friends in #SanJose. Your help is appreciated!! Please share, email and speak up. Oppose the San Jose City Council's Effort to Prohibit Owners from Collecting Rent ( to recover lost rent in the future)

A proposal by San Jose City Councilmembers Carrasco and Peralez would prohibit rental property owners from collecting any rent from tenants who have suffered a COVID-19 related income loss. The ordinance, proposed to last 90 days, would make it illegal for a property owner to recover any lost rent after the ordinance expires. Carrasco and Peralez are asking the council to enact this emergency ordinance on Tuesday, April 5, and make it retroactive to April 1, 2020. If approved, landlords would likely have to refund any collected rent from impacted tenants. The ordinance also could be extended after the 90-day period ends.

Landlord advocates argue that this ordinance is blatantly illegal, as it violates state and federal law, and is likely unconstitutional. The illegality of the proposal, however, hasn’t deterred the authors from attempting to rush its approval.

Property Owners Need to Speak Up. Here's How:

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, council meetings occur virtually, so we need impacted property owners to email their opposition to the ordinance, which will be entered into the record as a public comment. The council needs to hear that you are doing what you can to assist your tenants in this difficult time but that you also still have an obligation to pay your mortgage bill, maintenance costs, utility bills, and payroll to support your employees and vendors. Moreover, council members need to understand that forbearance doesn’t relieve you as the property owner of your financial obligations.

To have an impact, you must email your comments to cityclerk AT sanjoseca.gov by 12:00PM, Tuesday, April 7. Below is a draft letter that you can send as-is or personalize:

Dear Mayor Liccardo and City Council members,

I am a property owner in San Jose who has worked hard to care for my building and the residents who call my building home. Like my residents, I worry about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our community. As a housing provider, I want to keep my tenants housed while continuing to pay my vendors and employees. However, the proposal authored by Councilmembers Carrasco and Peralez places me in financial peril and essentially stops me from working with my tenants to develop a plan through which we can all come out of this crisis with our homes and the ability to pay our bills.

I am working with every tenant impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. While deferring rent may be necessary temporarily, being forced to forgive rent would leave me unable to pay the mortgage, my employees in our rental community or the vendors who service the units. The domino effect of this proposal is catastrophic.

As an owner of rental units, I can seek SBA assistance or mortgage forbearance, however, these requests take time to materialize, as I am not the only one trying to get help and there is no guarantee I will get approved for this assistance

I ask the City Council to focus on real solutions to this crisis, such as financial assistance to tenants to help them pay rent or to landlords who are deferring rent.