Breaking News— Today (October 1st) is the first day that most* California Landlords can evict their non-paying tenants. Will there be an “Eviction Tsunami”? Or will things gradually return to normal? Nobody knows, so it will be something for everybody to keep an eye on, not just landlords and tenants. If there is a an “Eviction Tsunami” and/or Landlords decide to sell their properties now that they can sell without a non-paying tenant in place, property values will be affected.
*NOTE: The big *ASTERIK* in the Title!
*First, a number of cities and counties will continue to have eviction moratoriums of varying strengths in place, including Los Angles County and the City of Los Angeles, which affects millions of landlords and tenants.
*Second, although the Eviction Moratorium has “ended” in California, Landlords still need to use special rules for tenants who are behind in rent allegedly due to Covid. Read on for more details.
General Covid-Related Eviction Rules in California
Starting October 1st, 2021, tenants who can’t pay their rent will once again be vulnerable to eviction, in much the same way they were before the pandemic. Until September 20th, landlords have been required to give tenants at least 15 days to respond to any notice demanding unpaid rent. Tenants were able to avoid eviction by responding with a declaration that they had been economically affected by COVID-19. Now landlords can give tenants much less time to respond before moving ahead with an eviction.
“If rent is due on the first and the tenant does not pay, the landlord can move forward as of Oct. 2 with a three-day notice,” said Javier Beltran, deputy director of the L.A.-based Housing Rights Center. “Once those three days have expired and the tenant has not paid, then the landlord can proceed to move forward with filing an eviction,” Beltran said.
However, under state law, landlords cannot move forward with evictions between Oct. 1 and March 31, 2022 if their tenant has a rent relief application under review. They can still file eviction cases, but tenants can use a pending rent relief application to defend themselves in eviction court.
If you are a tenant, paying next month’s rent is more important than paying off your back rent from the past year, according to Trinidad Ocampo, an attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services of L.A. County. “October 1st rent is the priority right now,” Ocampo said. That’s because under state law (The Tenant Relief Act), paying 25% of the rent owed from Sept. 2020 through Sept. 2021 is enough to avoid eviction. That doesn’t mean that the remaining 75% owed to the landlord is forgiven. And your landlord can soon take their nonpaying tenants to court to try to recoup that balance.
“The landlord starting on Nov. 1 can go to civil court or small claims court [civil court is the better place for landlords- SS] to collect that debt,” said Jonathan Jager, an attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.
“Having October ready, and applying for rental assistance for that time when [renters] were maybe struggling more — that’s what we are recommending.” Rent relief programs across the state will continue to accept applications after September 30, and tenants are advised to apply after 15 days of receiving a nonpayment eviction notice.
Depending on where they live, tenants can apply for rent relief through the state of California, and at some local authorities. These programs also let you apply for funding to cover upcoming rent that the tenant won’t be able to pay. Keep in mind, these programs have income limits. Generally, in order to qualify for rent relief, a tenant can’t be earning more than 80% of their area’s median income. The annual income limit in L.A. County is $94,600 for a family of four.
Tenants (and Landlords) may have to be patient. These programs (especially the Los Angeles City ERAP) have generally been slow in getting money to renters. But the state has already paid out more than $262 million to households in L.A. County alone.
Covid-Related Eviction Rules for California Landlords
Landlords can once again pursue evictions for tenants who haven’t paid rent as of October 1st, 2021. However, things aren’t fully going back to normal. Over the next six months, landlords will still need to take extra steps to pursue an eviction over non-payment of rent.
Specifically, landlords must apply for rent relief before filing an eviction case, and they must attest in court that funding was denied by a government agency, or that their tenant failed to participate in the application process.
That’s why eviction attorneys on both sides say it’s crucial for tenants to participate in seeking rent relief. If you are a tenant and your landlord applies on your behalf, you need to respond to their requests to complete the process. It’s a similar process to the landlord rent payment reimbursement programs, meaning that both Landlord and Tenant must participate for the government to pay the rent to the landlord.
Local Covid-Related Eviction Rules
The protections we’ve listed so far serve as a baseline for tenants throughout the state. But tenants may have even stronger protections from eviction moving forward depending on where they live.
In the CITY OF LOS ANGELES, tenants affected by COVID-19 can’t be evicted for non-payment of rent — even after Sept. 30. The city’s eviction moratorium is set to continue until the mayor declares an end to the “local emergency period.” Tenants will have another 12 months to repay their back rent after the emergency period ends, or until May 2023, whichever date comes first. This means city renters don’t have to pay 25% of their pandemic rent debt by Sept. 30 to avoid eviction. And if they receive an eviction notice from their landlords, they can still protect themselves from eviction by stating they were financially impacted by COVID-19.
The LOS ANGELES COUNTY Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to extend some protections for renters in unincorporated parts of the county through January 31, 2022, but those rules will not protect renters from non-payment evictions. County leaders are urging tenants to apply for rent relief to avoid evictions moving forward. These protections, which went into effect Mar 2020 and were set to expire on Sept 30, 2021, provided a set of affirmative defenses against evictions for residential and commercial tenants, as well as mobile home space renters.
The updated policy, now renamed the County’s COVID-19 Tenant Protections Resolution, continues to provide a defense against eviction for residential and commercial tenants, while also expanding the owner move-in provisions. Notably, the updated Resolution expands THE OWNER MOVE-IN EXCEPTION to allow property owners or their qualifying family members to move into up to two units as their principal residence(s) if the single-family home, condominium unit, mobile home space, duplex and/or triplex was purchased by the property owner on or before June 30, 2021, and if certain conditions are met. It also clarifies provisions not preempted by State law, such as residential nonpayment of rent due to COVID-19 financial hardship.
Some additional local bans (Note: this is NOT an exhaustive list!):
- Cerritos “For the duration of the local emergency”
- Inglewood 12/31/21
- Long Beach 12/31/21
- Los Angeles “For the duration of the local emergency”
- Los Angeles County 1/31/22
- Maywood “For the duration of the local emergency”
- Monrovia “For the duration of the local emergency”
It’s important to check the city and county where your property is located to find out the current situation in that area, as we do not have the space to cover all areas in this article. However, after scanning through dozens, most local ordinances ended on September 30th, 2020, a full year ago. Many could end at any time, when “the local emergency” is declared to be over.
To sum up,
If you are a Landlord or Tenant, it is to your distinct advantage to learn all you can about your local eviction-related ordinances. This article is a good start, but remember, the laws are changing all the time. Some good resources for tenants were provided by links within this article, and Residential Landlords can always check the Facebook Group, @SoCalResidentialLandlords . And unless you are homeless, you might want to keep an eye on how this eviction situation plays out, as it could affect your property values and the quality of your neighborhood.
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