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AB-2469 Housing: Statewide Rental Registry.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 04/07/2022 09:00 PM
AB2469:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 07, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2469

Introduced by Assembly Member Wicks

February 17, 2022

An act to add Section 1942.10 to the Civil Code, and to add Section 50467 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2469, as amended, Wicks. Housing: Statewide Rental Registry.
Existing law continues into existence the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. Under existing law, the department is required to develop various plans and policies related to housing.
This bill would require the department to develop and maintain a rental registry online portal designed to collect specified information related to housing and make that information available to the public. The bill would require the department to develop a rental registry form to collect information from landlords, as defined, including the address and owners of a rental property, the number and type of rooms in the rental property, and information related to the payments collected and the duration of tenancies. This bill would require a landlord to submit a rental registry form annually, when a lease is initiated, altered, or terminated, under penalty of perjury. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The bill would require a city or county with an existing rental registry to include, at minimum, the information required to be collected by the department. By imposing this requirement on cities and counties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law regulates the terms and conditions of residential tenancies and imposes various requirements on landlords, including that a landlord must provide written notice of their intention to terminate a tenancy if the term of the tenancy is not specified.
The bill would prohibit a landlord from providing a tenant notice of a rent increase, notice of an intention to terminate a tenancy, or notice of an unlawful detainer action unless the landlord has submitted a rental registry form, as specified.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 (a) This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Statewide Rental Registry.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to do all of the following:
(1)Build to build a database of corporately owned rental units throughout the state of California to support housing development, renter protections, and effective implementation of applicable California housing laws.

(2)Prevent homelessness by providing access to data encompassing the full scope of rental units in the state.

(3)Provide a publicly accessible portal to local government, courts, nonprofit organizations, and residents of this state to submit and aggregate accurate rental data.

SEC. 2.

 Section 1942.10 is added to the Civil Code, to read:

1942.10.
 A landlord that fails to complete and submit a rental registry form for a dwelling unit, as required by Section 50467 of the Health and Safety Code, shall not take any of the following actions until a form is submitted that substantially complies with that section:
(a) Issue a notice of a rent increase.
(b) Issue a notice pursuant to Section 1946.1.
(c) Issue any notice or initiate any action pursuant to Section 1161 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

SEC. 3.

 Section 50467 is added to the Health and Safety Code, immediately following Section 50466.5, to read:

50467.
 (a) For purposes of this section, “landlord” means a person or entity corporation or limited liability company that hires dwelling units subject to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1940) of Title 5 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code.
(b) (1) The department shall develop and administer a rental registry online portal. The rental registry online portal shall be designed to do both of the following:
(A)Receive to receive information from landlords, as described in subdivision (c), and then make available the information to the public.

(B)Receive information from parties other than landlords, including, but not limited to, tenants, local governments, courts, nonprofit organizations, and residents of this state.

(2) (A) The department shall create a rental registry form, which shall be made available on the rental registry online portal and allow data entered into the form to be machine readable.
(B) The rental registry form shall be drafted to collect from a landlord all of the following information:
(i) The legal address of each property, and all associated rental unit numbers.
(ii) The legal name of each beneficial owner and the ownership entity for each property, including, but not limited to, limited partners, general partners, limited liability company members, and shareholders with 10 percent or more ownership of the entity. property.
(I) Except as otherwise provided in subclause (II), for the purposes of this section, “beneficial owner” means a natural person for whom, directly or indirectly and through any contract arrangement, understanding, relationship, or otherwise, any of the following applies:
(ia) The person exercises substantial control over an ownership entity.
(ib) The person owns 25 percent or more of the equity interest of an ownership entity.
(ic) The person receives substantial economic benefits from the assets of an ownership entity.
(II) “Beneficial owner” does not include any of the following:
(ia) A minor child.
(ib) A person acting as a nominee, intermediary, custodian, or agent on behalf of another person.
(ic) A person acting solely as an employee of an ownership entity and whose control over or economic benefits from that ownership entity derives solely from the employment status of the person.
(id) A person whose only interest in an ownership entity is through a right of inheritance.
(ie) A creditor of an ownership entity, unless the creditor meets the requirements specified in subclause (I).
(III) For purposes of this section, “ownership entity” means a corporation or limited liability company that owns real property that is offered for rent or lease.
(iii) The ownership type of each property and the year the owner acquired the property.
(iv) The estimated year in which the residential structure was originally constructed on the property.
(v) The number of bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and occupancy status of each rental unit.
(vi) The month and year that the most current occupancy began for each rental unit.
(vii) The total number of months that each rental unit was rented during the previous calendar year and the number of months the unit was vacant.
(viii) The amount of payments collected for rent and utilities in the previous calendar year. This amount shall include the amount paid for utilities that is included in the rent.
(ix) The month and year of the effective date of the last rent increase and decrease for each rental unit and the amount of the increase or decrease.
(x) The number of tenants, at the reported unit, for which the landlord terminated a tenancy in the previous calendar year, and the reason for each termination.
(3) (A) The rental registry online portal, and all forms necessary for its effective and efficient use, shall be complete and prepared to accept landlord submissions by January 1, 2024.
(B) The rental registry online portal, and all forms necessary for its effective and efficient use, shall be operational and accessible to the public by January 1, 2025.
(C) The rental registry online portal shall be provided in multiple languages.
(D) (i) The rental registry online portal shall comply with all relevant state and federal laws regarding privacy and personally identifying information.
(ii) The department shall aggregate by Zip Code information pertaining to terminations of tenancy and the reasons for termination. The department shall publish this information every five years. Publicly available data on terminations shall not include specific dates or years.
(c) (1) A landlord shall complete and submit, under penalty of perjury, a rental registry form for each property. Each landlord shall thereafter complete and submit a rental registry form for each property annually. when a lease is initiated, altered, or terminated.
(2) Landlords, upon completion of the registry, shall receive an electronic confirmation of their submission.
(d) For a city or county with an existing rental registry, the agency responsible for the registry shall ensure all information required to be collected pursuant to subdivision (b) is included in the registry and that the registry produces machine readable data. This section does not prevent a city or a county from operating a local rental registry. A landlord that provides information to a rental registry operated by a city or county is not exempt from the requirements of this section.

SEC. 4.

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district because, in that regard, this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.

However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

SEC. 4.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.