Our valued clients, colleagues and friends should be encouraged that legislative efforts to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act have died on the vine. Yet the defeat is no cause for celebration, as militant, well-bankrolled tenant advocates are fixed to take the issue directly to the voters in November. Through solidarity in educating voters on the fallacies of rent control, we are confident that the ballot measure will share the same fate as the scuttled bill in Sacramento.

In this edition of our newly minted magazine, we give our take on the Costa-Hawkins clash and offer our thoughts on what the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts mean to Bay Area property owners.

With a recurrence of tenants carving out makeshift living environments, we address the subject of unauthorized tenant alterations, and provide an update on initiatives to end ‘fake’ comfort animals, a subject that has struck an emotional chord in the real estate industry.

Airbnb has again graced itself in legal news on two fronts and we cover them here. After successfully prosecuting an unlawful detainer action in the Millennium Tower and after its nationwide debut on Sixty Minutes, we revisit the sinking building to see if there is any end to this saga.

Finally, we chime in about illegal in-law units and introduce a new section of our website – “IN DEPTH” – where we peel the onion deeper on narrow topics we hope you find informative. Owner move-in evictions, tenant hoarding, and cannabis in rental units made it to the top of the list.

Laws and regulations can have the shelf life of a banana peel, so we invite you to follow us on Facebook to stay abreast of the dizzying changes. Of course, we continue our 23-year tradition of standing ready to answer any questions that impact your rental business.

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