On June 28, 2021, Governor Newsom signed AB 832 into law, extending and enhancing protections for tenants in financial distress due to COVID-19. Overall, this bill is a big win for tenants and tenant advocates. Below is a summary of the changes and how they’ll affect you and/or your clients:
The bill expands and extends many of the prior tenant protections, including:
- Until October 1, 2021, prohibiting landlords from:
- Turning off utilities to try and evict you;
- Selling debt you owe to your landlord to a third party (like a debt collection agency);
- Bringing an action in court to evict you for non-rent reasons (like noise or nuisance) out of retaliation for you not being able to pay;
2. Until September 1, 2021, prohibiting a bank or other mortgage servicer from denying your request to pause (forbear) a foreclosure without providing specified written notice to the borrower.
3. Until October 1, 2025, requiring that all lawsuits to recover COVID-19 rental debt go through the Small Claims Court (not eviction court).
4. Until October 1, 2027, requiring that a landlord trying to recover COVID-19 debt demonstrate that they have made good faith efforts to seek government assistance for the debt, and worked with their tenant to obtain such assistance. This provision also requires that courts take a landlord’s refusal to do so into account when determining damages, and limits attorney’s fees.
5. Until October 1, 2025, extends the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act, which allows tenants who have received an eviction notice to attach a declaration of COVID-19-related financial distress to their answer to prevent being considered in default for that rent.
This provision also further specifies the language landlords must use when they serve such eviction notices.
6. Requires a landlord seeking to recover money from a lease that came due between April 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021 to verify certain information relating to state rental assistance:
- That your landlord has not received rental assistance or other financial compensation from any other source for the rent owed, and
- That your landlord does not have any pending application for rental assistance or other financial compensation from any other source for this money.
Please note that this is a simplified list for reference and ease of use, and not a substitute for legal advice from your attorney. If you have comments or questions, please reach out to the author at andrew.chen@ccwro.org.
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