Title
Introduction of Ordinance Amending Alameda Municipal Code Article XV (Rent Control, Limitations on Evictions, and Relocation Payments to Certain Displaced Tenants) Concerning Permanent Relocation Payments to Tenants Whose Tenancies are Illegally Terminated and Reinserting Clarifying Language Inadvertently Removed. (City Attorney)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Len Aslanian, Acting City Attorney
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Under the City of Alameda’s (City) Rent Ordinance, landlords may terminate tenancies either “for cause,” for example, failure to pay rent, or “for no-fault,” for example, an owner move-in. If a tenancy is terminated for cause, no permanent relocation payments are required to be paid to the tenant. If the tenancy is terminated for no fault reasons, the landlord must provide to the displaced tenant(s) a permanent relocation payment. What is not expressly addressed in the Ordinance are situations where the landlord terminates a tenancy that is not permitted under the Ordinance, for example, terminating a tenancy “for no cause”. In such cases, if the tenant, in response to the invalid notice, has vacated the unit or found alternative permanent housing, the Landlord must be required to provide permanent relocation payments to the displaced tenant(s). The Ordinance also includes a few clarifying items such as reinserting language that was inadvertently removed when City Council recently amended the Ordinance concerning utility adjustments.
BACKGROUND
Under the City’s Rent Control, Just Cause for Evictions, and Relocation Payments for Certain Displaced Tenants Ordinance (“Rent Ordinance), a landlord may terminate a tenancy for only just cause or for no fault of the tenant. Just cause includes, for example, failure to pay rent and breach of the lease terms. No fault of the tenant includes an owner move-in or permanent withdrawal of the rental unit from the rental market. The important difference in these two si...
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