Regarding the link you mentioned from me, you're referring to a section that is about an owner selling the property. And the following sections all have to apply. It's when an owner is selling to someone who is intending to move into the property, then the owner must give the tenant 30 days notice of that, and there are other things, but at any rate, it doesn't apply here.
For anyone who is interested, the California Department of Consumer Affairs used to have this really great landlord-tenant booklet on their website, but they don't anymore. I suggest downloading a copy, which I have a long time ago, but found it on this website:
https://www.achhd.org/documents/California-Tenants-Guide.pdf
I especially like a section in it that explains how to charge for wear and tear to paint and carpets, etc., explaining life expectancy for items. It's a shame the state quit publishing it, but it's still really helpful. Most laws don't change a lot, so most of it is still on point.
I also really love the Nolo Press California landlord rights and responsibility book. Not sure if it's okay to post a link to that book here, but you can Google it.
And yes, you're right about the new law. Thanks for the great link.
You can still kick a tenant out, you just have to give them one month's rent within 15 days of giving them notice to move. You also have a lot of extra leeway regarding the tenant living in the unit for over 12 months - if they have moved anyone else in. Then, it gets reset to something like 24 months, I think. So, it's really not that hard to kick a tenant out. Then, you can go ahead and raise your rents once the unit is empty. Kind of silly law, really, as it still allows landlords to kick out tenants and raise the rents to market. I guess that makes it somewhat fair, though - you aren't stuck with a tenant forever.
I guess I might go ahead and give them notice and see if they sue me. There is nothing that I could find in the new bill that addresses penalties or fines. It just said if you don't give them the month's rent, the termination notice is void. So, the worst thing that could happen, seems to me, is the tenant tells me I can't kick them out yet and I say, whoops, you're right - here's a new notice and a month's rent. Or they send me a demand letter after they're out and they find out they should have received money to move, which is required before suing in small claims court (they're not likely to actually pay for a lawyer and sue in civil court), and then I'd say, whoops, sorry, here you go.
I know, I'm shameless. That's if I was the owner. If I was an owner's manager, I'd tell him/her they had to pay the tenant a month's rent :-)
Here's the full text. Let me know if anyone sees anything about fines or penalties in it. I searched it with every term I could think of like fines or penalties or bad faith and nothing came up. After giving it a quick scan, I really don't think it's as bad as landlords are worried about. Like I say, you can still kick a tenant out. It's just a new law that says you have to give them cash for keys, which a lot of landlords end up doing anyway.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1482
Hi Sue,
Do you know where I can get a copy of the document you mentioned? The link you provided is no longer valid. Thanks!
This one
https://www.achhd.org/documents/California-Tenants-Guide.pdf
Best,
Jin
