Updated October 12, 2020.
September 30 was the last day for the governor to sign or veto bills to take effect January 1, 2020. Several bills significant to California’s housing market were passed in September 2020, including:
- AB 685, which requires employers to notify all employees of potential exposure to COVID-19 when the employer knew or should have reasonably known about the exposure;
- AB 3182, which makes any governing document of a common interest development (CID) seeking to prohibit the rental or leasing of any separate interests in the CID void and unenforceable;
- SB 1157, which requires landlords who own or manage at least 200 residential units occupied by lower income households to offer tenants the option of having their rental payments reported to at least one nationwide consumer credit reporting agency at no cost; and
- SB 1079, which requires a notice of foreclosure sale to contain a notice to tenants regarding their right to purchase the property and prohibits a trustee from bundling one-to-four unit properties for the purpose of sale, requiring each property to be bid on separately through January 1, 2026.
Read on for the full list of bills for the 2019-2020 Legislative Session and DRE Regulations which may substantially affect how you do business as a real estate licensee. Reports on passed bills can be found on our New Laws page. Current real estate law is here. This list is updated monthly.
All recent updates are in red below.
Status Legend:
Introduced = Date the bill was originally introduced for consideration. Bill is still being considered, but not yet law.
Amended = Date the bill was last amended. Bill is still being considered, but not yet law.
Enrolled = Bill approved by both houses and pending the governor’s signature.
Passed = Bill signed by the governor and passed into law.
= Bill is particularly relevant to real estate licensees.
| Category | Bill | Status | Status Date | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Property Management | AB 3088 | Passed | 8/31/20 | This bill prohibits landlords from evicting tenants before February 1, 2021 as a result of unpaid rent related to COVID-19 between March 4, 2020 and August 31, 2020. Tenants who are unable to pay rent due to COVID-19 between September 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021 must pay at least 25% of the rental payments due in that time period to avoid eviction. Read more | |
| Property Management | SB 1079 | Passed | 9/28/20 | This bill, through January 1, 2026, requires a notice of foreclosure sale to contain a notice to tenants regarding their right to purchase the property and to provide a website or telephone number with which the tenant may contact the trustee for no charge. This bill also prohibits a trustee from bundling one-to-four unit properties for the purpose of sale, requiring each property to be bid on separately. Further, the fine imposed on an owner of vacant residential property acquired at a foreclosure sale is increased from up to $1,000 a day to up to $2,000 per day for the first 30 days, up to a maximum of $5,000 per day thereafter. | |
| Property Management | SB 1190 | Passed | 9/28/20 | This bill expands the authority for a tenant to terminate their tenancy and be released from rent payment obligations without penalty when the tenant or a household member is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking or abuse of an elder or dependent adult to immediate family members of the tenant. It also expands the list of eligible crimes to a crime that has caused bodily injury or death. | |
| Government | SB 55 | Amended | 7/9/20 | This bill exempts any emergency shelter or supportive housing project from the California Environmental Quality Act's (CEQA's) environmental impact report (EIR) requirements until January 1, 2025. | |
| Property Management | AB 2782 | Passed | 8/31/20 | This bill requires the manager of a mobilehome park seeking to change the park's use and terminate the residents' tenancies to provide a report detailing the impacts and a plan for where the mobilehome residents might find replacement housing at least 60 days prior to appearing before a local government board to request permits for change of use. This bill also requires the management to pay for an appraisal of the in-place market value of each resident's mobilehome and, when a resident is unable to obtain adequate replacement housing, requires the management to pay the appraised market value to the displaced tenant. | |
| Property Management | AB 1436 | Amended | 8/14/20 | This bill prohibits a landlord from applying a tenant's security deposit or the current month's rent to satisfy a rent obligation that became due from the start of the state of emergency related to COVID-19 through the earlier of April 1, 2021 or 90 days after the expiration of the state of emergency, unless the tenant designates the payment is to fulfill the prior obligation. | |
| Practice | AB 685 | Passed | 9/17/20 | This bill requires employers to notify all employees of potential exposure to COVID-19 when the employer knew or should have reasonably known about the exposure and makes a violation of this notification requirement a misdemeanor. | |
