News Alert: Ojai Adopts Rent Control and Just Cause Eviction Restrictions Ordinance
At the March 28th Ojai City Council meeting, the City Council adopted a new ordinance impacting owners of multifamily properties, certain single-family rental houses, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) (with the same parameters as state law under Assembly Bill 1482) that establishes a new, annual limit on rent increases of 4% and limits evictions to a specific set of “At-Fault” and “No-Fault” reasons (a/k/a, Just Cause) that must be stated prior to initiating an unlawful detainer (eviction) lawsuit. In addition, rental housing owners must pay relocation fees to renters in an amount equal two months’ of current rent or $5,000, whichever is greater for No-Fault evictions (as a form of government created private welfare or financial aid forcibly extracted from owners of private property). The new ordinance will go into effect on April 28, 2023.
The City Council approved the ordinance by a vote of 3 to 2. Mayor Betsy Stix along with Council Member Jennifer Lang and Council Member Andrew Whitman supported the ordinance despite the complete lack of data showing any need by the city and despite Co-Star data (a third-party rental housing data aggregator) showing no spikes in rent increases in Ojai by multifamily property owners during the past 5 years.
Further, the ordinance specifically excludes single-family rental housing owned by non-corporate owners despite the sudden wave of tenancy terminations due to increased housing values. By supporting the ordinance, Mayor Stix seemingly believes it is better to punish multifamily owners without evidence of rent hikes or other wrongdoing in order to appear to be “doing something” even when it doesn’t actually help the majority of Ojai renters being relocated. In contrast, Mayor Pro Tem Suza Francina (a renter that recently faced relocation herself) and Council Member Leslie Rule voted against adoption of the ordinance. Council Member Rule specifically stated adoption of the ordinance at this point was premature and is being done without proper stakeholder engagement from all parties impacted including small property owners.
AAGLA vigorously opposed this ordinance by reaching out to City Council Members, providing formal comment letters to the full City Council, speaking at City Council meetings and working with affiliated industry groups. Unfortunately, however, we were unable to obtain the third vote needed on the City Council to stop this unnecessary, ineffective and burdensome ordinance.
In addition to the annual rent increase limitation of 4% and the Just Cause limitation for evictions, rental property owners must now provide notice to renters for At-Fault lease violations that are curable and provide an opportunity to cure. AAGLA has notices available in its member-exclusive library of Forms that may be used to provide the required notice. Lastly, rental property owners will be required to pay a program fee at some point in the future, once established by the City Council.
We will continue to advocate for our members in Ojai and throughout Ventura County and will notify our members once the program fee in Ojai has been set.
If you do not want to see more regulations like the one in Ojai passed in other jurisdictions, please make a contribution to the AAGLA PAC at www.aagla.org/issuespac.
This article is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions regarding your property or specific tenancies and the requirements of any local law changes described herein, please consult with an attorney.