New California renter protection bill aims to cut "unpredictable" housing fees
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A sign is posted in front of an apartment building with available rentals in San Francisco. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
More protections may be coming for California renters under a new bill aimed at cutting unexpected fees attached to rent.
State of play: Democrat Assemblymember Matt Haney, along with Attorney General Rob Bonta, introduced AB 1248 earlier this week.
- It aims to create more financial stability for renters by preventing landlords from bypassing state rent cap laws with unpredictable fees for services like pest control and trash collection.
- The bill's authors claim the practice of charging extra fees has become increasingly more prevalent after a 2019 state law implemented new rent hike limits. Haney argues those costs should be accounted for in rent.
What they're saying: "Housing costs in California are already high and added fees only make it harder for renters to budget and stay financially stable. These unfair and unpredictable costs are nothing more than a scam that drives up housing expenses and leaves tenants paying far more than they expected," Haney said in a statement.
By the numbers: California has the second-highest renter-occupied housing rate (44%) in the U.S. behind New York (46%), with about 17 million renters, according to the U.S. Census data.
Zoom in: In San Francisco, renters make up the majority, representing about two-thirds of the city's households.
- About two in every five San Francisco renters are considered rent burdened as of 2023, spending more than 30% of their household income.
- The bill could especially help prevent large corporate landlords from charging extra fees that tenants have historically had a difficult time legally challenging, according to Randy Shaw, the executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic.
Between the lines: Landlords would be required to include all costs within the rent instead of charging separate fees and would be prohibited from adding new fees to the rent during a tenancy.
- Landlords would also be prevented from using a rent payment towards late fees or other charges before the rent itself, which could help avoid "an outstanding monthly rent balance" that leaves tenants more vulnerable to eviction, according to Tuesday Rose Thornton, a staff attorney at the Eviction Defense Collaborative.
The other side: The legislation could have negative unintended consequences on the rental market because landlords might need to account for some fluctuating fees that could lead to higher rents, said Debra Carlton, executive vice president of state government affairs at the California Apartment Association.
- Carlton added that there's no evidence suggesting property owners are circumventing California's Tenant Protection Act since many housing fees have been common practice long before the state law went into effect.
The intrigue: In San Francisco, where tenant protections are among the strongest in the state, market-rate tenants could be affected more significantly than rent-controlled ones because additional fees incorporated into the rent could be considered an illegal increase under the city's strict rent control laws, Thornton added.