Antioch Council unanimously approves renter protection Just Cause Eviction ordinance
By Allen D. Payton
Adding to the tenant protections previously passed, during their meeting on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, on a 5-0 vote, the Antioch City Council approved a Just Cause Eviction ordinance limiting the ability of landlords to evict tenants except for specific reasons and, if they do, the landlord must give notice to both the tenant and the City and pay for the tenant’s relocation costs. The ordinance was negotiated between representatives of tenants, community organizations, the apartment owners’ association, city council and staff members.
According to the city staff report on the item, State law requires “just cause” for a landlord to evict a tenant who has continuously and lawfully occupied a residence for at least 12 months. The California Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (“TPA”) limits rent increases and places restrictions on landlords’ ability to evict tenants, unless the eviction is as a result of a “just cause” that is defined by state law. The TPA also imposes certain notice and language requirements, “Just cause” includes “at-fault” evictions for wrongful or malicious conduct by tenants and “no-fault” evictions, such as when a property owner or their immediate family move into an otherwise occupied unit, remove a unit from the rental market, or when a landlord intends to demolish or “substantially remodel” a unit.
The city’s ordinance extends the time to 24 months after eviction for the former tenant to have first-right-of-refusal be offered from the landlord to rent the unit, again, without an increase in rent more than the allowable increases under state law and city ordinances.
In addition, under the City’s ordinance, if the tenant hasn’t done anything wrong, but the landlord is asking them to move out, then they must both notify the city and pay for the tenant’s relocation costs, in an “amount equal to two times the Tenant’s monthly rent in effect when the Landlord served the notice to terminate the tenancy.”
The city staff report claims the ordinance will require an additional city staff member and “increased future workloads for the City Attorney’s Office related to new inquiries and requests for services from tenants and landlords.”
For the public hearing there was only a proponent to speak in favor of the ordinance, but no opponent to speak against it. The proponent, an attorney, said, “Under Antioch’s new ordinance, everyone has just cause for eviction protections,” speaking specifically of renters.
Several members of the public spoke in favor of the ordinance, including representatives of ACCE Action and Rising Juntos Antioch and two council candidates in District 3, Addison Peterson and Antwon Webster.
During council member discussion of the ordinance, District 1 Councilwoman Torres-Walker said, “Now everyone in Antioch is covered.”
“Thank you all for pushing us,” Mayor Pro Tem Monica Wilson said. “We finally made it, but we have to keep on keeping them honest.”
Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe thanked, “the attorneys and everyone who participated in the meetings. This is a big deal for the community.” He mentioned it took almost four years to get the ordinance developed and adopted.
Following council discussion, the ordinance passed on a unanimous vote.
The audience erupted with cheers and shouts of, “Si, se puede” which means, “yes, we can.”
See City of Antioch Just Cause Eviction ordinance.
the attachments to this post:
Eviction Protection art
