Assemblyman Matt Haney’s bill that would outlaw blanket pet bans by landlords is on its way to becoming law after passing out of the Judiciary Committee, now headed to the Assembly floor.
Under Assembly Bill 2216, California landlords could be barred from asking prospective tenants about pets, helping expand rental options for pet owners.
“The majority of renters in our state, pet owners, are denied access to the majority of rental units. That makes no sense at all and it’s dramatically exacerbating the housing crisis,” the San Francisco Democrat said in an April 10 news release.
He added that about 70 percent of California renters—an estimated 12 million people—own pets and have limited access to rentals. The recent announcement explained that in any given city, only 30 percent of rentals are pet-friendly, including cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, which have about 21 percent and 26 percent pet-friendly rentals on the market.
Also, the lack of pet-friendly housing has led to an estimated 829,000 renters secretly keeping a pet without the knowledge of their landlord, according to Mr. Haney’s office.
The assemblyman said the proposed legislation would advance California’s housing goals.
“We have to keep building housing, and much faster, but we won’t be able to solve this crisis if 12 million people across the state are being denied access to that housing because they have a companion pet,” he said in the recent news release.
But some landlords say extra regulations could add burdensome costs to small property owners who already struggle to make ends meet. In California, owners already face caps on rent raises, eviction protections, and other state and city policies that have pushed small mom and pop landlords out of the market.
“Unfortunately, pets in rental units is not a ‘one size fits all’ issue,” Daniel Yukelson, executive director for the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles told California Insider in an emailed statement earlier this year when the bill was introduced.
He said some landlords may have rules against pets because some of their residents are afraid, have been bitten, or are highly allergic to them. Obtaining liability insurance for some dog breeds can also pose a challenge, he said.
Also, pets can damage property, and with new laws limiting landlords to collecting no more than one month’s rent for security deposits, property owners would be left on the hook for the damages, he added.
“This would just be another cost that will slowly tip the scales against small owners, particularly those subject to draconian rent regulations, who continue to have more and more costs imposed on a revenue stream that is being strangled through regulations,” Mr. Yukelson said in his email.
