Santa Monica has an extensive history of protecting existing
housing stock and encouraging the creation of new housing opportunities
to ensure an inclusive and affordable community despite mounting market
pressures. Increased demand for rental housing in the City, combined
with rising housing costs across the City and the State, have made
it increasingly difficult for those who live and work in Santa Monica
to find rental housing that is available, affordable, and meets their
needs. The Council finds and declares that the City's rental housing
stock should, to the extent possible, be preserved for use as long-term
permanent housing, and further finds and declares that tenants are
entitled to contractual relationships with landlords that offer some
assurances of stability and minimize frequent displacements of tenants
in a rental housing market affording tenants few and increasingly
expensive options.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
For purposes of this Chapter, the following words or phrases
shall have the following meanings:
means an owner, lessor, sublessor, or any other person entitled
to receive rent for the use and occupancy of any rental housing unit,
or an agent, representative or successor of any of the foregoing.
means an agreement, oral or written or implied, between a
landlord and a tenant for use or occupancy of a rental housing unit,
or any portion of a rental housing unit, and for housing services.
means the usual place of return for housing of an owner or
tenant, as documented by at least two of the following: motor vehicle
registration; driver's license or California State identification
card; voter registration; income tax return; proof of payment of resident
tuition to a California public institution of higher education, including
proof of payment in accordance with an exemption to payment of nonresident
tuition under California Assembly Bill 540, the California DREAM Act;
or a utility bill. An owner or tenant can only have one primary residence.
means any of the following that is used as rental housing
within the City:
A dwelling unit, as defined by Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 9.52.020.0730, except that a dwelling unit for purposes of this Chapter may be less than three hundred seventy-five square feet in size;
An accessory dwelling unit, as defined by Santa Monica Municipal
Code Section 9.51.020(A)(1)(b);
A junior accessory dwelling unit, as defined by Santa Monica
Municipal Code Section 9.51.020(A)(1)(f); or
A unit in single-room occupancy housing, as defined by Santa
Monica Municipal Code Section 9.51.020(A)(1)(d)(ii).
means a lease by a tenant to a subtenant transferring the
right to possession to some or all of a rental unit for a term shorter
than that of the tenant.
means a tenant, subtenant, lessee, sublessee or any other
person entitled under the terms of a lease to use or occupancy of
any rental housing unit.
means a rental housing unit that is delivered by the landlord
to the tenant without any furnishings, computer equipment, housewares,
bed linens, towels, artwork, televisions, entertainment systems, or
appliances except for a stove, a refrigerator, a microwave, a dishwasher,
a clothes washing machine and/or a clothes dryer.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20; amended by Ord. No. 2655CCS § 1, adopted 10/27/20)
A landlord and tenant may enter into a lease only if the tenant
is a natural person.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
A landlord and tenant may enter into a lease only if the tenant
will use and occupy the rental housing unit as the tenant's primary
residence. No later than sixty days following the commencement of
the lease, the tenant must provide and the landlord must receive documentation
as specified in Section 6.22.020(c) that the rental housing unit is
the tenant's primary residence. Landlord shall retain this documentation
throughout the duration of tenant's lease and shall provide it to
the Director of the Community Development Department or delegee on
request.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
A landlord and tenant may enter into a lease only if it is in
writing and for an initial lease term of no less than one year.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
A landlord and tenant may enter into a lease only if the rental
housing unit is an unfurnished rental housing unit. A sublessor who
is a natural person and who will continue to reside in the rental
unit as his or her primary residence is exempt from this requirement
as is a sublessor who enters into a sublease that replaces a departed
tenant or subtenant under the rental agreement on a one-for-one basis.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
Landlords shall provide all prospective tenants with a written notice summarizing the requirements of Sections 6.22.060 and 6.22.070. The notification must be provided in English and Spanish and must be provided electronically if the application and/or lease are processed electronically. The form of the notice required shall be determined by administrative regulations issued pursuant to Section 6.22.130.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
