Landlords in Goleta will have to comply with new rules for how they treat tenants.
The Goleta City Council on Tuesday approved a series of changes designed to help tenants.
Under the amended ordinance landlords have to give tenants 120 days notice before a no-fault eviction. Landlords already had to pay two months of relocation assistance to tenants in no-fault evictions and under the new ordinance landlords would pay the two months of relocation assistance or $8,000, whichever is higher.
Landlords would have to provide half of the relocation assistance when informing tenants that they are ending the lease, and the other half at move out.
If a landlord wants to evict a tenant so they can take their unit off the market, it has to stay off the market for five years. City staff originally proposed 10 years, but the council and the landlords who spoke said that 10 years was too long.
When evicting tenants, landlords will have to provide a handout containing information for housing assistance programs provided by the city.
Under the new anti-harassment provisions, landlords can’t do the following:
- Reduce or remove housing services such as access to storage that was included in the lease
- Fail to make timely repairs
- Threaten to harm tenants
- Invade tenant privacy
- Retaliate against tenants exercising their rights or joining a tenants union
- Omit facts to get tenants to move out
- Ask about or threaten to report tenants’ immigration status
- Refuse to acknowledge rent payments
A number of landlords spoke out against the ordinance.
Michael Schambers argued that if more restrictions are put on landlords, mom-and-pop landlords will disappear in favor of property management companies.
“Removed from the market and overpriced are both undesirable options for the community,” Schambers said. “Less units will be available because property owners don’t want the legal liability of renting to tenants with a gang of lawyers hungry to sue landlords.”
During public comment Andrew Schur said he was “on the side of the tenants” because of how hard it is to afford to live in the area.
“There’s nowhere to live out here,” Schur said. “I commute in and I work as a lifeguard at Goleta Pier, and I watch people come and shower in the ocean all day. People are going to do what they have to do because it’s so hard to live out here. We have to address this.”
Councilmember James Kyriaco noted that landlords still have an advantage on the rental market because of the low vacancy rates in Goleta.
“I think this process necessarily involves some give and take, and I think for way too many years it’s been a lot more give and take in a way that benefits property owners,” Kyriaco said. “I think what we’re seeing is local governments throughout the region trying to find that balance again a little bit more.”
Goleta adopted an emergency tenant protections ordinance in December 2023 that outlined rules for no-fault evictions.
In the original version of the ordinance, landlords already had to offer a one-year lease, only renovate units for health and safety, and offer displaced tenants the chance to move back in after remodeling before placing the unit on the market. Under the new ordinance, tenants will have 30 days to respond to the offer.
After a remodel, landlords can only raise rents by 5% plus the percentage change in the cost of living or 10%, whichever is lower.
Under the new amendments landlords can petition a judge to raise the rents higher than what is allowed in the ordinance.
Ed Belcher, a member of the Santa Barbara Tenants Union, argued that this shouldn’t be an option for landlords because renovations are just supposed to be for health and safety improvements.
He also urged the council to consider adding a buyout agreement protocol where landlords could pay tenants to move out so they can renovate the unit and put it on the market at a market-rate price.
“That’s something that’s a fair deal with the tenant and the landlord,” Belcher said. “Recall that buyout agreements finally allowed for successful negotiations for all parties in the 215 Bath Street renoviction battle that went on and on and on.”
If landlords violate the provisions, they would have to pay damages or a minimum of $1,000 per violation, civil penalties up to $10,000, or other civil remedies required by law that can be paid whether or not the tenant has moved out and are awarded at the discretion of a judge.
The ordinance will be formally approved at the council’s next meeting.