Flood eviction moratorium in San Diego flood areas

[Dan H.]

The county board of supervisors has implemented an eviction moratorium on the flood zones while at the same time tagging units as uninhabitable.  The attorney in the linked article claims the LL must foot the bill for any hotel stay, but I question his source.  Our lease mandates tenant insurance and clearly states it is the tenant’s responsibility to maintain their tenant insurance and that we are not responsible for external housing expenses.

Virtually none of the LL have insurance to cover these repairs (only one of my units has insurance that would cover this type of flooding and this insurance is not cheap).  So the LL will be paying out of pocket to get these units into a state that is safe for occupancy and then must rent to the tenant at the same price as prior to this expense. 

It is tough because this is not the tenant’s or LL’s fault.  But it appears they are placing the full burden on the LL.  Hopefully this is not the case and much of the $10m allocated will go to LL for bringing the units back to a safe livable state.  I suspect it will not happen and LL will be expected to foot this bill. 

I question the legality of this.  Forcing LL to have expense and exert effort to bring unit to safe state, but being unable to raise rent and possibly having to pay for tenant’s hotel while the work is being done. 

Crazy.  Unless the government pays the rehab cost, there is no way I would pay to rehab the units under these conditions.  There is also no way I pay tenant lodging when my lease states I do not. Let the city bring me to court and see how them explain mandating away from a legal lease agreement.  Or dictate I repair a unit from a disaster that the city has more responsibility for than any LL and have to place existing tenant in unit at their existing rent.  Everyone knows that investment expects return.  There is no return on this investment.    

The ironic part is I knew the flooded area was some of the poorest areas of San Diego.  We donated to a fund to help the residents and someone was generous enough to be matching donations.  This was prior to the county board of supervisors placing so much of the burden of this on LL.  If I had known this was the plan, I would not have made the donation.  

https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/what-rights-do-tenants-have/509-0708783a-e714-4460-9b0a-41a31cc93dbb#:~:text=%22The%20eviction%20moratorium%20is%20only,1%2D1%20to%20learn%20more.