Sonoma County will host in-person town hall meetings in Santa Rosa on Jan. 29 to update residents about their tenant protection rights including new rights recently adopted by the Board of Supervisors.
As of Jan. 1, the rules require landlords to report evictions to the County using a newly created web portal. The informational sessions, which will include Spanish interpretation, will feature representatives from Legal Aid of Sonoma County and the Sonoma County Counsel’s office.
What: Tenant Rights Town Halls
When: Jan. 29 and 30 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Where: Jan. 29 at Bellevue Elementary School, 3223 Primrose Ave., Santa Rosa
The new County ordinance augments the California Tenant Protection Act, a 2019 state law that limits rent increases and requires landlords of many types of rental units to have a just cause before evicting a tenant who has lived in a property longer than one year. Just-cause evictions are allowed for such things as nonpayment of rent, lease violations or criminal activity.
The state law preserves the right of local jurisdictions to enact increased tenant protections. Under the new rules approved by the Board of Supervisors in September, tenants in unincorporated areas of the County are protected by just-cause requirements as soon as they begin renting, and state law exemptions for subsidized housing from just-cause protections no longer apply.
The changes also protect a tenant from eviction for nonpayment unless more than one month of rent is overdue. A tenant is allowed to use this protection only up to two times per year. The local ordinance also prohibits evictions in most cases during a declared emergency.
The rules also include new requirements for landlords, including dissemination of tenant rights information in English and Spanish when tenants are asked to vacate a property or when eviction proceedings begin.
For more information about the new tenant protections for unincorporated areas of Sonoma County, click here.
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