San Carlos adopts renter protections

Officials aimed to balance reports of San Carlos residents receiving eviction notices in the weeks since AB 1482 was signed as well as concerns from landlords about additional restrictions and the possibility of unwarranted legal action by tenants.

Though Mayor Mark Olbert was joined by his fellow councilmembers in voicing support for putting in place “just cause” protections effective Oct. 8, he was alone in supporting a rent cap consistent with the new state law. Olbert favored including more renter protections in the emergency ordinance, while the four other councilmembers felt existing laws and an emergency declaration put in place by Gov. Gavin Newsom Oct. 26 preventing price gouging during high winds and fire conditions could sufficiently protect renters between now and the end of the year.

“I would like to see us take action … not because we’re trying to punish one side or the other, but just because there’s a real problem here,” said Olbert, according to a video of the meeting. “There are real people who are hurting and we can do something about it.”

Having received her a 60-day eviction notice the day Newsom signed AB 1482, resident Susan Raines said she is facing the prospect of leaving the Bay Area after 36 years. Raines said her landlord claimed a need to renovate the unit she has lived in for 25 years as reason for the eviction. Raines said her landlord also told her she would not be able to move back into the unit after it was renovated even after Raines offered to pay more in rent. She urged officials to enact an emergency ordinance and set a retroactive effective date.

“I know this can’t be what the governor intended for AB 1482,” she said. “You have to do something to help us or we can’t live here anymore.”

As a landlord for an eight-unit building in San Carlos, Zach Georgopoulos acknowledged that there are good landlords and bad landlords, and noted stories like the one Raines and others shared of recently receiving eviction notices sound atrocious. He said most landlords are trying to make a living themselves and noted that in his case, he is trying to make his building profitable in the face of sizable overhead and repair costs so he can save for retirement.

“I’d like to think that most landlords aren’t like that,” he said. “We’re largely people who just want to make a living.”

Georgopoulos expressed concern that by creating a need for enforcement by private cause of action, the emergency ordinance and the new state law may provide more than eviction protection and encourage tenants to take legal action against landlords even in cases when there is just cause.

Acknowledging her parents owned a couple of apartment buildings in partnership with others as a way to earn extra income, Councilwoman Laura Parmer-Lohan said she would not be inclined to intervene in issues between a renter and a landlord under normal circumstances. But she also acknowledged the challenges the region’s high cost of living have presented to many, and said she favored taking action to help protect the community’s more vulnerable residents.

“We are actually in an extraordinary situation,” she said. “The housing crisis is just extremely detrimental, these evictions are heart-breaking.”

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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