Legislative Briefing: Assembly Bill 2179 Extends State Eviction Protections

New 3-Day Notice Form Required from April 1, 2022, Until June 30, 2022

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, serving as acting governor for Gov. Gavin Newsom, signed Assembly Bill 2179 into law, which, among other things, extends the state’s preemption on local governments adopting new COVID-19 eviction moratoriums until July 1, 2022, but at the same time, extends the state’s eviction moratorium until June 30, 2022, under certain circumstances.

Prior to Assembly Bill 2179’s passage, the preemption and eviction moratorium was set to expire effective on March 31, 2022, with several local jurisdictions planning to adopt onerous local eviction moratoriums on April 1, 2022.  Under Assembly Bill 2179, these local jurisdictions are now prohibited from extending existing or from passing further new eviction moratoriums until at least July 1, 2022.

In addition, Assembly Bill 2179 only protects past due renters from eviction under limited circumstances.  Eviction protections are now only available to renters if they had applied for state rental assistance where an application for rent relief was submitted on or before March 31, 2022. As previously noted, these protections; however, are set to expire on June 30, 2022.

Accordingly, effective April 1, 2022, only some tenants remain protected. Those tenants include:

• Tenants whose tenancies started prior to October 1, 2021, and
• Tenants with applications for rental assistance that were submitted on or before March 31, 2022, and
• Tenants who are awaiting either approval or payment from the rental assistance program.

These tenants are protected from eviction for non-payment of rent due prior to April 1, 2022.  For tenants with past due balances, who do not have a pending rental assistance applications, landlords must serve the appropriate non-payment notice, “Three-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit.”  Tenants who do not cure the notice within the required period can be evicted.  For the period of April 1, 2022, through June 30, 2022, there is a new “Three Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit” that contains special language mandated by Assembly Bill 2179 as follows: “NOTICE FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA:  If you completed an application for government rental assistance on or before March 31, 2022, you may have protections against eviction. For information about legal resources that may be available to you, visit lawhelpca.org.”

This new notice form is available in the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles’ “AAGLA Rental Forms Library” in two places, at E.18.1 and K.1.