| Taxation | SB 364 | Amended | 7/27/20 | This bill re-categorizes nonresidential active solar energy systems as personal property rather than improvements. This exempts nonresidential solar energy systems from being considered in a property's taxable value until a subsequent change in ownership occurs. | |
| Property Management | SB 939 | Amended | 5/29/20 | This bill prohibits landlords of commercial property from evicting a tenant due to nonpayment of rent until 90 days after the expiration of California's state of emergency and gives commercial tenants up to 12 months from the expiration of the state of emergency to repay any accrued missed payments. | |
| Government | SB 1322 | Amended | 4/3/20 | This bill allows notary publics to apply to be online notary publics during the declaration of a state of emergency related to the COVID-19 virus. | |
| Property Management | AB 3182 | Passed | 9/28/20 | This bill makes any governing document of a common interest development (CID) seeking to prohibit the rental or leasing of any separate interests in the CID void and unenforceable. | |
| Finance | AB 2712 | Amended | 5/7/20 | This bill establishes the California Universal Basic Income Program, which will provide $1,000 per month to adults who have resided in the state for at least three consecutive years and whose income does not exceed 200% of the median per capita income for their county of residence. | |
| Property Management | SB 1410 | Amended | 8/5/20 | This bill establishes the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program, to be made available to tenants unable to pay full or partial rent due to COVID-19, or the COVID-19 response. This program will be available to cover rent payments due between April 1, 2020 and October 1, 2020. Landlords consenting to receive rent under this program will forfeit their right to collect late rent payments when receiving payments from the program. | |
| Taxation | SB 1431 | Amended | 5/6/20 | This bill allows property owners to apply for tax reassessment due to diminished value related to tenant protection laws to keep renters housed during the COVID-19 pandemic. | |
| Property Management | AB 2690 | Amended | 5/4/20 | This bill removes mobilehome units from the new construction exemption on rent control, allowing local governments to set maximum rents on mobilehome units. | |
| Government | AB 3173 | Introduced | 2/21/20 | This bill requires a city or county with a population of more than 400,000 people to permit the building of micro-unit buildings in any zone where multi-family residential buildings are permitted and on the same basis as multi-family units. | |
| Property Management | AB 2763 | Introduced | 2/20/20 | This bill expands the eligibility for tenants receiving relocation assistance when displaced due to a project undertaken by a public entity. Now also included are those displaced due to the acquisition or rehabilitation of a property by an entity using low-income housing credits and those who have experienced rent increases of 5% or more in the 48 months following the acquisition or rehabilitation of a property by an entity using tax credits. | |
| Practice | SB 1464 | Introduced | 2/21/20 | This bill requires the Department of Real Estate (DRE) to make available on its website the common environmental hazards booklet published by the Department of Toxic Control Substances. | |
| Property Management | AB 3077 | Introduced | 2/21/20 | This bill prohibits, until January 1, 2031, an owner of a residential dwelling from giving notice of their intention to terminate a tenancy to sell the property to new owners who will hold title to the property as tenants in common. | |
| Property Management | AB 2774 | | Introduced | 2/20/20 | This bill establishes a maximum late charge of $50 for residential tenants who fail to pay rent within the agreed-upon time period. |
| Property Management | AB 2406 | Amended | 5/11/20 | This bill will require the Department of Housing and Community Development to create and administer an online rental portal. Landlords that own or operate five or more rental units will be required to submit information about their rental units to the registry. | |
| Licensing | AB 2185 | Amended | 3/16/20 | This bill allows an individual licensed in another state to be licensed in California when their license falls under the governance of the Department of Consumer Affairs. This includes the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers. To qualify, the out-of-state licensee needs to have practiced for at least three out of the last five years. | |
| Property Management | AB 2344 | Introduced | 2/18/20 | This bill prohibits landlords of mixed-income multi-family buildings from isolating the affordable housing units within the structure to a specific floor or area. | |
| Property Management | AB 2895 | Amended | 5/22/20 | This bill caps mobilehome rent increases to no more than the lower of 5% plus a cost of living standard or 10% of the lowest rental rate charged in the preceding 12 months. | |
