In 2020, California renters get new protections. Landlords get new restrictions
California renters are set to get a series of new protections in the coming year.
New laws go into effect Jan. 1 that limit landlords’ ability to increase rent or evict certain tenants, and also prohibit them from discriminating against renters who use public housing vouchers.
One of the aims of the new laws is to stabilize rents for tenants.
Under Assembly Bill 1482, landlords will be limited in how much they can raise the rent every year. The law caps such increases at 5 percent plus inflation. That provision is set to sunset in January 2030.
AB 1482 also restricts landlords’ ability to evict long-time tenants.
Under the new law, tenants who have occupied their rental unit for at least 12 months must be compensated with relocation payments or waivers equal to a month’s rent if they are evicted without just cause, such as so the landlord can remodel the unit, take it off the market or move into it.
Landlords retain the ability to evict tenants who violate the provisions of their lease.
Under another new law going into effect Jan. 1, Senate Bill 329, California landlords also are prohibited against discriminating against renters who use housing vouchers to pay all or part of their rent.
An estimated 300,000 Californians rely on government subsidies, such as Section 8, to help pay their rent, according to a Senate Rules Committee analysis of SB 329.
“(The vouchers) are generally designed to assist populations that are at high risk for homelessness or for whom homelessness would have especially devastating consequence,” according to the analysis.
