Cudahy Municipal Code Art. I Title, Purpose, Definitions and Applicability

This chapter shall be known as the rent stabilization ordinance of the city. (Ord. 736 § 2 (Exh. A), 2023).

(1) The purpose of this chapter is to protect tenants from excessive rent increases and to promote long-term stability and certainty for tenants in the rental market while providing landlords an ability to receive a fair return on their rental property.

(2) This chapter regulates rents for certain tenancies. It requires landlords to register rental units, establishes an administrative petition process, and provides for procedures and guidelines for the implementation of this chapter. (Ord. 736 § 2 (Exh. A), 2023).

For the purposes of this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) “Base rent” means the rent charged for a rental unit in effect on April 11, 2022, when the city council declared its intent to regulate rent for residential properties in the city, or at the initiation of the tenancy, whichever is later, plus any rent increase allowed thereafter pursuant to this chapter.

(2) “Capital improvement” means the addition, substantial repair or replacement of any improvements to dwelling units, buildings, or common areas, which materially adds to the value of the property, appreciably prolongs its useful life or adapts it to new uses, and which is the same type of improvement as those allowed to be amortized over the useful life of the improvement in accordance with the Internal Revenue Code and its regulations and as specified in CMC 5.13.060. “Capital improvement” does not include normal or routine maintenance or repair or repairs covered by insurance.

(3) “City” means the city of Cudahy.

(4) “Code” means Cudahy Municipal Code.

(5) “Consumer Price Index” or “CPI” means the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers of the Los Angeles – Long Beach – Anaheim, California, area, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, or any successor designation of that index that may later be adopted by the U.S. Department of Labor.

(6) “Covered rental unit” means any rental unit that is not designated as exempt pursuant to CMC 5.13.040.

(7) “Department” means the community development department of the city of Cudahy, or other department designated by the city council to administer the provisions of this chapter.

(8) “Director” means the director of the department, or their designee.

(9) “Hearing officer” means the person designated by the city manager or designee to conduct a review hearing and decide petitions and appeals under this chapter.

(10) “Housing services” means all services provided by the landlord related to the use or occupancy of a rental unit, including water, heat, utilities, insurance, maintenance, repairs, painting, elevator service, laundry facilities, janitorial service, refuse removal, furnishings, window shades and screens, parking, storage, security services, recreational areas, right to have specified number of tenants or occupants, allowing pets, communications technologies (internet, cable and satellite services), and any other benefit, privilege or facility that has been provided by the landlord to the tenant with use or occupancy of a rental unit. Housing services to a rental unit shall include a proportionate part of services provided to common facilities of the building or residential complex in which a rental unit is contained.

(11) “Landlord” means an owner, lessor, sublessor, or any other person entitled to offer any rental unit for rent or entitled to receive rent for the use and occupancy of a rental unit, and the agent, representative, or successor of any of the foregoing. “Landlord” includes an owner of a mobilehome park and its agent, representative, or successor.

(12) “Mobilehome” means any mobilehome as defined under California Civil Code Section 798.3.

(13) “Mobilehome park” means an area of land located where two or more mobilehome spaces are rented or leased out for mobilehomes used as residences.

(14) “Rent” means the sum of all periodic payments and all nonmonetary consideration demanded or received by a landlord from a tenant for the use or occupancy of a rental unit, including tenant’s access to and use of housing services. “Rent” includes, without limitation, the fair market value of goods accepted, labor performed, or services rendered. “Rent” does not include any of the following: security deposits, utility charges billed separately to the tenant by the utility company, and pass-through fees and charges authorized pursuant to this chapter.

(15) “Rental agreement” means an agreement, oral, written, or implied, between a landlord and tenant for the use or occupancy of a rental unit and related housing services.

(16) “Rental unit” means any dwelling unit, as defined under California Civil Code Section 1940(c), located in the jurisdictional boundaries of the city of Cudahy and that is used or occupied for human habitation in consideration of payment of rent, whether or not the residential use is legally permitted, including mobilehomes rented by the owner of the mobilehome, and accessory dwelling units. “Rental unit” also means a mobilehome park space located in the jurisdictional boundaries of the city of Cudahy.

(17) “Residential real property” includes any parcel of land containing one or more dwelling units intended for human habitation.

(18) “Service reduction” means any decrease or diminution in the level of housing services provided by the landlord on or after the effective date of this chapter, including, but not limited to, services the landlord is required to provide pursuant to:

(a) California Civil Code Section 1941 et seq.;

(b) The landlord’s implied warranty of habitability, which cannot be contractually excluded or waived;

(c) A rental agreement between the landlord and the tenant; and

(d) The level of service as implied by the condition of improvements, fixtures, and equipment, and their availability for use by the landlord at the time of execution of the rental agreement between the landlord and the tenant.

(19) “Tenancy” means the lawful right or entitlement of a tenant to use or occupy a rental unit. This includes a lease or a sublease.

(20) “Tenant” means a tenant, subtenant, lessee, sublessee, or any other person entitled under the terms of a rental agreement to the use or occupancy of any rental unit. (Ord. 736 § 2 (Exh. A), 2023).

(1) This chapter shall apply to all rental units within the jurisdictional boundaries of the city, unless expressly exempt pursuant to any provision of this chapter or state or federal law.

(2) Exemptions. The following are specifically exempt from the provisions of this chapter:

(a) Any dwelling unit that has a certificate of occupancy or equivalent permit for residential occupancy issued after February 1, 1995.

(b) Any dwelling unit that is alienable separate from the title to any other dwelling unit, including single-family residences, condominiums and townhomes, but excluding mobilehomes offered for rent by the owner of the mobilehome, or is a subdivided interest in a subdivision, as specified in California Business and Professions Code Section 11004.5(b), (d) or (f).

(c) Housing restricted by deed, regulatory restriction contained in an agreement with a government agency, or other recorded document as affordable housing for persons and families of very low, low or moderate income, as defined in California Health and Safety Code Section 50093, or subject to an agreement that provides housing subsidies for affordable housing for persons and families of very low, low or moderate income, as defined in California Health and Safety Code Section 50093 or comparable federal statutes, but excluding any dwelling unit for which a landlord receives federal housing assistance vouchers issued under Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, line 9 (42 U.S.C. § 1437f).

(d) Residential real property containing no more than two rental units in which the owner occupies one of the units as the owner’s principal place of residence since the beginning of the tenancy, so long as the owner continues in occupancy. For purposes of this subsection:

(i) The term “owner” means a natural person who owns at least a 25 percent ownership interest in the residential real property.

(ii) An exemption under this subsection shall expire by operation of law when the owner ceases to reside on the property as their principal place of residence.

(e) Accommodations in hotels, motels, inns, tourist homes and boarding houses, and rooming houses, or other facilities, for which the city has received or is entitled to receive payment of transient occupancy tax pursuant to Chapter 3.32 CMC, Transient Occupancy Tax, and California Civil Code Section 1940(b).

(f) Housing accommodations in a nonprofit hospital, religious facility, extended care facility, licensed residential care facility for the elderly (as defined in California Health and Safety Code Section 159.2), or any other facility licensed by the state to provide medical care for residents.

(3) Application for Rental Unit Exemption. Any person with an ownership interest in a rental unit may claim an exemption from this chapter by filing with the department an application of exemption on a form approved by the department. (Ord. 736 § 2 (Exh. A), 2023).