Costa Hawkins Act

Bay Area Rent Control Propositions Restricted by Existing California Law

Five Bay Area cities will be voting on whether to implement rent control in November, but a California law has long-restricted rent control statewide.

Five cities, five ballot propositions all with the goal of stopping big rent increases and protecting tenants.

The proposition in Burlingame says they’ve suffered from unreasonable rent increases, in San Mateo it says exorbitant rent increases, in Mountain View, excessive rental increases, in Richmond it says housing has reached a crisis level, and in Alameda, it says high rents are an immediate threat to the public.

Humphreys Joiner Law Group, LLP

Humphreys Joiner Law Group, LLP are a tenant-serving law office that addresses the following issues:

  • wrongful evictions
  • tenant harassment
  • tenant lockouts and utility shutoffs
  • owner move-in eviction
  • security deposit issues
  • San Francisco rent board petitions
  • sublease and roommate issues
  • unlawful detainer & eviction defense
  • habitability & apartment maintenance

Free initial consultation and case review

Office hours:
Monday-Friday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Studies Find Santa Monica Affordable Housing Disappearing

To afford anything larger than a one-bedroom rental unit in Santa Monica requires a household annual income of $100,000.

This was one of the findings in a report issued by the Rent Control Board that found the city's rental market became less affordable in 2015 than in any previous year.

When a rent-controlled unit is vacated, the owner can raise the rent to the market rate for the next tenant. The median rate for new tenants in 2015 was up in all categories, according to the report.

Renting in Los Angeles--Dislocation, Dislocation, Dislocation

One block north of fabled Hollywood Boulevard, and a stone’s throw from the iconic Capitol Records Building, sit three rent-stabilized, two-story apartment buildings, known to residents as the Yucca-Argyle complex. One building is peach-colored, one green and the third yellow. Each is organized around a small courtyard and in back is a parking lot for tenants’ cars. Together they are home to roughly 50 families, the residents ranging in age from young children to old-timers who have lived in the complex for more than half a century.

Mosbrucker & Foran

The law firm of Mosbrucker & Foran specializes in lawsuits involving wrongful evictions, Costa-Hawkins disputes and other excessive rent increases, illegal rental units, landlord harassment, and substandard living conditions. 

Most of the work we do for tenants is on a contingency fee basis. This means we don’t get paid until and unless you get paid, in which case we get a percentage of the total recovery. This only applies where the tenant is initiating a lawsuit in Superior Court.

Housing Rights Center of Los Angeles

The Housing Rights Center (HRC) offers an array of services:

1) Housing Discrimination Complaint Investigation

  • HRC investigates allegations of housing discrimination under the fair housing laws
  • Case resolution can include mediation, conciliation, a referral to state and federal administrative agencies, or referral to HRC’s Litigation Department 

2) Landlord-Tenant Counseling (in-person or through hotline)

San Francisco Tenants Union (SFTU)

The purpose of the San Francisco Tenants Union is to promote the preservation and expansion of the rights of tenants and the supply of affordable housing. Through drop-in counseling services and the distribution of the Tenants Rights Handbook, the SFTU has educated thousands of San Francisco renters on their rights under local, state and federal law, and empowered residents to assert those rights in an informed and dignified manner.

Help build power for renters' rights: