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File Number: 15-712 <br />·Assess Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS) charges, upon initial conversion, as a <br />rent increase and therefore considered as a factor toward eligibility for review by <br />the Board. RUBS is when landlords subcontract out utility billing to a third party. The <br />tenants pay their utility bills to the third party rather than to the landlord. The 2015- <br />2023 Housing Element recommended that staff evaluate RUBS charges as a rent <br />increase and consider these initial charges as eligible for Board review. <br />·Include duplexes as eligible residential properties for rent review. Under the <br />current Ordinance, only buildings with three or more rental housing units are eligible for <br />rent review. Per the 2009-2013 American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau), <br />there are almost 2,000 duplex/triplex/quadruplex housing units in San Leandro, and <br />under the current Ordinance, tenants in these units are not eligible for a rent review <br />because their rental housing units are detached, separate buildings. <br />·Clarify that landlords must re-notice tenants with proper rent increase notices if <br />they provided improper rent increase notices. This clarifies that landlords must <br />properly re-notice a tenant prior to demanding or accepting any increase in rent. <br />·Raise the existing $75 rent increase threshold to $100 plus annually adjust by the <br />Consumer Price Index (CPI), in considering eligibility for a rent review. The <br />existing $75 rent increase threshold is outdated as current rent levels are significantly <br />higher today than in 2001 when the Ordinance was adopted and as current rent <br />increase amounts are exceeding the $75 rent increase threshold. <br />·Require tenants to submit to the City their rent review hearing request forms <br />within 15 calendar days of receiving their rent increase notice. This provision <br />ensures that the 15-day requirement is not erroneously interpreted as 15 “working” <br />days. <br />·Require landlords to submit their response forms within 10 calendar days from <br />their receipt of their tenants’ rent review hearing request forms; otherwise, their <br />rent increase is null and void. The Ordinance currently only encourages landlords to <br />submit their response forms. This change clarifies that landlords must submit their <br />response forms in a timely manner similarly to the tenants in order for the Board to <br />hear the case. <br />·Increase the number of days to schedule a Rent Review Board hearing. Currently, <br />a Board hearing must be scheduled within 50 days of an application. However, 60 days <br />is a more feasible timeframe particularly for 60-day rent increase notices. <br />·Formalize that a rent increase must be paid on its effective date. The existing <br />Ordinance is silent on the situation when, for example, the Board votes to continue a <br />case to a second and final meeting that goes beyond the noticed rent increase <br />effective date. Tenants will be required to pay the rent increase on the effective date of <br />the rent increase, but could be given rental credit or other consideration by the landlord <br />should a mutually satisfactory resolution result in a reduced rent increase amount. <br />·Incorporate the Retaliatory Eviction provision in its own section. The Retaliatory <br />Page 2 City of San Leandro Printed on 12/15/2015