The City of Emeryville has enacted the Residential Landlord and Tenant Relations ordinance, which regulates evictions for most residential rental units in the City.  The Ordinance limits the reasons why landlords may terminate a tenancy and requires landlords to provide a notice of the tenant rights under the ordinance using the City’s mandatory form notice.   The Ordinance does not regulate rent.  Here is a summary of the Ordinance. 

Exemptions

Certain residential units are exempt from the Ordinance, including:

• Owner-occupied units where the owner is renting two or fewer bedrooms
• Housing units owned by a nonprofit hospital, convent, monastery or similar type of development
• Government owned units
• Units owned by a nonprofit cooperative that is controlled by the residents
• Hotels, motels, lodging houses, and rooming houses
• Units rented or leased for less than 30 days
• Mobile homes.

Registration Requirement

Registration with the City is required.  All landlords must submit an annual Rent Program Registration Form and pay a fee for each rental unit owned.

Notice Requirement

Landlords must provide all new and renewing tenants with a Notice of Tenant Rights, which must accompany any Notice of Termination of Tenancy.  The Notice must state as follows:

“The City of Emeryville regulates the relationship between most landlords and tenants within the City. Generally, landlords may not terminate your tenancy without cause or explanation and may not reduce or stop providing services agreed to in the rental contract, so long as you pay rent on time as agreed in the rental contract. In addition to State and Federal Laws, the Residential Landlord and Tenant Relations chapter of the Emeryville Municipal Code creates certain rights for landlords and tenants, which may include the right to relocation assistance or the right to return to your rental unit if you are evicted. Visit the City of Emeryville website for more information: http://www.emeryville.org/eviction‐protection‐ordinance.”

Reasons Allowed for Evictions

An eviction must be based on one or more of the following reasons:

• Failure to pay rent
• Breach of a material term of the rental contract
• Illegal activities
• Tenant’s violation(s) of city Health and Safety Code
• Failure to allow landlord access following proper notice
• Tenant rejected a written lease extension containing substantially the same provisions as the prior agreement
• Tenant violated occupancy restrictions
• Owner move in for Landlord returning from temporary absence to occupy unit
• Landlord returning from deployment
• Landlord condominium conversion
• Permanent demolition or removal
• Landlord or landlord’s parent or child will imminently move into unit
• Unit temporarily unfit for human habitation
• Substantial renovation of the unit

Relocation Assistance Required for No Fault Evictions

The Ordinance requires relocation assistance to be paid to tenants displaced by “no cause” evictions, i.e., evictions not based on any fault of the tenant.  Emeryville’s ordinance distinguishes between “small” landlords and “large” landlords in determining the amount of relocation assistance.  “Small” landlords are those who own four units or less.  “Large” landlords are landlords owning more than four units.

In the case of no-fault evictions, small landlords will have to pay the greater of: (1) one month of the most current fair market rates, as set by HUD or (2) One month of rent at the time the notice of tenancy is delivered. In the alternative, small landlords can simply waive one month’s rent.

Larger landlords with four or more units are required to pay up to five times the current fair market rates set by HUD, or four times the monthly rent at the time the notice of termination of tenancy is delivered.

Please contact Lynx Legal with any questions regarding the above, and for all your eviction needs.  We can be reached at 888-441-2355 or info@lynxlegal.com.  You can also schedule a telephonic conversation on our website to discuss your issues with one of our experienced professionals.  We are standing by to assist in any way we can.