Richmond rents to be rolled back on December 30th covered by rent control

Richmond rents to be rolled back on December 30th covered by rent control

By Lynda Carson - December 19, 2016

After a long hard struggle of opposition against the California Apartment Association, landlords, realtors and speculators, the “Richmond Fair Rent, Just Cause for Eviction, and Homeowner Protection Ordinance,” known as Measure L, was passed by the voters on November 8. Renter protection ballot measures were passed by the voters in three Bay Area cities on November 8, including Richmond.

Measure L, Richmond’s new rent control and just cause eviction protection laws are scheduled to go into effect on December 30, 2016. As a result of the new renter protection laws, starting December 30, tenancies that began in Richmond on or before July 21, 2015, that are covered by the new rent control law, the rents are to be rolled back to the amount that the tenant was paying on July 21, 2015. The decrease in rents go into effect on December 30, 2016, meaning that on January 1, 2017, the rents have been rolled back, and tenants will owe what they payed for rent back on July 21, 2015.

Landlords will not be allowed to raise the rent until September 1, 2017, in accordance with the amount that the Richmond Rent Board announces by the end of June 30, each year. Under Measure L, landlords can only raise the rent once a year, and must serve the renters a 30-Day notice about the rent increase, in writing.

Measure L, rent control, applies to rental units / rental properties in buildings of two or more rental units that received a Certificate of Occupancy before February 1, 1995.

The ordinance is expected to protect tens of thousands of renters from landlords involved in price gouging and eviction-for-profit schemes, and a Fact Sheet is available to help renters understand their new rights under Measure L.

In a recent December 13, email, from Richmond City Councilwoman Gayle McLaughlin, she wrote: “I very much look forward to getting our rent control/just cause for eviction ordinance fully implemented.  Tenants will have more protection than ever before in the City of Richmond.  This is an historic milestone.  Each and every one of our residents deserves a stable home and while we've always said, this ordinance is but one tool in the toolbox, it is most definitely a positive step in assuring affordable homes for all.”

The median rental price for an apartment in Richmond during October, 2016, is $2,381 per month, according to Zillow. Out of 39,772 housing units in Richmond, 50.6% of the housing units are renter occupied.

Eviction protections in Richmond are long overdue, and reportedly, Richmond has more evictions than any other city in Contra Costa County.

Reportedly, the California Apartment Association (CAA) is threatening to sue the City of Mountain View over it’s new renter protection laws that go into effect soon, and the CAA announced on it’s website today that it expects that Richmond’s new rent laws, Measure L, will also be challenged in court.

Despite the mass evictions occurring in Richmond, during September 2016, Mayor Tom Butt who condones the mass evictions occurring in Richmond, voted against an emergency moratorium against rent hikes and evictions. It was reported that Mayor Tom Butt is in bed with the notorious California Apartment Association, CAA. The CAA is a wealthy pro-landlord organization that opposes renter protections. The CAA recently spent a fortune in the effort to block renter protections from taking effect in the Bay Area.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

>>>>>>
>>>>>>