The new law, championed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom as the strongest statewide renter protection in the country, caps annual rent increases at 5% plus inflation, while also forcing landlords to specify a legitimate reason for evicting tenants and to offer relocation assistance for no-fault evictions.
But in the interim months until the law kicks in, tenant rights groups are scrambling to combat what they say is a wave of landlords exploiting a temporary loophole that allows them to get rid of tenants now. That way they can raise rents beyond the rent cap, avoid having to pay any relocation help to displaced tenants, and simply remove tenants they view as problems without going through additional legal hurdles introduced by the new law.
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