Appeals Court Sides With Landlords Over Tenant Fees

by | Apr 10, 2017 | Rental Property Management Tips

The California Court of Appeals has sided with landlords in a lawsuit brought to challenge a San Francisco ordinance that would have required hefty relocation fees to tenants should the landlord decide to retire a rental property.

That ordinance was the latest in a series of controversial measures passed by the city aimed at discouraging landlords from taking units out of service. It would have required landlords to pay tenants the difference between their stabilized rent and market rent in the city for a period of two years.

As soon as the measure was passed, landlords filed suit arguing these relocation fees were disproportionately high, and that the municipal law was unconstitutional. A lower court agreed, and found for the landlords. The city then appealed that ruling.

Because of previous court decisions, the city had not attempted to enforce the new measure, choosing instead to await the outcome of the lawsuit.

The appellate panel referred to the city’s proposed relocation payments as a “form of ransom which interferes with and places an undue burden on landlords who seek simply to go out of business.”

The landlords also contend that other procedural requirements, including a three-year monitoring process, forcing landlords to educate tenants regarding the fees, and the process for landlords seeking a reduction based on financial hardship were unduly burdensome. However, the appellate court found it unnecessary to review those provisions because it already had determined the ordinance was flawed.

This post is provided by Tenant Verification Service, Inc., helping landlords reduce the risks of renting with fraud prevention tools that include Tenant Screening, Tenant Background Checks, (U.S. and Canada), as well as Criminal Background Checks, and Eviction Reports (U.S. only).

Click Here to Receive Landlord Credit Reports.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this post in not intended to be construed as legal advice, nor should it be considered a substitute for obtaining individual legal counsel or consulting your local, state, federal or provincial tenancy laws.

shiftsuite
Property management software for Canadian Condos.

Property Boss

Property management software for single family, multifamily, and student housing.

TVS

Screening services for property managers and landlords. Select a market below.

USA

Canada