In a special meeting last week, the Mountain View City Council voted in favor of an urgency ordinance to implement a just-cause requirement for evictions that was included in Measure V, passed by voters earlier this month.
The council took action after a reported increase in the number of no-cause evictions and threats of evictions in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 8 election, according to a city press release issued after the Nov. 15 meeting. The urgency ordinance took effect immediately, while Measure V is being certified.
Intended as a stop-gap on no-cause evictions, the emergency measure will be in place until the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters and the Mountain View City Council can certify and declare the election results and Measure V takes effect, which is expected to occur by Dec. 23. The language of the ordinance is largely based on Measure V, also known as the Community Rent Stabilization and Fair Rent Act. The ordinance applies to the same rental units covered by Measure V, even if they were occupied after 1995, up to the effective date of the measure, excluding single-family homes, condominiums, companion units and duplexes.
Under the new measure, landlords still will be able to evict tenants for just cause, which includes failure to pay rent, breach of lease, exceeding maximum occupancy, nuisance, criminal activity or failure to give access. Additional causes for eviction include necessary repairs, owner move-ins and withdrawal of the property from the rental market or demolition; however, the additional causes also trigger relocation assistance.
City staff is preparing a web page with the ordinance information and frequently asked questions to inform both tenants and landlords about the upcoming changes and their rights and responsibilities after passage of the urgency ordinance and Measure V.
For more information on the just-cause urgency ordinance, visit MountainView.gov/JCUO.
For questions regarding tenant or landlord rights, call Project Sentinel at 282-2514, email [email protected] or visit housing.org.
