Fairfax Rent Control & Just Cause Evictions

MYTH VS. FACT

MYTH: Rent control and just cause eviction protections are bad for renters

FACT: Rent control and just cause eviction protections have successfully stabilized rents, prevented arbitrary evictions, and provided long-term housing security for renters wherever they’ve been adopted. These laws have existed for over 40 years in nearby cities like San Francisco and Berkeley and are directly responsible for keeping hundreds of thousands of people in their homes despite skyrocketing rental markets. 

MYTH: Rent control and just cause eviction protections are bad for homeowners

FACT: Homeowners who do not own rental property will not be affected by rent control and just cause eviction protections. These laws only apply to rental properties. Furthermore, all single-family homes are exempt from rent control under state law (Costa-Hawkins).

MYTH: Rent control and just cause evictions are bad for seniors/people with disabilities

FACT: Fairfax’s just cause eviction provisions specifically provide robust new protections for tenants who are elderly, disabled, or terminally ill. Any discrimination against members of these groups is strictly illegal. 

MYTH: Rent control and just cause evictions will lead to landlords taking units off the market

FACT: No town or city with rent control or just cause eviction protections has experienced an appreciable loss of housing units due to those policies. Landlords are still guaranteed a reasonable return on their investment under rent control, so it’s still in their interest to continue renting.

MYTH: Administering rent control and just cause eviction protections will raise taxes

FACT: The rent stabilization and just cause eviction laws require no new taxes. Their proposed administration will be paid for by a rental housing fee, an annual modest per-unit fee charged only to landlords. Fairfax has not yet determined its fee, but these typically range from $100-$200 per unit per year, or $8-$17 per unit per month. Most Fairfax rents range from $1,500-$4,000 per month.

MYTH: Just cause eviction protections allow tenants to sublet without restriction

FACT: Tenants must request permission from their landlords to sublet their unit. A landlord may reasonably refuse such a request within 14 days. Tenants may only sublet to replace a departed tenant on a one-for-one basis.

MYTH: We already have adequate rent control and just cause eviction protections under state law

FACT: The Tenant Protection Act (AB-1482) is an extremely weak law that fails to provide housing security to tenants. It caps annual rent increases at 5% plus CPI, up to 10% total. That means on high inflation years, landlords can raise the rent 10%. On average inflation years, they can still raise rents 7-8%. That is far beyond what the vast majority of renters can afford. The state law is also full of loopholes that allow landlords to easily evict their tenants and circumvent the cap on annual rent increases. Lastly, the state law has virtually no enforcement mechanism. Few tenants know it exists and many landlords regularly violate its already weak provisions.

MYTH: These laws were passed undemocratically and should go to a vote

FACT: The town council held eight public meetings spanning eight months to carefully consider these ordinances. Public comments were overwhelmingly in favor of the new laws. The current attempt to repeal these ordinances via a ballot initiative is a well-tested strategy of the landlord and real estate lobby to flood local communities with outside money and undermine local democracy.