Bill Text: CA AB1953 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Rental housing: tenant notice.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2012-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 695, Statutes of 2012. [AB1953 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB1953-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1953	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 29, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ammiano

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2012

   An act to amend Section  50853 of the Health and Safety
  1962 of the Civil  Code, relating to housing.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1953, as amended, Ammiano.  Housing.  
Rental housing: tenant notice.  
   Existing law requires an owner of a dwelling structure, as
specified, or a party signing a rental agreement or lease on behalf
of the owner, or in the case of an oral rental agreement, the owner
or a person acting on behalf of the owner, as specified, to provide
specified information to a tenant, including, among other things, the
name, telephone number, and address of the person or entity to whom
rent payments shall be made. Existing law requires a successor owner
or manager to comply with these requirements within 15 days of
succeeding the previous owner or manager.  
   This bill would provide that a successor owner or manager's
failure to provide notice of the name, telephone number, and address
of the person or entity to whom rent payments shall be made within 15
days of succeeding the previous owner or manager waives any rent
accrued prior to giving that notice.  
   Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community
Development to provide to tenants and other interested persons
information concerning their legal rights and options when their
building is being proposed for conversion, as defined. 

   This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to those
provisions. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION   1   .    Section 
 1962 of the   Civil Code   is amended to read:

   1962.  (a) Any owner of a dwelling structure specified in Section
1961 or a party signing a rental agreement or lease on behalf of the
owner shall do all of the following:
   (1) Disclose therein the name, telephone number, and usual street
address at which personal service may be effected of each person who
is:
   (A) Authorized to manage the premises.
   (B) An owner of the premises or a person who is authorized to act
for and on behalf of the owner for the purpose of service of process
and for the purpose of receiving and receipting for all notices and
demands.
   (2) Disclose therein the name, telephone number, and address of
the person or entity to whom rent payments shall be made.
   (A) If rent payments may be made personally, the usual days and
hours that the person will be available to receive the payments shall
also be disclosed.
   (B) At the owner's option, the rental agreement or lease shall
instead disclose the number of either:
   (i) The account in a financial institution into which rent
payments may be made, and the name and street address of the
institution; provided that the institution is located within five
miles of the rental property.
   (ii) The information necessary to establish an electronic funds
transfer procedure for paying the rent.
   (3) Disclose therein the form or forms in which rent payments are
to be made.
   (4) Provide a copy of the rental agreement or lease to the tenant
within 15 days of its execution by the tenant. Once each calendar
year thereafter, upon request by the tenant, the owner or owner's
agent shall provide an additional copy to the tenant within 15 days.
If the owner or owner's agent does not possess the rental agreement
or lease or a copy of it, the owner or owner's agent shall instead
furnish the tenant with a written statement stating that fact and
containing the information required by paragraphs (1), (2), and (3)
 of subdivision (a)  .
   (b) In the case of an oral rental agreement, the owner, or a
person acting on behalf of the owner for the receipt of rent or
otherwise, shall furnish the tenant, within 15 days of the agreement,
with a written statement containing the information required by
paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subdivision (a). Once each calendar
year thereafter, upon request by the tenant, the owner or owner's
agent shall provide an additional copy of the statement to the tenant
within 15 days.
   (c) The information required by this section shall be kept current
and this section shall extend to and be enforceable against any
successor owner or manager, who shall comply with this section within
15 days of succeeding the previous owner or manager.  A
successor owner or manager   's failure to provide notice of
the name, telephone number, and address of the person or entity to
whom rent payments   shall be made as required by paragraph
(2) of subdivision (a) within 15 days of succeeding the previous
owner or manager waives any rent accrued prior to giving that notice.

   (d) A party who enters into a rental agreement on behalf of the
owner who fails to comply with this section is deemed an agent of
each person who is an owner:
   (1) For the purpose of service of process and receiving and
receipting for notices and demands.
   (2) For the purpose of performing the obligations of the owner
under law and under the rental agreement.
   (3) For the purpose of receiving rental payments, which may be
made in cash, by check, by money order, or in any form previously
accepted by the owner or owner's agent, unless the form of payment
has been specified in the oral or written agreement, or the tenant
has been notified by the owner in writing that a particular form of
payment is unacceptable.
   (e) Nothing in this section limits or excludes the liability of
any undisclosed owner.
   (f) If the address provided by the owner does not allow for
personal delivery, then it shall be conclusively presumed that upon
the mailing of any rent or notice to the owner by the tenant to the
name and address provided, the notice or rent is deemed receivable by
the owner on the date posted, if the tenant can show proof of
mailing to the name and address provided by the owner. 
  SECTION 1.    Section 50853 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
   50853.  The department shall provide to tenants of subsidized
rental units, community organizations, local governmental agencies,
and other interested persons all of the following:
   (a) To the extent that information on federally and state
subsidized housing projects, eligible for conversion, is available
from federal, state, or other agencies, a written inventory of
information on those projects, upon demand to the public. For each
project, the information shall include, but is not limited to, the
project name and address, the project owner, the earliest date of
eligibility for subsidy termination, the type of ownership, the
number of units in the building to be affected by conversion, the
federal financing program, the loan contract number, the amount and
term, interest rate, endorsement date, type of Section 8 contract,
Section 8 contract number, and any other information determined to be
pertinent.
   (b) Written information concerning the legal rights,
responsibilities and options of owners and tenants when an owner
intends to convert the building.
   (c) Written information concerning available technical assistance,
within the state, for tenants and community nonprofits interested in
buying those properties from the owner.
   (d) Written information relating to the conversion process of
federally subsidized rental units and applicable federal, state, and
local laws.
   (e) Any other information or technical assistance determined by
the department to further the purposes of this chapter.