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- 1 - <br /> <br /> <br />FY 2022-2023 Annual Review of the Rent Review Ordinance <br />and Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance Programs <br /> <br /> <br />Rent Review Ordinance Overview <br /> <br />The City of San Leandro (City) adopted the Rent Review Ordinance (RRO) in May 2001 <br />and subsequently established the Rent Review Program (Program). The Program offers <br />mediation and non-binding arbitration of rent disputes between tenants and landlords. <br />Mediation/arbitration is provided by the Rent Review Board (RRB), a five-member <br />volunteer community board appointed by the Mayor and comprised of two renters, two <br />landlords, and one homeowner. The Program is based on the use of mediation/arbitration <br />to work jointly with tenants and landlords to respond to complaints brought before the <br />RRB and provides a neutral setting for discussing rent increase disputes. <br /> <br />Hearings are conducted by the RRB. Eligibility for a RRB hearing can be triggered when <br />there is a rent increase of more than 7%, or there are two or more rent increases within <br />a 12-month period (whose combined total exceeds 7%) for a rental unit on a parcel with <br />at least two rental units. Exempted from this ordinance are single-family residences, <br />duplexes where one of the units is owner occupied, and condominiums and townhomes <br />where the landlord doesn’t own and rent 2+ units in the same complex. Mobile home <br />rentals are eligible, but owner-occupied mobile homes that are leasing the space or pad <br />below it, do not qualify. <br /> <br />FY 2022-2023 RRO <br /> <br />In FY 2022-2023 (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023), the City contracted with ECHO Housing <br />to assist with tenant/landlord issues and inquiries, including those around the City’s RRO. <br />ECHO Housing reported that 20 households reached out to them to request a RRB <br />hearing. <br /> <br />There were no RRB hearings during this period. All requests that qualified for a hearing <br />were settled with a mutual agreement between the landlord and the tenant, where the <br />landlord would not increase the rent above 7%. The City has experienced a decrease in <br />rent review cases since AB 1482 was adopted in 2019. That law prohibits landlords from <br />raising the rent for most rental units by more than 5%+CPI, up to a maximum of 10%. <br /> <br />Tenant Relocation Ordinance Overview <br /> <br />The City adopted the Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance (TRO) in September 2017. <br />Implementation began in October 2017. The TRO is triggered when a tenant's rental