The rundown for rental housing providers in the Bay Area

Timely news, legal updates, and insights germane to the rental housing industry and the real estate professionals who serve them. Read on and to keep curent, subscribe.

Mountain View gets no shortage of input as it tinkers with its rent ordinance

History has taught us that growth begets calls for rent control, and no city knows this more than Mountain View. As a City Council subcommittee holds a series of meetings to revisit its rent and eviction controls, there are many proposals that have to be weighed and we trust that a compromise can be struck. In our recent article, we attempt to make sense of it all.

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Alameda passes rent control ordinance on the heels of "just cause" eviction protections

In the not too distant past, tenants’ advocates in Alameda City secured a monumental victory by helping put “just cause” eviction rules on the books. Not to be complacent, they were instrumental in recently implementing rent control. In a 4 to 1 vote before the Independence Day holiday, Alameda City Council passed a rent control ordinance. Bornstein Law has said that the law isn't like math with incontrovertible numbers, but there was certainly a lot of computations that went into discussing the new law set to take effect September 1. The end result was capping rent increases at 70 percent of the regional Price Index. In today's terms, this means 2.8 percent over the next year.

Oakland ushers in new ordinances for sidewalk liability and Point-of-Sale Compliance

Some municipalities have assigned greater responsibility to owners in the maintenance of sidewalks, in an effort to shift repair costs and liability. Oakland has joined this club after City Council recently voted to pass two ordinances, one putting injury liability onto the owner, and you can read that ordinance here. Pending a second reading, another ordinance says that it is the onus of the landlord to bring sidewalks up to compliance before a property exchanges hands. Get the ordinance here. Many nuances apply and so we invite you to contact our office to make sense of it all.

Short-term rental complaints in San Francisco free fall under a new regulatory regime

The number of complaints related to illegal short-term rental activity in San Francisco is significantly down, reports Socket Site. Early on in Airbnb's growth and the longlasting era of regulations that had no teeth, we predicted that the law would catch up with technology, and it certainly did. Read our blogs on short term rentals. Despite the crackdown, improper subletting remains a problem and continues to be a recurring theme of our practice.

San Francisco Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) takes shape

Although the new law is sure to be challenged in court, qualified nonprofits providing affordable housing in San Francisco will be granted the right of first offer and right of first refusal on multi-unit buildings for sale. Inquiring minds can read the full ordinance here, or for some backdrop,
you can consult our page dedicated to this subject. Daniel Bornstein was asked to peel the onion deeper in a webinar on the nascent law and how buyers and sellers can respond. Listen to his takes and predictions here.