Renters and Homeowners Rights Sacto
WHAT ARE RENTER’S RIGHTS?
1. What To Do If Your Unit Has Bad Conditions
If you have bad conditions in your unit, you should tell your landlord, in writing, to fix the problems. If your landlord does not fix the problems and you live in the County of Sacramento, call Code Enforcement at (916) 875-4311. In the City of Sacramento call (916) 264-5011 or 3-1-1.
Under the City of Sacramento Rental Housing Inspection program, all rental units in the City of Sacramento must be inspected at least once every five years. You have the right to live in a place that has no holes in the wall, has working toilets, sinks, electricity, heat, no rats, roaches or other pests, and is clean. The landlord has to fix things that don’t work that you did not break.
If you live in the City of Sacramento and you are told you must move by Code Enforcement (your unit is “red tagged”) you may be eligible for relocation assistance from the City which will be two times your monthly rent plus the amount of your prior security deposit. (Sacramento City Code 8.100.920 et. seq.)
If your landlord will not fix problems, you should give written notice of the problem (remember to keep copies of everything relating to the problem), wait 30 days, and have proof of the problem.
If you want to repair the problem yourself and deduct the cost from your rent, it must be a problem affecting your health or safety, not just something you want to change in the apartment. Generally, the best approach is to pay full rent under protest and sue the landlord separately in small claims court.
2. Renter Resources: Help with Landlord/Tenant Problems
Renters Helpline
(916) 389-7877
www.rentershelpline.org
Free help with discrimination and tenant education
Tenants Together
(415) 495-8100
https://www.tenantstogether.org/contact-us
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Tenant Hotline 888-428-7615.
Join ACCE every first Thursday of the month at 5:30 p.m. for a virtual tenant clinic and learn about rental protections, the city’s rental caps and more.
Project Sentinel (800) 339-6043 Project Sentinel’s Fair Housing Center provides education and counseling to community members, housing providers, and tenants about fair housing laws. We also investigate complaints and advocate for those who have experienced housing discrimination.
https://www.rentershelpline.org/
Project Sentinel and Legal Services of Northern California provide telephone counseling and dispute resolution services for unincorporated Sacramento County, City of Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, Folsom and Citrus Heights residents. Tenant advisors handle concerns regarding landlord-tenant disputes and help refer fair housing issues to the appropriate agency.
For detailed Tenants Rights in the city of Sacramento, visit: http://www.cityofsacramento.org/-/media/Corporate/Files/CDD/Code-Compliance/TPP/Sacramento-City-Code-Chapter-5156–Tenant-Protection.pdf?la=en
Legal Services of Northern California (916) 551-2150
For fact sheets that address renters rights: https://lsnc.net/#cat-anchor-5
City of Sacramento 916-808-8121, tpp@cityofsacramento.org.
Get help with rent increases and get your questions answered about tenant rights from the city.
Sacramento Tenants Union 530-564-6245
Call the Sacramento Tenants Union, a Sacramento-based housing advocacy organization, with questions about tenant rights.
Sacramento CARES Mediation Program 916-850-9010, sacramento@calawyersforthearts.org
The Sacramento Mediation Center provides no-cost, voluntary dispute resolution services for tenants and landlords within the City of Sacramento.
Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency 916-440-1390, info@shra.org
In partnership with the city and Sacramento County, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency provides emergency rent and utilities assistance for renters impacted by COVID-19.
Check to see if you’re eligible for protections under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which protects a majority of California’s renters against illegal rent increases and unfair evictions. Make sure you’re not being overcharged in rent If your unit is not covered by a local rent control ordinance, but you know you’re protected by the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, this calculator (https://tenantprotections.org/eligibility/) will help make sure you’re not being overcharged in rent.
Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission Landlord Tenant Hotline (916) 444-0178
Pacific McGeorge Housing Mediation Center provides free mediation services to assist with a wide range of housing disputes in Sacramento County. Mediation is a voluntary and confidential process that brings disputing parties together in a safe and neutral setting to resolve conflicts using creative and flexible solutions that work for all parties involved. Free mediation services with HMC are available where at least one party qualifies as low-income based on the federal poverty guidelines (not to exceed 200%), and the property in dispute is located in Sacramento County.
Pacific McGeorge Housing Mediation Center
20 Bicentennial Circle, suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95826
(916) 383-1861
Email: housingmediationcenter@pacific.edu
www.housingmediationcenter.org
3. Rent Control
For information about special COVID-19 tenant protections, including eviction moratoriums and rent relief see housingiskey.com
Sacramento limits the amount rent can be increased if you’re protected under Sacramento’s Tenant Protection Program. Under the program, landlords can only raise rent once annually – 5% plus the consumer price index figure for April. This percentage is adjusted annually but cannot exceed 10%. The program also protects tenants with limitations on unwarranted evictions, BUT only protects multi-family homes built before Feb. 1, 1995 — excluding newer buildings.
