BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1953|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1953
Author: Ammiano (D)
Amended: 5/9/12 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 3-1, 7/3/12
AYES: Evans, Corbett, Leno
NOES: Blakeslee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 45-18, 5/25/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Rental housing: tenant notice
SOURCE : Tenants Together
DIGEST : This bill prohibits a subsequent owner or
manager from seeking to evict a tenant for a nonpayment of
rent that accrued during the period in which the owner or
manager was out of compliance with existing law's
requirement to provide updated contact information.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires an owner of residential
rental property or a party signing a rental agreement or
lease on behalf of the owner to disclose in the rental
agreement or lease all of the following:
1. The name, telephone number, and usual street address at
which personal service may be effected of each person
who is authorized to manage the premises or act for and
CONTINUED
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on behalf of the owner for the purpose of service of
process and for the purpose of receiving and receipting
for all notices and demands;
2. The name, telephone number, and address of the person or
entity to whom rent payments shall be made;
3. If rent payments may be made personally, the usual days
and hours that the person will be available to receive
the payments;
4. At the owner's option, either the number of an account
in a financial institution into which rent payments may
be made, and the name and street address of the
institution, provided that the institution is located
within five miles of the rental property, or, the
information necessary to establish an electronic funds
transfer procedure to pay the rent; and
5. The form(s) in which rent payments are to be made.
(Civil Code (CIV) Section 1962(a))
Existing law provides that the above information required
to be disclosed shall be kept current and this obligation
shall extend to and be enforceable against any successor
owner or manager, who shall comply with this section within
15 days of succeeding the previous owner or manager. (CIV
Section 1962(c))
Existing law states that a tenant is guilty of unlawful
detainer when he or she continues in possession without the
permission of his or her landlord after default in the
payment of rent, and three days' notice has been provided,
as specified. (Code of Civil Procedure Section 1161(2))
This bill prohibits a successor owner or manager from
evicting a tenant for nonpayment of rent that accrued
during the period when the owner or manager was not in
compliance with the requirement to provide updated
information to the tenant.
This bill provides that nothing in the above prohibition
shall relieve the tenant of any liability for unpaid rent.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/6/12)
Tenants Together (source)
Asian Law Caucus
Bet Tzedek
California Apartment Association
Eviction Defense Collaborative
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County
National Housing Law Project
Public Interest Law Project
Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights
Senior Action Network
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
In California, when a property changes hands, current law
requires that within 15 days the new owner must notify
the tenant to whom to pay rent. However, current law is
silent on what happens if the new owner fails to provide
this notice. ? A new owner is typically incentivized to
provide the tenants with this information in order to
receive timely rent payments, but in some situations
where the new owner is reluctant to embrace the landlord
role, such as after foreclosure, new owners do not timely
notify tenants where to pay rent. In rent control
jurisdictions, advocates report that new owners in some
cases delay notifying tenants where to send rent, allow
rent to build up, and then after many months evict for
nonpayment in order to vacate homes of low-rent tenants.
In addition, the failure of new owners to timely notify
tenants where to pay rent can lead to particular problems
for tenants who receive benefits such as SSI, as these
tenants risk losing their benefits if they accumulate too
much money in their bank accounts.
Noncompliance with the current notification requirement
has also provided an opportunity for scammers to defraud
tenants out of rent money. Without any notice of a
change in ownership, tenants can either continue to pay
rent to the old owner Ýor] fall victim to scammers that
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have no interest in the property but are demanding rent.
Unfortunately, in the foreclosure crisis, these scams
have become increasingly common.
This bill addresses the situations where new owners are
more focused on displacing tenants than collecting rent
and therefore fail to notify tenants where to pay rent.
If new owners do not want to play by the rules and inform
tenants where to pay rent, it is unfair to allow them to
violate current law with no consequences, later change
their mind and demand rent, and then have tenants lose
their homes.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 45-18, 5/25/12
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer,
Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon,
Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Lara,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Mitchell, Monning, Nestande, Olsen,
Pan, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Swanson,
Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada
NOES: Achadjian, Conway, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Garrick,
Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Logue, Mansoor, Miller,
Morrell, Nielsen, Norby, Smyth, Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Atkins, Bill Berryhill, Charles
Calderon, Cook, Fletcher, Gorell, Grove, Halderman, Hall,
Hueso, Knight, Ma, Mendoza, Perea, Silva, Solorio, John
A. Pérez
RJG:m 7/6/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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