Sections:
9.68.010 Purpose.
9.68.020 Definitions.
9.68.030 Requirement of offering one-year written leases.
9.68.040 Just-cause evictions required.
9.68.050 General relocation assistance or rent waiver for no-fault eviction.
9.68.060 Relocation assistance for evictions without at-fault just cause in structures or lots containing 10 or more residential rental units.
9.68.070 Security deposit limit.
9.68.080 Renter’s remedies.
9.68.090 Nonwaiver.
(a) It is found and declared that there is a growing shortage of, but increasing demand for, housing in the city of Palo Alto. Such shortage and increased demand, coupled with increasing inflation, have placed substantial pressure on those residents of Palo Alto seeking rental housing. This council finds that renters are entitled to a contractual relationship with a landlord that offers some assurance of stability and fair treatment under the terms of a written lease to minimize displacement of renters into a rental housing market which affords them few and expensive options.
(b) Council further finds that the provisions of California Assembly Bill 1482 (2019), as codified and later expanded in the Civil Code of the state of California, offers important protections from instability and displacement to renters. The provisions of that bill as they relate to eviction reduction are restated and expanded below, to make the protections permanent in the city of Palo Alto, to extend them to renters living in qualified residential rental units that received a certificate of occupancy within the last fifteen years, and to reduce the minimum occupancy time period for renters to qualify for eviction protections.
(Ord. 5592 § 2, 2023: Ord. 5589 § 2 (part), 2023: Ord. 3252 § 1 (part), 1980)
(a) “Just cause” to terminate a tenancy means either of the following:
(1) “At-fault just cause”, which means any of the following:
(A) Default in the payment of rent.
(B) A breach of a material term of the lease, as described in paragraph (3) of Section 1161 of the California Code of Civil Procedure, including, but not limited to, violation of a provision of the lease after being issued a written notice to correct the violation.
(C) Maintaining, committing, or permitting the maintenance or commission of a nuisance as described in paragraph (4) of Section 1161 of the California Code of Civil Procedure.
(D) Committing waste as described in paragraph (4) of Section 1161 of the California Code of Civil Procedure.
(E) The renter had a written lease that terminated on or after July 20, 2023, and after a written request or demand from the landlord, the renter has refused to execute a written extension or renewal of the lease for an additional term of similar duration with similar provisions, provided that those terms do not violate this chapter or any other provision of law.
(F) Criminal activity by the renter on the residential rental unit, including any common areas, or any criminal activity or criminal threat, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 422 of the California Penal Code, on or off the residential rental unit, that is directed at any landlord or agent of the landlord.
(G) Assigning or subletting the premises in violation of the renter’s lease, as described in paragraph (4) of Section 1161 of the California Code of Civil Procedure.
(H) The renter’s refusal to allow the landlord to enter the residential rental unit as authorized by Sections 1101.5 and 1954 of the California Civil Code, and Sections 13113.7 and 17926.1 of the California Health and Safety Code.
(I) Using the premises for an unlawful purpose as described in paragraph (4) of Section 1161 of the California Code of Civil Procedure.
(J) The employee, agent, or licensee’s failure to vacate after their termination as an employee, agent, or a licensee as described in paragraph (1) of Section 1161 of the California Code of Civil Procedure.
(K) When the renter fails to deliver possession of the residential rental unit after providing the landlord written notice as provided in Section 1946 of the California Civil Code of the renter’s intention to terminate the hiring of the real property, or makes a written offer to surrender that is accepted in writing by the landlord, but fails to deliver possession at the time specified in that written notice as described in paragraph (5) of Section 1161 of the California Code of Civil Procedure.
(2) “No-fault just cause,” which means any of the following:
(A) Intent to occupy the residential rental unit by the landlord or their sibling, spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, or daughter-in-law, provided the landlord is a natural person.
(B) Permanent withdrawal of the residential rental unit from offer for rent or lease pursuant to California Government Code sections 7060-7060.7.
(C) The landlord complying with any of the following:
(i) An order issued by a government agency or court relating to habitability that necessitates vacating the residential rental unit.
(ii) An order issued by a government agency or court to vacate the residential rental unit.
(iii) A local ordinance that necessitates vacating the residential rental unit.
(D) Intent to demolish or to substantially remodel the residential rental unit. “Substantially remodel” means the replacement or substantial modification of any structural, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical system that requires a permit from a governmental agency, or the abatement of hazardous materials, including lead-based paint, mold, or asbestos, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws, that cannot be reasonably accomplished in a safe manner with the renter in place and that requires the renter to vacate the residential rental unit for at least 30 days. Cosmetic improvements alone, including painting, decorating, and minor repairs, or other work that can be performed safely without having the residential rental unit vacated, do not qualify as substantial rehabilitation.
(b) “Landlord” means the owner or property manager exercising effective control over the terms and conditions of the tenancy of a residential rental unit, including a person with such control delegated through a durable power of attorney.
