Synopsis of the City of Mountain View’s Eviction Protection Ordinance

The City of Mountain View has enacted the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act, which limits rent increases and the reasons for evicting a tenant for properties covered by the ordinance.   The City also has a Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance that provides assistance to eligible tenants in cases of no-fault displacements.  Here is a summary of the eviction protection and relocation assistance provisions of the Ordinance. 

Exemptions

The Ordinance does not apply to the following properties:

• Rentals to transients
• Rentals in hospitals, convents/monasteries, nonprofit old-age homes, higher education facilities
• Rentals operated by nonprofits pursuant to a tax credit program
• Government-owned or subsidized rentals
• Single family homes and condominiums
• “Companion units”
• Rentals in a single structure with no more than two units
• Units with certificates of occupancy dated after December 23, 2016

Just Cause Reasons For Eviction

An eviction in the City of Mountain View must be based on one of the following reasons:

• Failure to pay rent
• Breach of lease term
• Maintaining a nuisance
• Criminal activity that violates others’ rights to quiet enjoyment
• Failure to give landlord access
• Necessary and substantial repairs requiring temporary vacancy (more than 30 days)
• Owner move-in. Right extends to specified family members. Protections for tenants who have resided at least five years and are 62 years old or older, disabled, or terminally ill. Tenants have a right to return
• Permanent withdrawal of unit from rental market. Tenants entitled to 120-day notice or one year (senior or disabled). Tenants have a right to return if plans change
• Demolition. Landlord must give written notice per state law. Tenants have a right to return if plans change.

Written Notice to Cease

For Breach of Lease, Nuisance, Criminal Activity and Failure to Give Access, the Landlord is required to first serve the Tenant with a Written Notice to Cease to provide the Tenant an opportunity to cure an alleged violation or problem prior to service of a notice to terminate tenancy.

Owner Move In Conditions

A landlord who seeks to move themselves or a family member (spouse, domestic partner, children, parents, or grandparents) into the unit must have good-faith to occupy the unit within sixty days of the tenant vacating and to reside in the unit as their principal place of residence for thirty-six consecutive months.  The landlord must also be a natural person who has at least a fifty percent recorded ownership interest in the property. In addition, there must be no other vacant units in the property. 

If the landlord does not move into the unit within sixty days after the tenant vacates, the landlord is required to offer the unit back to the tenant at the same rental rate in effect at the time the tenant moved out, and the landlord must pay for the tenant’s moving costs.

Tenants are protected from eviction for an owner or relative move-in eviction if they have resided in the unit for at least five years and are either sixty-two years old or are disabled; or they are certified as being terminally ill by their treating physician, regardless of the length of tenancy. However, these protections do not apply where the landlord or their qualified relative moving in is at least sixty-two years old, disabled, or terminally ill and all units in the building are occupied by protected tenants.

Ellis Act Evictions

An Ellis Act eviction means that the landlord has decided to go out of the residential rental business.  To withdraw the unit from the rental market, the landlord must seek in good faith to withdraw all the units in the building. A withdrawal notice and other required documents must first be filed with the Housing Committee before the landlord can provide an eviction notice to the tenants. Tenants are entitled to an advanced written notice of at least 120 days.

Evictions Based on Substantial Repairs Planned for the Rental Unit

Landlords who want to temporarily evict a tenant to make substantial repairs to the unit must first obtain all the permits necessary to bring the unit into compliance with applicable codes and laws affecting the health and safety of the tenants.  The repairs must be the type that cannot be done while the unit is occupied and that will take at least thirty days to complete.

The landlord must provide the tenant notice that they have the right to either move into a comparable vacant rental unit owned by the landlord at the same rent or reoccupy the rental unit upon completion of the repairs at the same rent charged before the temporary relocation.  Id.  A tenant is not eligible for relocation assistance if the tenant accepts the landlord’s offer to move into a comparable vacant rental unit at the same rent.

Tenant Relocation Assistance – First Right of Return

For terminations based on Necessary and Substantial Repairs Requiring Temporary Vacancy, Owner Move-in, Withdrawal of the Rental Unit Permanently from Rental Market and Demolition, a landlord is required to notify the Tenant of their right to Relocation Assistance and may be required to pay relocation assistance. Tenants also have a first right to return to the Rental Unit if the Rental Unit is returned to the market by the Landlord or successor Landlord.

Other Requirements

Registration of the Unit with the City is required.  In addition, all notices underlying just cause evictions must specify the cause of the termination. The local ordinance requires the landlord to file a copy of the eviction notice with the city, within 3 days of serving the tenant.

Please contact Lynx Legal with any questions regarding the above, and for all of your eviction needs.  We can be reached at 888-441-2355 or info@lynxlegal.com.  Our experienced professionals are standing by to start your case or answer any questions you may have.