| Property Management | AB 3260 | Amended | 5/5/20 | This bill requires a landlord to authorize a tenant, as an alternative to paying the full amount of a security deposit before taking possession, to either obtain and maintain rental security insurance coverage or pay the amount of the security in monthly installments over a period of not less than 6 months. | |
| Property Management | SB 999 | Amended | 7/27/20 | This bill prohibits the rent control exemption for mobilehome agreements in excess of 12 monthsÕ duration from applying to a rental agreement entered into on and after February 15, 2020 and repeal these provisions on January 1, 2025.Ê | |
| Property Management | SB 1157 | Passed | 9/28/20 | This bill requires landlords who own or manage at least 200 residential units occupied by lower income households to offer, at the time of the lease agreement and annually thereafter, tenants the option of having their rental payments reported to at least one nationwide consumer reporting agency at no cost to the tenants. | |
| Practice | SB 1464 | Introduced | 2/21/20 | This bill requires the DRE to make the forthcoming edition of the environmental hazards booklet published by the Department of Toxic Control Substances available on its website. | |
| Property Management | AB 1934 | Introduced | 1/15/20 | This bill exempts housing developments from environmental review and allows them to undergo a streamlined approval process when the development will house moderate- and low-income households. | |
| Taxation | AB 2013 | Passed | 9/24/20 | This bill amends the term "newly reconstructed" in regards to property tax reassessment. For property damaged after January 1, 2017 and rebuilt, reassessment is triggered only if the reconstructed improvement does not exceed 120% of the original size or value. | |
| Government | AB 2044 | Amended | 3/16/20 | This bill exempts newly constructed accessory dwelling units (ADUs) from the most recent energy design standards for new construction. | |
| Taxation | AB 2115 | Introduced | 2/6/20 | This bill excludes any money put into a homeownership savings account from taxpayer's gross income. | |
| Property Management | SB 915 | Amended | 8/24/20 | This bill prohibits the management of a mobilehome park from terminating the tenancy of a resident who is impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic during a declared state of emergency or local emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and during a 120-day time period after the declared emergency order is lifted. The bill also prohibits the management of a mobilehome park from issuing a 60-day notice of termination of tenancy during this timeframe. | |
| Insurance | AB 1852 | Amended | 2/4/20 | This bill requires insurers to provide at least 30% of the policy limit without requiring an itemized claim when responding to the total loss of a furnished residence related to a declared state of emergency. It also requires the amount of money available to a policyholder to use to rebuild or replace the insured home at another location to be the amount that would have been recoverable if the insured dwelling been rebuilt, without deduction for the value of land at the new location. | |
| Taxation | AB 1905 | | Amended | 5/14/20 | This bill disallows homeowners from using the mortgage interest deduction (MID) on a secondary residence.The increased tax revenue is to be used to establish and fund the Housing and Homeless Response Fund. |
| Government | AB 1907 | Introduced | 1/8/20 | This bill exempts from environmental review certain activities approved by or carried out by a public agency in furtherance of providing emergency shelters, supportive housing, or affordable housing. | |
| Property Management | SB 644 | Passed | 10/8/19 | This bill prohibits residential landlords from demanding or receiving a security deposit from a service member greater than one month's rent, or two months' rent for furnished property. Landlords may not refuse to rent to a service member due to this law change restricting the amount of security deposit the landlord is able to collect. | |
| Government | AB 671 | Passed | 10/9/19 | This bill requires local governments to make incentives for the creation of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) accessible to very low-, low- and moderate-income households. It also requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to develop a list of existing state grants and incentives for construction and operating these types of ADUs, and to post this list on its website. | |
| Government | AB 178 | Passed | 9/6/19 | This bill requires residential construction to repair, restore or replace a residential building damaged or destroyed in a disaster area before January 1, 2020 to comply with the photovoltaic requirements in effect at the time the building was originally constructed. | |
| Property Management | AB 1188 | Passed | 9/26/19 | This bill would allow a tenant to temporarily permit a person at risk of homelessness to occupy the tenant's dwelling, with written approval of the landlord. | |
| Practice | AB 892 | | Passed | 10/9/19 | This bill requires multiple listing services (MLS's) to maintain listing data for no less than three years from the date the listing was created. It also revises the Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS) and narrows the obligation of a broker to conduct an inspection of the property and disclose material facts only to those brokers working with a prospective buyer of residential one-to-four unit property or a manufactured home. |
| Taxation | SB 763 | Amended | 7/3/19 | This bill allows discharges of principal residence indebtedness occurring between January 1, 2017 and January 1, 2019 due to the loss of a principal residence in a federally declared disaster area to be excluded from the homeowner's gross income. | |
| Property Management | AB 1482 | Passed | 10/8/19 | This bill prohibits a landlord from terminating the lease without cause of a tenant who has occupied the property for at least 12 months, and for no-fault just cause terminations, requires the landlord to provide one month's rent to cover relocation costs. Read more | |
| Government | AB 548 | Passed | 9/4/19 | This bill requires the California Residential Mitigation Program to to provide outreach to low-income households to increase awareness of the Earthquake Brace and Bolt program and to set aside 10% of the funds available to the program each year to provide grants to low-income homeowners to retrofit their properties. | |
| Taxation | AB 872 | Passed | 10/9/19 | This bill excludes stock transfers from a deceased parent to child that results in a change in ownership of property from the definition of "change in ownership" for property tax purposes. | |
| Government | AB 101 | Passed | 7/31/19 | This bill allows the Attorney General to take action against a city or county, including levying fines, when its housing element does not follow laws to meet regional housing need. | |
| Property Management | SB 13 | Passed | 10/9/19 | This bill authorizes the creation of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in areas zoned for single family residences or multi-family residences. It also broadens application, occupancy, parking and minimum square footage requirements. | |
| Property Management | AB 1110 | | Passed | 10/8/19 | This bill requires a landlord increasing the rent of a month-to-month unit by 10% and no more than 15% to provide 90 days notice before the increase. Or, a landlord increasing the rent on a month-to-month unit by more than 15% needs to provide at least 120 days notice. |
| Finance | AB 699 | Amended | 7/14/20 | This bill changes the definition of an individual using the services of a credit services organization, substituting the word "buyer" with the word "consumer." It would also required a credit services organization to provide a customer with an itemized receipt for each service performed, and to complete services within 60 days of contracting for the services. | |
| Practice | AB 1018 | Passed | 9/6/19 | This bill adds to the legal descriptions of an appraisal an exclusion for an opinion offered by a home inspector, on top of currently existing exclusions for opinions offered by real estate licensees, engineers and land surveyors. | |
| Property Management | AB 1399 | Passed | 10/8/19 | This bill specifies that a landlord who pays a penalty under an Ellis Act eviction is not exempted from offering their unit to the prior tenant when it returns to the market. | |
| Taxation | AB 1590 | Vetoed | 1/21/20 | This bill creates a first-time homebuyer tax credit of up to 3% of the purchase price or $5,000, distributed over three years for low- and moderate-income homebuyers. | |
| Property Management | SB 274 | Passed | 10/3/19 | This bill makes several rule changes for mobilehome park tenancies, including requirements for the manager to notify a previous tenant of a park rebuilt after a disaster via mail, telephone and email; sellers of mobilehomes to notify the park manager before a sale closes and for the manager to provide the seller or purchaser with standards the manager will use to approve the new tenancy; and the manager to grant approval to a prospective mobilehome tenant/purchaser unless they reasonably determine the applicant does not meet the park rules, they don't have the financial ability to pay rent and other charges, or they committed fraud during the application process. | |
| Finance | SB 306 | Passed | 10/2/19 | This bills allows a mortgage trustee to resign their position as trustee in lieu of a substitution. | |
| Property Management | SB 652 | Passed | 7/30/19 | This bill prohibits a landlord from prohibiting displays of religious items on an entry door or door frame into a dwelling. | |
| Property Management | SB 529 | Amended | 5/17/19 | This bill allows tenants to form and be members of tenant associations, and prohibits landlords from attending meetings of a tenant association unless invited. Landlords will be prohibited from evicting or refusing to renew the lease of a tenant who is a member of a tenant association unless they have cause, stated in writing. Members of a tenant association may withhold rent in response to grievances for up to one month. | |
| Taxation | SB 562 | Amended | 6/19/19 | This bill increases the property tax exemption for principal residences of disabled veterans. The portion exempted from property taxes is increased from $150,000 for disabled veterans whose income does not exceed $40,000 and $100,000 for other disabled veterans to $250,000 for disabled veterans with incomes not exceeding $65,000 and $200,000 for other disabled veterans. | |