No person shall undertake, maintain, authorize, aid, facilitate
or advertise any lease of a rental housing unit that does not comply
with this Chapter.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
(a)
This
Chapter shall not apply to:
(1)
Rental housing units lawfully occupied and subject to a written lease
as of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this Section
until the tenant or tenants using and occupying the rental housing
unit vacate the unit;
(2)
Rental housing units lawfully occupied and not subject to a written
lease as of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this Section
until the tenant or tenants using and occupying the rental housing
unit vacate the unit;
(5)
Leases of rental housing units that are single-unit dwellings or
dwelling units in multiple-unit dwellings if all of the following
apply:
(A)
At the time of the lease, the rental housing unit is occupied by
the owner as the owner's primary residence,
(B)
Within the prior ten years, a tenant did not leave the rental unit
as the result of an owner-move-in eviction, an Ellis Act eviction,
or the buy-out of a rental agreement after the prior tenant was provided
with notice of an intent to exercise an owner-move-in eviction or
an Ellis Act eviction,
(C)
The rental housing unit is leased by the owner for a period less
than one year with the intent of the owner to return to reoccupy the
rental housing unit as the owner's primary residence at the expiration
of the rental period, and
(D)
The rental housing unit is rented out no more than two times per
calendar year for a total period of less than six months; and
(6)
Leases of rental housing units that are ADUs or JADUs for which plans
have been submitted for plan check by no later than December 31, 2020,
if all the following apply:
(A)
The rental housing unit is located on a parcel improved with a single-unit
dwelling occupied by the owner as the owner's primary residence;
(B)
The rental housing unit is rented for a period of more than thirty
days and less than one year; and
(C)
The owner of the single-unit dwelling lives on site through the duration
of the lease.
(b)
In
the event of any conflict between the provisions of this Chapter and
any laws, regulations, requirements governing rental housing units
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) below, those laws, regulations
or requirements shall prevail.
(1)
Rental housing units owned or operated by any government agency or
whose rent is subsidized by any government agency, including, but
not limited to, subsidies under the Federal Government's Housing Choice
Voucher Program (Section 8); and
(2)
Rental housing units subject to a covenant or agreement, such as
an inclusionary housing agreement or an affordable housing agreement,
with a government agency, including the City, the State of California,
or the Federal government, restricting the rental rate that may be
charged for that unit.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20; amended by Ord. No. 2655CCS § 2, adopted 10/27/20)
(a)
Defense to Action to Recover Possession. It shall be a defense in any legal action brought by the landlord to recover possession of a rental housing unit within one year of the tenant's initial occupancy of the rental housing unit that the landlord failed to comply with the provisions of Section 6.22.060, Section 6.22.070, or Section 6.22.080.
(b)
Defense to Action to Collect Rent. It shall be a defense in any legal action brought by the landlord to collect rent for a rental housing unit within one year of the tenant's initial occupancy of the rental housing unit that the landlord failed to comply with the provisions of Section 6.22.060, Section 6.22.070, or Section 6.22.080.
(c)
Injunctive Relief. A tenant may seek injunctive relief on
his or her own behalf and on behalf of other affected tenants to enjoin
the landlord's violation of this Chapter.
(d)
Remedies Are Nonexclusive. Remedies provided in this Section
are in addition to any other existing legal remedies and are not intended
to be exclusive.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
Any waiver or purported waiver by a tenant of his or her rights
under this chapter prior to the time when such rights may be exercised
shall be void as contrary to public policy.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
The City Manager or designee may promulgate administrative regulations
to implement the provisions of this Chapter, including, but not limited
to, noticing procedures and requirements. No person shall fail to
comply with any such regulations.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
(b)
Any
person who violates any provision of this Chapter shall be guilty
of an infraction which shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding
seven hundred fifty dollars, or a misdemeanor, which shall be punishable
by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in
the County Jail for a period not exceeding six months or by both such
fine and imprisonment.
(c)
The
remedies provided in this Section are not exclusive, and nothing in
this Section shall preclude the use or application of any other remedies,
penalties or procedures established by law.
(Added by Ord. No. 2650CCS §
1, adopted 9/8/20)
