BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1513
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1513 (Fox)
As Amended May 6, 2014
Majority vote
JUDICIARY 9-1 APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Wieckowski, Wagner, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Alejo, Chau, Dickinson, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Garcia, Gorell, | |Calderon, Campos, Eggman, |
| |Maienschein, Muratsuchi | |Gomez, Holden, Jones, |
| | | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Stone | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Establishes, until 2018, a pilot program to facilitate
enforcement of criminal trespassing laws against persons
occupying residential property that, pursuant to the program,
has been registered with and verified by local law enforcement
to be vacant. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the owner of vacant real property, or his agent, to
register vacant property with the local police agency using a
specified form, signed under penalty of perjury, and attesting
that the property is vacant and is not authorized to be
occupied by any person.
2)Requires the registration to be accompanied by a statement
providing the name, address and telephone number at which the
owner can be contacted within a 24-hour period, and a
statement that either the police agency or a licensed private
security services company has been retained to comply with
specified inspection and reporting provisions, together with a
copy of any agreement or contract to perform such services.
3)Requires the owner or the owner's agent to register the vacant
property no later than three days after learning that the
property is vacant.
4)Authorizes the owner or his agent to execute a "Declaration of
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Ownership," worded as specified or in substantially similar
language, and file it with the district attorney of the
jurisdiction in which the property is located. Further
requires the owner to post the declaration on the unoccupied
residential property listed in the declaration if he also
files it with the district attorney.
5)Requires the owner or owner's agent, immediately after
authorizing a person to occupy the vacant property, to issue a
written authorization to the person authorized to occupy the
property and notify the police agency where the property is
registered and terminate the registration.
6)Requires a licensed private security services company or
police agency retained by the owner or owner's agent pursuant
to the pilot program to inspect the vacant property not less
than once every three days, and immediately notify the police
agency where the property is registered if any unauthorized
person is found on the property.
7)Requires the police agency where the property is registered to
respond to the property as soon as practicable after being
notified by the licensed security business that an
unauthorized person is found on the property. Further
requires the responding officer to do all of the following:
a) Verify that the property was inspected at least three
days prior and found to be vacant by the licensed security
business or police agency.
b) Ascertain the identity of any persons found on the
property.
c) Require the production of written authorization to be on
the property.
d) Advise any person who does not produce written
authorization that the person has 48 hours to obtain
written authorization from the owner of the property, or
the owner's agent, to be on the property, and that the
person will be subject to arrest for trespass if the person
is subsequently found on the property without such
authorization.
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e) Verify with the owner or the owner's agent that the
property is vacant.
8)Provides that any person found on vacant property not less
than 48 hours after receiving the above warning notification
is guilty of trespass and, upon conviction, is subject to
imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a
fine not exceeding $1,000, or both.
9)Provides that the local city council or board of supervisors
shall establish fees for registering a vacant property with
the local police agency and for the conduct of inspections by
the police agency pursuant to this bill.
10)Limits application of these provisions to residential
property consisting of one to four units, located in the
Cities of Palmdale and Lancaster, in Los Angeles County.
11)Establishes a sunset date of January 1, 2018, for these
provisions.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, the costs for the two cities in the pilot program to
process registrations and to conduct inspections, when so
requested by a property owner, should be covered by the fees
authorized in the bill. To establish the program and the
registration system, each city might incur some start-up costs,
which would be state reimbursable but should be minor. Finally,
both cities will incur non-reimbursable costs for enforcement,
offset to some extent by fine revenues.
COMMENTS : This bill, sponsored by the California Association of
Realtors, seeks to provide property owners with an additional
tool to enforce criminal trespass laws in cities where the
so-called practice of "squatting" by unauthorized occupants in
residential property poses a problem to the community at large.
According to the author, "Unlawful detainer laws are not
specifically designed to provide law enforcement officials the
tools they need to assist owners of residential real property in
their efforts to remove, or prevent occupancy by squatters on
vacant properties. It is clear that under California law it can
take a minimum of 30-60 days to evict a sophisticated squatter.
This bill will provide a definitive remedy for owners of
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residences in California that have been taken over by
squatters."
