Ordinance 2024-001 Page 1
ORDINANCE 2024-001
ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN PABLO AMENDING TITLE 9 OF THE SAN PABLO MUNICIPAL CODE TO ADD CHAPTER 9.60, “RENT REGISTRY” REQUIRING PROPERTY OWNERS TO REGISTER RENTAL UNITS
WITH THE CITY AND TO PROVIDE OTHER ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
REGARDING RESIDENTIAL RENTAL PROPERTIES ON AN ANNUAL BASIS
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of San Pablo adopted the Fiscal Year 2023-2025 City Council Priority Workplan, effective May 1, 2023;
WHEREAS, under Major Policy Goal “Expand Housing Options”, the 2023-2025 City Council Priority Workplan includes “dedicate resources to create a new rental registry (w/ fees to offset City costs) for available San Pablo housing opportunities” as an adopted City Council Priority;
WHEREAS, two-thirds of households in San Pablo are renters and an important part of our community;
WHEREAS, the San Pablo Affordable Housing Strategy, adopted November 16, 2020, describes seven goals for implementation to serve as a blueprint for the City over the next 10 years;
WHEREAS, Goal B of the San Pablo Housing Strategy is to “Support and Protect Existing Tenants” and Goal C is to “Improve Housing Quality & Safety” which aim at supplementing existing protections and increasing housing quality;
WHEREAS, the City does not currently track residential rents, and there is no source for obtaining necessary rental market information specific to San Pablo;
WHEREAS, a rental registry program would help the City collect data regarding rent and other relevant information about rental units and it will further inform the City Council about housing stock, trends, and the rental market generally;
WHEREAS, the City has a substantial government interest in regulating the relationship between property owners and tenants in order to promote certainty, stability, and fairness in the rental market; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds and determines that the Rent Registry Ordinance codified in Title 9, Chapter 9.60 is adopted pursuant to the City’s police power authority to protect the public health, safety, and welfare.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN PABLO DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
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SECTION 1. The City Council finds that the above Recitals are true and correct and are incorporated herein by reference.
SECTION 2. Title 9 of the San Pablo Municipal Code is amended to add Chapter 9.60 to read as follows:
Chapter 9.60 Rent Registry.
Sections:
9.60.010 Purpose.
9.60.020 Definitions.
9.60.030 Registration of Rental Units.
9.60.040 Fees.
9.60.050 Enforcement.
9.60.010 Purpose.
The purpose of this Chapter is to adopt a rent registry program requiring property owners to register residential rental units in the City of San Pablo and to provide other additional information regarding rental properties to the City on an annual basis. The data and information collected by the City will further inform the City about housing stock, trends, and the rental market generally. This Chapter allows the City to achieve these goals while protecting public health, safety, and welfare.
9.60.020 Definitions.
A. “City” means the City of San Pablo.
B. “Landlord” means any person or agent of a person who owns, manages, or is otherwise legally responsible for any Rental Unit that is leased, rented, or otherwise offered for occupancy to a Tenant. For purposes of this Chapter, a Tenant who sublets their Rental Unit (e.g., a sublessor) is not a Landlord.
C. “Rent” means any consideration charged to a Tenant, whether or not received, for the Tenant’s use or occupancy of a Rental Unit. Rent excludes any pass through or ancillary costs paid separately to the Landlord for utilities, water, trash, and other related services associated with a Rental Unit.
D. “Rent Registry Information” means the information that is required to be submitted to the City by a Landlord pursuant to this Chapter.
E. “Rental Unit” means any building, house, or other structure, including any portion thereof, used as a dwelling or place of residence by a Tenant. Rental Units include all or any portion of a single-family residence, multi-family residence, duplex, triplex, condominium, apartment building, or accessory dwelling unit. A Rental Unit shall not include:
1. A room or any other portion of a dwelling that is occupied by the Landlord or a member of the Landlord’s immediate family.
2. An on-site manager’s unit.
3. Housing accommodations in hotels, motels, supportive housing and transitional housing.
F. “Tenant” means any renter, tenant, subtenant, or lessee of a Rental Unit.
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9.60.030 Registration of Rental Units.
A. Initial Registration. A Landlord must register every Rental Unit that is subject to the provisions of this Chapter within thirty (30) days of leasing, renting, or otherwise offering such Rental Unit for occupancy to a Tenant. Registration must be completed using forms provided by the City. The forms provided by the City may include a secure internet website with an interface for submitting the information required by this Chapter.
Registration is complete only when all required information has been provided to the City and all outstanding fees and penalties, if applicable, have been paid. Upon completion of the initial registration of a Rental Unit, the City shall issue a registration certificate, which shall include the expiration date for the registration of the applicable Rental Units.
B. Registration Renewal. Registration certificates shall expire annually. As a courtesy, the City may send renewal notices to Landlords prior to the expiration date of any registration certificate. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is the obligation of the Landlord to renew the registration certificate annually, even if the City does not send a renewal notice. The Landlord must complete the renewal registration within thirty (30) days after the expiration of the preceding registration or penalties will apply in the amount of ten percent (10%) beginning on day thirty one (31) post expiration and an additional ten percent (10%) for each thirty (30) day period thereafter that the registration remains incomplete or is not paid-in-full. In no event will the penalties exceed fifty percent (50%) of the annual registration fee.
