Are you a Cal Poly student renting in SLO? Here’s a guide to your housing rights

Fall quarter is set to begin soon for Cal Poly, and that means thousands of students are returning to town as first-time or continuing renters this year.

With roughly 8,860 students living on campus, that leaves more than 13,000 students in housing off campus, many of whom are doing so for the first time in their lives.

Kevin Green, a lawyer from the San Luis Obispo Legal Aid Foundation , said while renters have more protections in 2024 than in previous years thanks to several newly introduced laws on tenants’ rights, price increases and property repairs, they also should be wary of unlawful or predatory tactics.

Because new renters often don’t fully know the extent of their legal tenant protections, they tend to be less well-equipped to defend their rights, Green said.

“In terms of exercising your rights, I would tell every renter if you’re asking for something or if something needs to be repaired or you have some concerns, put everything in writing,” Green said. “Write it to the landlord and save copies. It’s the old adage — ‘Document, document, document.’”

New tenant laws to be aware of in 2024

Cal Poly students Tyler Coari and Diego Cervantez founded the SLO Rent Coalition late last year after they experienced communication and repair issues with their landlords.

Now, they’re working to educate other young renters about their rights.

“It’s really a communication problem at the end of the day, because landlords have the utmost advantage in the relationship between student tenants and themselves, based on students not living in the same dwelling likely for more than a year,” Coari said. “They’re not going to be living in this community, in most cases, following their tenure in undergraduate or their graduate degree, and therefore not feeling like they have as much of a stake in the game.”

Coari and Cervantez recommended keeping extensive documentation of the property’s condition before, during and after occupation to prevent disputes over whether the security deposit should be withheld to cover repairs.

That said, Green strongly recommended tenants proactively work with their landlords to address repair issues, from the minor to the major.

“What I tell every renter to do when they have this (security deposit) issue is first request the inspection,” Green said. “You’re allowed to have an inspection with your landlord.”

Green said he understands why tenants — particularly inexperienced new renters — are hesitant to voice repair issues with their landlord, as until this year any major repair or remodel that would require the tenant to vacate the property for at least 30 consecutive days could be grounds for a no-fault, just-cause eviction.

Sometimes called “renovictions,” this “loophole” was particularly useful for landlords who wished to move on from longer-term tenants who have enjoyed the protections of the 2019 Tenant Protection Act, which limited annual rent increases to 5% plus the change in the cost of living or 10% total, whichever is lower, Green said.

However, when Senate Bill 567 went into effect April 1, any termination of a rental based on repair work must include written statements of the scope of work to be performed, including copies of the requisite permits at the time of the eviction and an acknowledgment of the tenant’s right to reoccupy the property if the work is not started or fails to be completed, Green said.

Cervantez said of the most obvious changes student renters will notice this year come from last year’s Assembly Bill 12, which prohibits landlords from charging more than one month’s rent in security deposits.

Under AB 12, landlords who own no more than two residential rental properties that collectively include no more than four total units for rent may charge two times the monthly rent as a security deposit, but only if the landlord is an individual or a limited liability company, according to the California Office of the Attorney General .

Green said on the back end of a tenancy, it’s also important that tenants be aware of the conditions under which landlords can keep some or all of the security deposit.

Landlords must fully refund deposits within 21 days of move-out or provide an itemized statement explaining deductions, and deposits can only be withheld by landlords for lawful purposes including unpaid rent, cleaning, repair, damage and normal wear and tear that requires repair, Green said.

Green advised new renters to be wary of unlawful actions taken by landlords in some cases, such as changing locks or shutting off power or electricity.

Tenants have a right to inhabit a building until they are provided with a court order, and if they encounter unlawful tactics to force an early exit, they should reach out to the police department and legal aid resources, Green said.

Lastly, though landlords reserve the right to lease out their property to as many individuals as they see fit, there are also building and zoning regulations to keep in mind, particularly in rental properties that primarily serve students.

“We see a lot (of cases) where landlords put people in the garage as an additional living area, and they really shouldn’t be doing that because they are not living areas unless there’s been a kind of permit approved and pulled to do that,” Green said. “When tenants see that situation in their home, I often suggest they check to see if there’s been a permit pulled for that, because that might be an illegal unit, and in an illegal unit, they’re not allowed to charge rent because it’s an invalid contract.”

Landlord protections to be aware of this year

While 2024 has seen renter protections expand in California, landlords still hold plenty of rights of their own that must be remembered by new renters.

With all COVID-19 eviction moratoriums expired across California, landlords can evict tenants at fault for failure to pay rent, breach of lease, causing nuisances and criminal activity being committed on the property. They can also evict tenants who refuse to let the landlord enter the property for lawful reasons or who refuse to execute a new lease containing similar terms to the current lease.

Landlords may also remove a tenant if they or a family member wish to move into the unit.

As of April 1, owners or their families must move in within 90 days after a tenant leaves and must live there for at least 12 consecutive months. If a landlord or their family does not move in within 90 days or does not live there for at least 12 consecutive months, the unit must be offered back to the tenant at the same rent and lease terms as when the tenant left, according to the Office of the California Attorney General .

Though evictions based on a “substantial remodel” have been constrained by the aforementioned laws that closes the renoviction loophole, tenants can still be removed so long as the landlord is replacing or substantially modifying a structural, electrical or plumbing system in the unit in a way that requires a permit, or to abate hazardous materials within the unit, according to the attorney general.

There are some dwelling types that are exempt from the protections of the Tenant Protection Act, according to the attorney general.

These include units that have been issued a certificate of occupancy — which certifies that a commercial space or newly constructed residential building has been inspected for compliance with the California Building Standards Code — within the past 15 years, such as dorms, affordable housing, single-family homes not owned or controlled by a corporation or real estate investment trust and mobile homes not owned and rented out by a park manager.

The Tenant Protection Act also does not cover residents of duplexes in which the owner is living in one of the units at the time the tenant moves into the other unit, but only as long as the owner continues to live there.

Resources for renters

Renters who have observed unlawful practices in their units should contact their landlords about any issues in writing before taking legal action through advocacy groups such as the San Luis Obispo Legal Aid Foundation , Green said.

Renters looking to get more information or organize with other renters in the San Luis Obispo County area should get in touch with the SLO Rent Coalition through their Facebook and Instagram pages.