Existing law confers a power of sale upon a mortgagee, trustee, or any other person to be exercised after a breach of the obligation for which the mortgage or transfer is a security. Existing law requires a trustee, mortgagee, or beneficiary to first file a record in the office of the recorder a notice of default, and establishes other requirements and procedures for completion of a foreclosure sale.
This bill would prohibit a person from taking any action to foreclose on a residential real property while a state or locally declared state of emergency related to the COVID-19 virus is in effect and until 15 days after the state of emergency has ended, including, but not limited to, causing or conducting the sale of the real property or causing recordation of a notice of default.
Existing property tax law attaches taxes that are owed on that property as a lien against that property. Existing law generally requires the tax collector to attempt to sell residential property that has become tax defaulted 5 years or more after that property has become tax defaulted.
This bill would require a tax collector to suspend the sale, and not attempt to sell, tax-defaulted properties while a state or locally declared state of emergency related to the COVID-19 virus is in effect and until 15 days after the state of emergency has ended.
Existing law requires a county recorder to record any instrument, paper, or notice that is authorized or required to be recorded upon payment of proper fees and taxes.
This bill would prohibit a county recorder from recording any instrument, paper, or notice that constitutes a notice of default, a notice of sale, or a trustee’s deed upon sale during the above-specified declared state of emergency relating to the COVID-19 virus. The bill would also prohibit a court from accepting a complaint in an action to foreclose.
Existing law establishes a procedure, known as an unlawful detainer action, that a landlord must follow in order to evict a tenant. Existing law provides that a tenant is subject to such an action if the tenant continues to possess the property without permission of the landlord in specified circumstances, including when the tenant has violated the lease by defaulting on rent or failing to perform a duty under the lease.
This bill would prohibit a state court, county sheriff, or party to a residential unlawful detainer case from accepting for filing, or taking any further action including executing a writ of possession or otherwise proceeding with an unlawful detainer action during the timeframe in which a state of emergency related to the COVID-19 virus is in effect and 15 days thereafter, except as specified.
The bill would also authorize a defendant, for any residential unlawful detainer action that includes a cause of action for a person continuing in possession without permission of their landlord, to notify the court of the defendant’s desire to stipulate to the entry of an order. The bill would require the court, upon receiving that notice from a defendant, to notify the plaintiff and convene a hearing to determine whether to issue an order, as specified. The bill would require the court, if it determines that the tenant’s inability to stay current on the rent is the result of increased costs in household necessities or decreased household earnings attributable to the COVID-19 virus, to make an order for the tenant to remain in possession, to reduce the rent for the property by 25% for the next year, and to require the tenant to make monthly payments to the landlord beginning in the next calendar month in accordance with certain terms. The bill would require declarations under these procedures to be filed under penalty of perjury.
The bill would make these provisions effective in a jurisdiction in which a state or locally declared state of emergency is in effect until 15 days after the state of emergency ends and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2022.
Read the rest:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB828
The California Apartment Association sent this letter opposing AB 828.
You know, I might even be willing to support the rent reduction if the landlord could turn around and demand a 25 percent reduction in mortgage payments.
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