A ban on evictions and judicial foreclosures will expire statewide on September 1, leaving tenants who are behind on rent in the lurch and landlords free to take legal action to remove them.
The Judicial Council of California voted to end the two temporary emergency rules last week 19 to 1.
“The judicial branch cannot usurp the responsibility of the other two branches on a long-term basis to deal with the myriad impacts of the pandemic,” said Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye in a statement online. “The duty of the judicial branch is to resolve disputes under the law and not to legislate. I urge our sister branches to act expeditiously to resolve this looming crisis.”
The Judicial Council stayed eviction and foreclosure proceedings on April 6 and Cantil-Sakauye subsequently suspended a vote to renew on June 10 so that Gov. Newsom and the legislature could develop policy proposals and solutions to deal with the potential impacts of evictions and foreclosures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We hope that lifting the eviction and foreclosure ban is going to be a step in the direction of restoring hope,” said John Kabateck, state director of NFIB California. “Many small business owners are terrified of losing their property because they haven't been able to pay the bills.”
Policy proposals include Senate Bill 1410, which would pave the way for outstanding rent to be paid by the state of California, as well as Assembly Bill 1436, which would extend a ban on evictions and foreclosures, according to media reports.
“Many property owners are nearing the end of their grace periods,” Kabateck said. “[NFIB members] were on a call with the governor's staff and they said the governor fully understands that a lot of these property owners are at the end of their grace periods with banks.”
Some 1 million tenants became jobless during the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley study.
“We are hearing from Capitol leaders that there is a desire to make things work better for the property owners as well as the tenants,” said Kabateck. ‘Whether that is better payment mechanisms with the lenders or relief from the lending institutions, we are getting some signals from capital leaders that they are willing to lift that burden from not just the tenants, who are on edge, but also the property owners who must also pay their bills.”