(c) “Rent” means the consideration. including any bonus, benefit, or gratuity demanded or received by a landlord for or in connection with the use or occupancy of a rental unit.
(d) “Rent increase” means any additional rent demanded of or paid by a tenant for a rental unit.
(e) "Renter" means a person or entity entitled by written or oral agreement to occupy a residential rental unit to the exclusion of others.
(f) “Residential rental unit” means any housing structure occupied as a dwelling or offered for rent or lease as a dwelling, whether attached, detached, single or multiple-family.
(g) “Security” means any payment, fee, deposit, or charge, including, but not limited to, any payment, fee, deposit, or charge, except as provided in Section 1950.6 of the California Civil Code, that is imposed at the beginning of the tenancy to be used to reimburse the landlord for costs associated with processing a new renter or that is imposed as an advance payment of rent, used or to be used for any purpose, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) The compensation of a landlord for a renter’s default in the payment of rent.
(2) The repair of damages to the premises, exclusive of ordinary wear and tear, caused by the renter or by a guest or licensee of the renter.
(3) The cleaning of the premises upon termination of the tenancy necessary to return the unit to the same level of cleanliness it was in at the inception of the tenancy.
(4) To remedy future defaults by the renter in any obligation under the rental agreement to restore, replace, or return personal property or appurtenances, exclusive of ordinary wear and tear, if the security deposit is authorized to be applied thereto by the rental agreement.
(Ord. 5589 § 2 (part), 2023: Ord. 3420 §§ 1 and 2, 1983: Ord. 3327 § 1, 1982: Ord. 3252 § 1 (part), 1980)
(a) Offer. If a renter or prospective renter wishes to rent a residential unit from a landlord and if said landlord wishes to rent said residential rental unit to said renter or prospective renter, the landlord must offer to the renter or prospective renter a written lease which has a minimum term of one year. Such offer must be made in writing. Signing of a lease which has a minimum term of one year shall be considered an offer in writing.
(b) Acceptance. If the renter or prospective renter accepts the offer of a written lease which has a minimum term of one year, this acceptance must be in writing. Signing a lease which has a minimum term of one year will be considered an acceptance.
(c) Rejection. If the renter or prospective renter rejects the offer for a written lease which has a minimum term of one year, this rejection must be in writing, and the landlord and renter or prospective renter may then enter into an agreement, oral or written, that provides for a rental term of less than one year.
(d) Rent. If the landlord and renter enter into a written lease which has a minimum term of one year, such lease must set the rent for the residential rental unit at a rate or rates certain and these rates shall not be otherwise modified during the term of such lease.
(e) Renewal of Leases. If both the landlord and the renter wish to continue the rental relationship, upon the expiration of the initial written lease which has a minimum term of one year, a lease shall be offered again in accordance with the procedures of Section 9.68.030(a) through (d):
(1) Leases with a term of one year shall be offered annually.
(2) Leases with a term longer than one year shall be renewable at the expiration of each lease period for a minimum term of one year.
(3) A landlord shall offer annually a written lease with a minimum term of one year to a renter who rejected an initial offer of a written lease with a minimum term of one year but who has rented a unit from the landlord for a period of at least twelve months.
(f) Applicability. This section shall not apply to:
(1) A residential rental unit which is rented on the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter, provided, that (A) if the unit is rented subject to a written lease, when the lease in effect for such a unit expires, the ordinance codified in this chapter shall then apply; and (B) if the unit is rented without a written lease, within thirty days after the effective date of this section, the landlord shall offer a written lease to the renter in accordance with this section;
(2) An owner-occupied unit that is rented to a renter for less than one year;
(3) A residential rental unit occupied by a renter who subleases that unit to another renter for less than one year;
(4) A single-family dwelling;
(5) Rooms or accommodations in hotels, boardinghouses, or lodginghouses which are rented to transient guests for a period of less than thirty days;
(6) Dwelling units in a condominium, community apartment, planned development or stock cooperative as defined in Chapter 21.40, or in a limited equity stock cooperative as defined in the California Business and Professions Code;
(7) Dwelling units in which housing accommodations are shared by landlord and tenant;
(8) Housing accommodations in any hospital, extended care facility, asylum, nonprofit home for the aged, or in dormitories owned and operated by an institution of higher education, a high school or an elementary school;
(9) Housing accommodations rented by a medical institution which are then subleased to a patient or patient's family;
(10) Dwelling units whose rents are controlled or regulated by any government unit, agency, or authority, or whose rent is subsidized by any government unit, agency, or authority;
(11) Dwelling units acquired by the city of Palo Alto or any other governmental unit, agency or authority and intended to be used for a public purpose; or
(12) A residential rental unit where tenancy is an express condition of, or consideration for employment under a written rental agreement or contract.
(Ord. 5589 § 2 (part), 2023: Ord. 3929 § 1, 1989: Ord. 3327 § 2, 1982: Ord. 3252 § 2 (part), 1980)
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