California CRE News In Your Inbox.
Sign up for Connect emails to stay informed with CRE stories that are 150 words or less.
State Judicial Council to Resume Vote on Ending Eviction Moratorium
The California Judicial Council plans to decide whether to end an eviction moratorium. The vote to sunset its emergency suspension of virtually all unlawful-detainer cases throughout the state could come “very soon.”
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said during a council meeting last week, “When we attempted to end some of these temporary rules at the beginning of June, the governor, legislative leaders and Judicial Council members asked me to suspend the vote on rescinding Rules 1 and 2, regarding unlawful-detainer evictions and foreclosures, to give the governor and the Legislature more time to sort through various policy proposals.”
The rules were put in place in early April, bringing to a halt nearly all eviction actions in the state. The rule was in response to the financial hardships that many tenants faced due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Over the past 3 1/2 months, the California Apartment Association has urged the Judicial Council to revisit Rule 1, which it imposed during an emergency meeting to protect vulnerable tenants during the COVID-19 crisis. CAA’s suggestions seek to preserve the council’s goal, protecting tenants from unnecessary evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, while still allowing landlords to terminate tenancies when a narrow set of justifiable circumstances exist.
CAA’s Tom Bannon says, “Eviction should always be the last resort, especially when people have been out of work or had their hours cut. But without the unlawful detainer process, rental property owners are without the legal tools necessary to preserve the peaceful, quiet enjoyment of their rental communities.”
Cantil-Sakauye also noted the council imposed the rules, with Rule 1 pertaining to unlawful detainers, because the Legislature had been out of session and unable to take up the matter. The Legislature returns today from its summer recess.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser
