Emergency COVID-19 measures rushed into place by Federal, state and local governments created a confusing patchwork of tenant protections. Now as the Pandemic winds down, many of these protections have as well. The main Federal eviction moratorium expired in July 2021, and California's eviction moratorium ended for almost all tenants in June, 2022. Still, a significant amount of local tenant protections remain, and tenants should check whether their city or county have eviction moratoriums or related measures in place (see Local Emergency Ordinances below).
There are no COVID-19 related Federal restrictions on eviction.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau maintains a helpful webpage of resources for tenants.
In September 2020 the California Legislature hastily passed the California COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act of 2020 (CA Relief Act) to stop landlords from evicting residential tenants suffering COVID-related financial hardships, and on 1/28/21 enacted Senate Bill No. 91 COVID-19 Relief: Tenancy and Federal Rental Assistance (SB 91), which added rental assistance. Effective 6/30/21 AB 832 (the "Rental Housing Recovery Act") provided additional money to reimburse landlords 100% of unpaid rent incurred by qualifying tenants.Landlords and tenants could apply for assistance via a program called Housing Is Key. The statewide eviction moratorium expired on 9/30/21 for tenants who had not applied for rental assistance.
Limited eviction bans remain depending on when the unpaid rent was due:
Although the statewide moratoriums ended on June 30, 2022 for nearly all tenants, local emergency ordinances still may apply. In fact, some cities and counties (for example, Fairfax, San Diego, San Rafael, Pomona, Novato and Marin County) have created new temporary protections to address the June statewide expiration.
Early in the pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom allowed individual cities and counties to protect residential and commercial tenants suffering COVID-19 related financial hardships. Over 150 local entities quickly enacted ordinances banning either residential or commercial evictions, or both. Intended as short-term "stop-gap" measures, all of these local ordinance were created prior to the statewide protections, and most of them expired on 9/30/20. Still, although the statewide moratorium was meant to replace the remaining local ordinances, roughly 40 local ordinances are still in effect:
Check the chart below to see whether your city or county enacted an emergency ordinance, whether it's still in effect or been renewed, and if so what type of tenants it protects.
Landlord-tenant law has become incredibly complex. If you've been served with legal documents, you must take action to avoid being evicted-in some cases as quickly as three days! Contact an attorney or a tenants' rights organization as soon as possible.
CAUTION! This article and the ordinance chart below were last updated on 9/6/22, but this area of law is rapidly evolving. These local moratoriums change frequently, and many are contingent on states of emergency or related short-term authorizations.The material here can give you a broad idea of tenant protections - and protections apparently still in effect are listed in bold - but check your county and city government web pages and the actual ordinances/laws for the most recent information.
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