1 Beavers, Esther
From:Gregory Owen
Sent:Monday, April 6, 2026 3:12 PM
To:[email protected]; Moy, Catherine; Bertani, Pam; Williams, K. Patrice; Tonnesen, Scott; Carr, Douglas; Carr, Douglas; Panduro, Doriss; Sandhu, Manveer Subject:New Rental Ordinance
Dear City Council:
We own a number of rental units in Fairfield and have never been cited for health, safety, or habitability violations.
We fully comply with all applicable state and local requirements, including the California Health and Safety Code and California Civil Code Section 1941.1, which already establish comprehensive standards for safe and habitable housing.
The proposed ordinance imposes uniform inspection obligations and fees on all property owners without regard to compliance history, despite the City’s stated objective of addressing properties with chronic or underreported violations. This lack of differentiation raises concerns regarding reasonableness and proportionality in regulatory enforcement . The City’s own report projects first-year costs of approximately $1.4 million, with cost recovery exceeding that amount. This indicates the program functions, in effect, as a revenue-generating measure rather than a narrowly tailored health and safety regulation . For compliant operators, the imposition of per-unit fees without any demonstrated need for inspection or enforcement services constitutes a financial burden disconnected from actual regulatory necessity. The ordinance further restricts recovery of these costs by limiting pass-throughs to tenants to 50%, effectively requiring owners to absorb unreimbursed regulatory costs even in the absence of violations.
This raises concerns regarding uncompensated regulatory burdens on lawful property use. The City anticipates reducing inspections by 25% through self-certification, implicitly acknowledging that a substantial portion of the housing stock is already compliant and does not require routine inspection.
A more narrowly tailored approach—targeting properties with documented violations or complaints— would better align with principles of efficient enforcement, fairness, and proportional regulation. Treating compliant housing providers identically to those with known violations undermines incentives for compliance and imposes unnecessary costs on responsible operators.
For these reasons, we respectfully urge the Council to pause, reconsider, or modify the ordinance to ensure it is:
narrowly tailored to address actual problem properties, proportionate in its fee structure, and
consistent with established legal standards governing property regulation.
Gregory S. Owen
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2 Resident, Property Owner and Housing Provider
Fairfield, CA
Gregory S Owen
Silvermark Construction Services
CSLB# 1019403
180 Grobric Ct
Fairfield, CA 94534
707-290-6566
[email protected]
www.Silvermarkluxuryhomes.com