The bill outlines a pilot project to allow property owners to
declare property to be vacant, register it with local law
enforcement, and gain greater certainty that any subsequent
trespasser upon the property will be subject to arrest for
trespassing, so long as regular inspection of the property at
three day intervals has confirmed it to be vacant since the date
of registration.
According to the intent language of the bill, the program is
intended to provide a means to deter squatting at an early stage
and to provide a second chance for squatters to vacate the
premises in lieu of arrest, and is not intended to be an
abridgment of other statutes relating to trespass or civil
eviction proceedings. It is believed that the threat of arrest
for trespassing on a property registered under this program (and
so noticed on the property itself) will serve as a deterrent to
those persons who the author and sponsor believe to be
sophisticated squatters targeting vacant properties in many
California cities.
The property owner registering the property under this program
must provide a phone number he can be reached at within a
24-hour period, which is intended to enable law enforcement to
quickly contact the owner should unauthorized occupants ever be
discovered on the property during one of the regular inspections
required under the program. In addition, the owner must retain
either law enforcement or a private security service to
regularly inspect the vacant property, and provide a copy of the
contract or agreement to perform those services at the time of
registration. The security company or law enforcement agent
must then inspect the vacant property at least every three days
to ensure it is vacant.
According to the author, this key requirement is intended to
ensure that the properties registered with this program truly
are vacant properties from the first day of registration, and
are not occupied by holdover tenants or any other persons with
legitimate claim to possess the property. It is thought that
the regular inspection of the property at least once every three
days will reveal quickly whether the property is a foreclosure
property with a holdover tenant, or a vacant property as
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declared to be by the owner under penalty of perjury. If the
property is established to be vacant as a condition of
registration, then subsequent discovery of an occupant on the
property would indicate that the person indeed fits the
description of a "squatter," and is not a holdover tenant who
had been living openly in the property, never having any idea
that the owner had sworn the property to be vacant despite the
occupant's presence.
Under the program, law enforcement is required to respond soon
after being notified that an unauthorized person has been found
on the property. The bill provides that law enforcement
responding to a first call shall not arrest the person for
trespass, but instead advise him or her that written
authorization from the owner must be acquired within 48 hours,
or the person is subject to arrest upon the officer's next
inspection of the property. According to the sponsor, this
simple allowance provides a second chance for any unauthorized
occupant to vacate the premises in lieu of arrest, and
demonstrates the author's commitment to avoid arrest of people
who might otherwise be persuaded to move along after a single
visit from law enforcement. For those who are arrested and
convicted of trespass under this bill, the criminal penalty is
imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year and a fine of
up to $1,000, or both.
The pilot program established by this bill applies to
residential property of one to four units, with the Cities of
Palmdale and Lancaster named as the initial cities to
participate in the program. The author anticipates that several
more cities will voluntarily seek to be included as the bill
moves forward, given the reported prevalence of squatting in
certain areas of California where vacant homes are common as a
result of the recent foreclosure crisis. Recent author
amendments attempt to address workability problems with the
proposed pilot program, and signal the author's continued
willingness to work with opponents and other stakeholders as the
bill moves forward.
This bill is opposed by a number of tenant advocate groups, who
contend that the bill compromises established due process
protections for occupants of property who may be legitimately
entitled to possession of the premises. They state, "This bill
would substantially change landlord-tenant law, bypassing the
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most basic due process requirement of an opportunity to be heard
in court. Proponents have made no showing that existing laws
governing trespass and eviction are insufficient to sort out
occupancy by unauthorized persons. For years, post-foreclosure
owners blatantly violated tenants' rights by improperly treating
tenants as unknown occupants, utilizing a loophole in state law
that was recently addressed by the tenant protections in the
Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR). HBOR allows any tenant in the
property unnamed in an unlawful detainer action to file a claim
of right to possession at any time to get a hearing to determine
whether the tenant can become a party to the eviction action.
By allowing owners to circumvent the entire court eviction
process when the right to occupy is disputed, the current
proposal would undermine the very protections the legislature
just adopted in HBOR."
Analysis Prepared by : Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
FN: 0003437