C. At minimum, the following rent registry information will be collected as part of the initial and renewal registration of each Rental Unit. Failure to provide the information or providing false information shall be a violation of the Municipal Code.
1. The rental property address, parcel number, number of Rental Units in the property;
2. The Landlord contact information (e.g. name, address, and telephone number);
3. The emergency contact information for the Rental Unit;
4. Rental Unit information (e.g. square footage, number of bedrooms, number of parking spots assigned to the Rental Unit, Rental Unit occupancy status, move-in date of current Tenant, and amount of Rent);
5. Rental Unit tenancy changes (e.g. number of move-outs initiated by Tenant or Landlord, number of notice of terminations issued, and number and types of causes of action for termination used);
6. Any other information deemed necessary by the City Manager to implement the provisions of this Chapter.
D. Termination of Exemption. If a Rental Unit was previously exempt from this Chapter and then becomes governed by this Chapter for the first time, the Landlord must register the Rental Unit with the City within thirty (30) days.
E. Registration Amendment. If there is a change in ownership or management of the Rental Unit, the Landlord shall notify the City within thirty (30) days.
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F. Collecting and Keeping Confidential Rent Registry Information.
1. The City Council recognizes that the Rent Registry Information, if publicly disclosed, could reveal the rent that a Tenant pays for a Rental Unit or proprietary information of a Landlord that could create a competitive disadvantage for every Landlord required to comply with this Chapter. The City Council also recognizes that the Public Records Act (Gov. Code §§ 6250 et. seq.) generally requires that the City make available to the public information in its possession that relates to the conduct of the public’s business. The Public Records Act contains a number of exceptions intended to protect the privacy of individuals and the proprietary information of businesses that is in the City’s possession only because of a legal requirement to provide it to the City in connection with a regulatory program.
The City Council declares that the Rent Registry Information shall be received in confidence, and that the public interest in nondisclosure of the Rent Registry Information clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, this section identifies limited Rent Registry Information that shall be made available to the public.
2. The City anticipates that Rent Registry Information will be kept in a database.
The database containing Rent Registry Information shall be created and maintained such that it can generate reports containing only the following, individually or in combination: (a) the number of Rental Units per building expressed as a range of the number of Rental Units per building; (b) the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in a Rental Unit, with the Rental Units grouped by number of bedrooms and not listed individually; (c) the size of Rental Units, expressed in average square feet; (d) the total (city-wide) Rent for Rental Units, classified only by size of Rental Units expressed as ranges of square feet and numbers of bedrooms ; (e) average Rent for Rental Units by size of Rental Units expressed as ranges of square feet and numbers of bedrooms for any registration periods covered by the Rent Registry Information; or (f) the average length of occupancy or vacancy of Rental Units that are occupied or vacant at the time of the report, classified only by size of Rental Units in square feet or number and type of rooms. The Rent Registry information listed in this paragraph shall be the only Rent Registry Information released in response to a request made under the Public Records Act. The City will not disclose Rent Registry Information for Rental Units in a manner that identifies the building in which they are located or the Rent for any individual Rental Unit. Rent Registry Information shall not include identifying information regarding an individual Tenant.
9.60.040 Registration Fees.
For the purpose of reimbursing the City for reasonable regulatory costs of administering this Chapter, the Landlord of each Rental Unit subject to the provision of this Chapter shall pay a fee in an amount to be established by resolution by the City Council. The amount of the fee shall be included in the City’s Master Fee Schedule and may be Ordinance 2024-001 Page 5
periodically adjusted for inflation. Rental Units for which the Rent is subsidized through any federal or state housing program shall be eligible to request and receive a waiver of the registration fee contemplated by this paragraph. The waiver of any registration fees shall not relieve a Landlord from providing the rent registry information required by this Chapter.
9.60.050 Enforcement.
Should a Landlord fail to register or pay all or any portion of the rent registry fees, the City may charge a penalty of One Hundred Dollars ($100) in addition to outstanding registration fees and any costs incurred in collecting the outstanding fee(s).
Section 3. Severability. If any sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases or portions of this ordinance are for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this and each section, subsection, phrase or clause of this ordinance whether or not any one or more sections, subsections, phrases or clauses may be declared invalid or unconstitutional on their face or as applied.
Section 4. Effective Date; Publication. This ordinance shall become effective thirty (30) days following its adoption. The City Clerk’s Office shall publish and post the ordinance in accordance with California Government Code Section 36933.
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First introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of San Pablo on February 20, 2024, by the following vote.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Xavier, Pabon-Alvarado, Cruz and Ponce NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Pineda
ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ATTEST: APPROVED:
/s/ Dorothy Gantt________ /s/ Patricia Ponce_____
Dorothy Gantt, City Clerk Patricia Ponce, Mayor
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Finally passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held on March 4, 2024, by the following vote:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ATTEST: APPROVED:
______________________________ __________________________ Dorothy Gantt, City Clerk Patricia Ponce, Mayor