Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed two pieces of legislation benefiting California tenants.
The
first, SB 290, sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno, makes the 60-days' notice
requirement for tenant evictions permanent. This means that any tenant
in the state who has lived in his or her rental for one year or more
cannot be evicted with less than 60-days' notice in "no cause"
evictions. And it means that tenant groups don't have to mobilize every
couple of years to renew the legislation. However, this does not affect
tenants protected by local "just cause" ordinances; those tenants
cannot be evicted without cause.
The second bill, SB 120,
sponsored by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, protects tenants in foreclosed or
soon-to-be-foreclosed properties against utility shutoffs when the
landlord or lender fails to pay utility bills. In particular, tenants
in single-family homes now have the same protection as tenants in
multi-family units. Utility companies (gas, electric, water, heat) are
now required to give tenants notice that the utility is to be cut off
for nonpayment, and to provide a procedure for the tenant or tenants to
establish a payment account without having to pay the former landlord's
arrearages.
Tenants in single-family homes in outlying
communities were often forced to pay the former landlord's water bill
to keep the water on. The new legislation also allows tenants who pay
the bills, when these costs have been included in the rent, to either
deduct the cost from their rent payments or sue the landlord for the
cost of establishing service or paying the bills. And it prohibits
utility companies from requiring large deposits if the tenant can show
that she pays her rent on time. (Utility companies were frequently
requiring both payment of the arrearages and a large deposit to keep
utility service.) Utility services are required to establish and
publicize procedures for tenants to deal with these situations; notice
of those procedures should be delivered along with any shutoff notice.
We would hope that they also publicize them in their newsletters and on their websites as well.You can read SB 290 here and SB 120 here. And you can read more at the Tenants Together blog.