At the end of 2023, the California Legislature passed AB 1620, which as of January 1, 2024, is codified in Civil Code Section 1954.53(a)(4).  This new law is a welcome amendment to the Costa-Hawkins Act and aims to alleviate a big problem that many disabled tenants in rent-controlled jurisdictions have faced when their rental units became inaccessible to them due to their disability(ies).

In California there is a state law called the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (Civil Code Section 1954.50, et seq.), that exempts certain kinds of residential rental units from rent control ordinances and allows landlords to reset the rental rate on rent-controlled rental units where they become vacant or where the last rent-controlled tenant no longer permanently resides at the unit (including where they move and leave behind subtenants).

In the past, under Costa-Hawkins, if a disabled tenant wanted to move to a more accessible unit in their building (say moving from the third floor to the first floor), they would face a very large rent increase – sometimes doubling or tripling their rent based upon the Costa-Hawkins Act – even if they were making  a request for reasonable accommodation under applicable disability laws in the form of a move to a more accessible unit in the building. That is because, under the Costa Hawkins Act, a landlord is allowed to raise the tenant’s rent to “market rate” based upon the tenant “vacating” their rent-controlled unit and moving into the new rental unit.  This created a situation that made it almost impossible for long term rent-controlled disabled tenants to move to more accessible unit.  As a result disabled tenants faced having to give up their affordable, rent-controlled home, or trying to simply make it work at risk of their own safety. The result being unequal access to housing.

The purpose of the new law, Civil Code Section 1954.53(a)(4), is to ensure that disabled tenants have equal access to housing opportunities, and to address this loophole in many instances.

Civil Code Section 1954.53(a)(4) applies if all of the following elements are met:

1. The tenant must have a permanent disability that effects their mobility;
2. The tenant must make a written request for reasonable accommodation to move into a comparable or smaller rental unit on an accessible floor;
3. The tenant must not be subject to eviction for nonpayment;
4. The move is determined to be necessary to accommodate the tenant’s physical disability related to mobility;
5. There is no operational elevator that serves the floor of the tenant’s current unit;
6. The new rental unit is in the same building or on the same parcel with at least four other units and shares the same owner; and
7. The applicable rent control board or authority determines that the owner will continue to receive a fair rate of return or offers an administrative procedure insuring a fair rate of return for the new unit.

This is a new law and it has not been thoroughly tested in the Courts or the local rent boards.  However, we hope that many disabled tenants find hope in this new tool to help them equal the playing field when it comes to housing access.

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Jason Wolford
Wolford Wayne
wolford-wayne.com

Jason has been representing residential tenants in wrongful eviction, habitability, discrimination, and personal injury cases for the past 18 years.