(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)