| Taxation | AB 399 | Died | 1/31/20 | This bill increases the renter's tax credit to $240 for joint filers or heads of households with adjusted gross incomes under $100,000, and $120 for individuals with incomes under $50,000. | |
| Licensing | AB 687 | | Amended | 1/7/20 | This bill allows a limited liability company (LLC) to be licensed as a real estate broker. |
| Finance | AB 1384 | Amended | 5/28/19 | This bill increases the loan limit for construction or rehabilitation projects which withhold over $100,000 at the start of the project from $2.5 million to $4.5 million. | |
| Property Management | AB 53 | Amended | 4/22/19 | This bill prohibits a landlord from requiring a potential tenant to disclose any criminal history during the application process. | |
| Government | AB 68 | Passed | 10/9/19 | This bill shortens the permitting time for approving an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). Read more. | |
| Property Management | AB 338 | Passed | 9/20/19 | This bill requires mobilehomes to have smoke alarms installed in each room used for sleeping that are sold or rented beginning January 1, 2020. | |
| Government | AB 430 | Passed | 10/11/19 | This bill requires the County of Butte to establish a streamlined housing approval process to assist in rebuilding following the Camp Fire. | |
| Property Management | AB 446 | Amended | 6/28/19 | This bill prohibits landlords from discriminating against individuals based on their status as a victim of domestic assault. | |
| Taxation | AB 1317 | | Introduced | 5/8/19 | This bill excludes any money put into a homeownership savings account from taxpayer's gross income. |
| Taxation | AB 1734 | Introduced | 2/22/19 | This bill extends a "welfare exemption" to qualifying property that provides rental housing for moderate-income residents. | |
| Property Management | AB 705 | Died | 1/31/20 | This bill increases the notice given to residents of a mobilehome park when an owner comes before a government body to seek to change the use of the property from 15 days to 60 days. It also requires the government body to determine whether changing the use would result in a housing shortage. | |
| Taxation | AB 832 | Died | 1/31/20 | This bill gives a tax credit of up to 50% of the amount given to a developer to develop affordable housing, from 2020-2025. | |
| Government | AB 881 | Passed | 10/9/19 | This bill requires local agencies to loosen certain zoning laws to allow permitting of accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Among the changes are prohibiting agencies from requiring parking when the ADU is located within 1/2 mile of public transit and no longer allowing agencies to require ADUs to be on owner-occupied property. | |
| Government | AB 1020 | | Died | 1/31/20 | This bill reorganizes various government agencies. Under the changes, the Department of Real Estate (DRE) would fall under the umbrella of the Housing Agency. Currently it is under direction of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. |
| Government | AB 1074 | Died | 1/31/20 | This bill establishes a bond program to provide financing to homeowners to construct accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on their property. | |
| Taxation | AB 1206 | Amended | 4/10/19 | This bill allows property owners a $500 tax credit for each property rented to tenants at below-market rent, up to $5,000. | |
| Taxation | SB 5 | Vetoed | 1/13/20 | This bill establishes a program to allocate property tax revenue to cities or counties which have established approved affordable housing authorities, transit village development districts or community revitalization and investment authorities, to then be resditributed back to the authority or district. | |
| Property Management | SB 18 | Passed | 7/30/19 | This bill requires the Department of Consumer Affairs to establish on their website a guide for state laws pertaining to landlords and the landlord-tenant relationship, and to survey and list links to California city websites with similar content. | |
| Taxation | SB 294 | Vetoed | 1/13/20 | This bill reduces the percentage of lower-income occupants in a development in order for the development to be eligible for the state's welfare exemption from 90% to a prorated level of 50%. | |
| Property Management | SB 329 | Passed | 10/8/19 | This bill redefines the term "source of income" in regards to housing discrimination laws to mean verifiable income paid directly to a tenant, or paid to a housing owner or landlord on behalf of a tenant, including federal, state, or local public assistance and housing subsidies | |
| Taxation | SB 384 | | Amended | 3/25/19 | This bill increases the principal residence profit exclusion for first-time homeowners in California from $250,000 per taxpayer or $500,000 for joint filers to $300,000 per taxpayer or $600,000 for joint filers. |
| Government | SB 725 | Introduced | 2/22/19 | This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a rental housing assistance program to veterans seeking rental housing, and to develop a publication about the program. |
