725, 98.0730, 98.0750, 98.0760, and 98.0765, all pertaining to Cause for Residential Evictions [The text is long, legal, and complicated, but generally includes the LU&H language.]. The Council voted 4/3 to support the ordinance. This was the first reading of the ordinance.
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On Tuesday, March 30, the Council again took up the item and passed it 5/3.
Another ordinance will be introduced in two weeks to plug a loophole, but that
won't change the basic ordinance or its operation.
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