The California Rental Housing Association, along with two individual rental housing owners, have filed suit against the state in regards to California’s eviction moratorium.
According to the lawsuit, as reported by the L.A. Business Journal, CalRHA alleges the moratorium unconstitutionally violates rental housing owners’ property rights, which they say impairs existing rental agreements and leases that provide property owners the ability to repossess their rental units in the event tenants don’t pay rent.
“We tried working with our legislators and the governor to reach an agreement that would recognize the financial burdens faced by both rental housing providers and renters. They chose to ignore the financial burdens of small and medium rental property providers,” CalRHA President Christine Kevane LaMarca said via press release. “The courts are our last resort. Rental housing providers across the state are suffering severe economic distress and losses directly caused by the state of California’s ongoing overreaching eviction moratorium.”
At the end of June, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California’s third eviction protection extension, initially put in place to protect renters during the COVID shutdown. The lawsuit aims to declare the extension—formally known as AB 832— unconstitutional and issue an injunction prohibiting its enforcement. Additionally, the suit seeks to claim damages for the plaintiffs.