According to California law, a rental increase notice must be in writing. If the rental increase is 10% or less, the notice must be given to the tenant at least 30 days before the increase. Tenants should be given a 90-day advance notice if the increase is more than 10%. The 30-day notice requirement applies regardless of whether the rental unit is subject or exempt from the rental limit.
CALCULATE YOUR RENT INCREASE
To calculate the percentage of the rent increase, take the lowest rent that your landlord charged you during the last 12 months, the combined total of the new increase, and any other increases during that period. When determining the lowest gross rental amount, exclude any rent discounts, incentives, concessions or credits. You can contact the Tenant Protection Program for assistance on calculating the rent increase.
You can find examples and more resources here: https://landlordtenant.dre.ca.gov/resources/guidebook/gb08_living.html#rentincrease
IF YOUR RENTAL INCREASE EXCEEDS THE ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT
First, contact the city’s Tenant Protection Program. The office will contact the landlord about complying with the ordinance. You can also contact a local legal representative or a tenant protection organization. The rent increase can only be granted if your landlord files a petition to the city to seek review by a hearing examiner, who will then make the final decision unless the landlord seeks judicial review.
The hearing examiner will consider the following factors:
- Increases and decreases in property taxes.
- Unavoidable increases or decreases in maintenance and operating expenses.
- Substantial deterioration of the rental unit other than from normal wear and tear, that is not due to a lack of routine repair and maintenance.
- The pattern of rent increases or decreases during the occupancy of the tenant. Increases or decreases in the number of tenants occupying the rental unit.
The hearing examiner should not consider the following factors:
- Your landlord’s income taxes.
- The cost of debt served for the property where the rental unit is located unless there’s a change in ownership. Any penalties for violation of the Sacramento Tenant Protection Act.
- A cost increase for the rental unit that occurred before you began occupying the property.
- For more factors visit Sacramento’s city code tenant protection page.
https://www.cityofsacramento.org/Community-Development/Code-Compliance/Tenant-Protection-Program
WHO ISN’T PROTECTED
The following units are exempt under the protection act:
Single family homes.
A rental unit in a hotel, motel, inn, tourist home or a room and board home rented to people for less than 30 days.
A rental until in an institutional facility: hospital, medical care facility, residential care facility, asylum, a group home for seniors or the disabled and a rental unit in a transitional housing program that assists the homeless population.
A rental unit that is either owned, operated or subsidized by a government entity or subject to a covenant imposed by a government entity restricting the occupancy to families with income of 120% of the area median income or below.
A rental unit in which the tenant shares a bathroom or kitchen with the property owner.
Single dwelling units and rental units in a condominium or stock cooperative.
A rental unit that the landlord or the landlord’s immediate family occupy as their primary residence.
For more information on who’s exempt, visit the Sacramento city code tenant protection page.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
Landlords who increase the rent above the annual rent adjustment maximum or increase the rent more than once every 12 months are subject to penalties up to $25,000, according to the City of Sacramento. According to city code:
- A landlord cannot increase the rent in an amount that exceeds the annual rent adjustment unless authorized by a hearing examiner.
- A landlord cannot adjust the rent more than once in a 12-month period regardless of how long the tenant has lived on the property.
- After a rental unit has been vacated, a landlord may establish the base rent for a tenant under a new rental housing agreement. After that, any increase in the rent for that tenant must comply with the limitation under the Sacramento Tenant Protection Act.
- A legal increase in rent in accordance with the annual rent adjustment cannot go into effect until your landlord gives you a written notice to increase rent as prescribed by law. And the content of the notice to increase your rent has to include the information as prescribed in the tenant protection program administrative procedures. A tenant cannot waive the limitation on the increase in rent if the increase is legal.
4. Housing Discrimination
If you are discriminated against in trying to buy property, rent, or use services provided to other tenants because of your race, color, religion, sex (including sexual harassment), nationality, handicap, marital status, familial status (whether you have children), lawful source of income (for example that you get welfare) or sexual orientation, call:
Legal Services of Northern California (916) 551-2150
Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH)
Toll-free: (800) 884-1684 TTY: (800) 700-2320
Sacramento Regional Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission (916) 444-6903 ext. 132
Domestic Violence: A tenant in public or subsidized housing cannot be evicted because the tenant is a victim of domestic violence. Domestic violence victims in private housing should also be protected because evicting a domestic violence victim is sex discrimination. Contact Legal Services of Northern California for assistance or DFEH or HUD to file a complaint.