The City of Sacramento has enacted the Tenant Protection Ordinance, which limits annual rent increases and precludes evictions unless based upon a reason specified in the Ordinance.  The following summarizes the eviction control provisions of the Ordinance.    

Covered Properties

Almost all multi-unit residential buildings built before February 1,1995 are covered under the Tenant Protection Act for both rent caps and just-cause eviction. 

The following properties are exempt from the ordinance:

• Units built after February 1, 1995.
• Single-family homes, condominiums, and stock cooperatives.
• Units which a tenant shares a bathroom or kitchen with the property owner.
• Units that the landlord or the landlord’s immediate family occupy as their primary residence.
• Hotels, motels, inns, tourist homes, or rooming and boarding houses that are rented for a period of less than thirty days.
• Hospitals, medical care facilities, residential care facilities, asylums, or group homes for seniors or the disabled.
• Transitional housing programs for the homeless.
• Convents and monasteries.
• Fraternity houses, sorority houses, and a dormitories owned and operated by an accredited institution of higher education.
• Units that are either owned, operated, or subsidized by a government entity or low income housing.  Sacramento, Cal. Mun. Code § 5.156.030

Just Cause Reasons for Eviction

Once a tenant has resided in the unit for twelve or more months, the landlord must have a just-cause reason to terminate a tenancy covered by the City of Sacramento Tenant Protection Ordinance. The following are the reasons for eviction:

• Failure to pay rent.
• Breach of the lease or rental agreement after the tenant has been served with a notice to cure the violation and refuses to do so.
• Refusal to give the landlord access to the unit.
• Engaging in criminal activity or creating a nuisance. 

• The landlord in good faith seeks to make substantial repairs to the unit to bring the unit into code compliance.
• The landlord seeks in good faith to move into the unit or move a member of their immediate family into the unit.
• The landlord seeks in good faith to withdraw the building from the rental market. (Ellis Act eviction). 

Evictions for Substantial Repairs.  To evict a tenant for substantial repairs, the landlord must obtain necessary permits, the work must render the unit uninhabitable for at least thirty days, and before the tenant vacates, the landlord must offer the tenant the right to reoccupy the unit at the same rent once repairs are complete or to move to a comparable rental unit owned by the landlord for the same rent as the vacated unit.  Sacramento, Cal. Mun. Code § 5.156.090. A tenant is entitled to an advanced written notice of at least 120 days.  Sacramento, Cal. Mun. Code § 5.156.090. 

Owner/Relative Move-In Evictions.  Owner/Relative move-ins must reside in the property for at least twelve months. The landlord must also be a natural person (not a corporation, partnership, limited partnership, association, or trust company) and own at least 51% of the building.  Under the ordinance, “immediate family” means spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child and grandchild, whether related by blood, birth, adoption, marriage or registered domestic partnership.  A tenant is entitled to an advanced written notice of at least 120 days. 

Ellis Act Evictions.  A rental unit withdrawal notice must first be filed with the City before the landlord can initiate an Ellis Act eviction. A tenant is entitled to an advanced written notice of at least 120 days, and up to one year’s notice if the tenant is at least 62 years old or disabled and has resided in the rental unit for at least one year. 

Relocation Assistance

The ordinance does not require landlords to pay relocation benefits to tenants that are displaced due to a no-fault eviction such as an eviction for owner or relative move-in, Ellis Act, or to conduct substantial repairs. 

Remedies for Violation(s) of the Ordinance

Tenants do not have a private right of action under the ordinance to sue their landlord.  However, a landlord that violates the ordinance may be subject to criminal sanctions, civil action, and administrative penalties brought by the City of Sacramento.  

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 [email protected].  You can also schedule a telephonic consultation on our website.  Our experienced professionals are standing by to answer any questions or complete the intake if you are ready to start a case.