Landlords sue San Jose over rent registry policy
The property owners — about 20 individuals and a group known as the Small Property Owners Association – San Jose — sued the city late last week in U.S. District Court for Northern California to stop the new requirements that are part of a rent stabilization measure.
The suit widens the rift between landlords and the city over new regulations designed to curb rapid rent increases in an over-heated residential housing market.
Frank Weiser, an attorney for the landlords, said the San Jose rent registry is an overly broad request for personal information, including rent history and leases.
“This is all very, very private information,” he said. The owners are also seeking unspecified damages.
San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle said the information will be kept private by the city and is shielded from public disclosure laws. Doyle said the city wants to establish a better way to track rent controlled units in the city.
“This is just a rent registry,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a privacy issue.”
The San Jose City Council passed the rent registry ordinance in November, requiring property owners to provide the city with addresses, tenants’ names, rent and lease history for all rent stabilized units. Landlords are also asked to provide a copy of a lease and state the reason the prior tenant left the apartment when a rent-controlled unit becomes vacant.
City leaders say its part of a larger goal to enhance stability for renters in a market that has become one of the most expensive in the country. The median rent for a two bedroom unit in San Jose in March was $2,570, an increase of 3.1 percent over the previous year, according to Apartment List. The national average for a two bedroom apartment is $1,170.
San Jose rent control generally limits increases to 5 percent annually. The ordinance applies to multi-unit apartments built before September 1979, and does not cover new units, duplexes or single family homes.
The city estimates about 45,000 units are under rent control in San Jose, about one-third of the total apartment supply. According to the U.S. Census, about 43 percent of the city’s population lives in rental units.
The council has become more aggressive in its pursuit to protect renters. In 2016, the board lowered the maximum amount of increases allowed in rent-controlled apartments from 8 percent to 5 percent annually.
San Jose landlord Dean Hotop, lead plaintiff in the suit, said the landlords want to protect the privacy rights of both property owners and tenants, although no tenants are plaintiffs in the case.
Hotop said the city does not need a registry to ensure owners are complying with rent control laws. He said his review of city data of tenant complaints showed San Jose averaged less than 100 complaints per year about illegal rent increases from 2010 to 2017.
“Personal privacy is a huge issue right now,” he said. “There are other ways to address this.”
Source: mercurynews.com
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