Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)

Citation: Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)
Parent Document: Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2025-12-18
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10761039/cal-apartment-assn-v-city-of-pasadena/ ↗

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       In Mak, the court upheld a local measure limiting the
initial rent of a new tenant where the previous tenant vacated
the unit after the landlord took action to terminate the tenancy
with a bad faith assertion of the landlord’s intent to occupy the
premises. (Mak, supra, 240 Cal.App.4th at pp. 69-70.) The court
determined that the regulation acted as a sanction for landlords’
misuse of landlord-move-in notices to displace tenants so rent
could be raised under the Costa-Hawkins Act’s vacancy decontrol
provisions and, so viewed, was “ ‘a permissible regulation of “the
grounds for eviction” ’ ” within the meaning of Civil Code section
1954.53, subdivision (e). (Mak, at p. 69.) The court noted that in
Action Apartment, the California Supreme Court indicated that
in enacting the Costa-Hawkins Act vacancy decontrol provisions,
“ ‘[t]he Legislature was well aware . . . that such vacancy
decontrol gave landlords an incentive to evict tenants that were
paying rents below market rates. [Citation.] Accordingly, the
statute expressly preserves the authority of local governments “to
regulate or monitor the grounds for eviction.” ’ ” (Mak, at p. 64,
quoting Action Apartment, supra, 41 Cal.4th at pp. 1237-1238;
see also Civ. Code, § 1954.53, subd. (e).) Indeed, in discussing the
vacancy decontrol provisions of the Costa-Hawkins Act, Action
Apartment characterized the relevant savings clause as “ ‘a
strong statement that the state law establishing vacancy
decontrol is not meant to affect the authority of local
governments to monitor and regulate the grounds for eviction, in
order to prevent pretextual evictions.’ ” (Action Apartment, at
p. 1245, italics added; accord, Apartment Assn. of Los Angeles
County, supra, 173 Cal.App.4th at pp. 24-25.)
       Under section 1806(b)(C) of Measure H, a landlord’s
requirement to provide relocation assistance is not limited to

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