LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 782, as amended, Yee. Residential tenancies: domestic violence.

Existing law governs the hiring of real property based on the
terms of the agreement, or on the behavior of the parties. Under
existing law, a tenant may notify the landlord in writing that he or
she, or a household member, was a victim of an act of domestic
violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and intends to terminate the
tenancy. The tenant is released from any rent payment obligation 30
days following the giving of the notice, or as specified.
Existing law establishes the criteria for determining when a
tenant is guilty of unlawful detainer of a premises, and includes
committing nuisance in this regard. Existing law provides, until
January 1, 2012, for the purposes of the law of unlawful detainer,
that if a person commits any specified act or acts of domestic
violence, sexual assault, or stalking against another tenant or
subtenant on the premises, there is a rebuttable presumption
affecting the burden of proof that the person has committed a
nuisance on the premises if the victim or a member of the victim's
household has not vacated the premises.
This bill would, except as specified, prohibit a landlord from
terminating a tenancy or failing to renew a tenancy based upon an act
of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking against a
protected tenant, as defined, or a protected tenant's household
member when that act is documented, as specified, and the person who
is restrained from contact with the protected tenant under a court
order, as defined, or is named in a police report of that act is not
a tenant of the same dwelling unit.
The bill would require the landlord to change the locks, as
defined, within 24 hours of a written request, as specified, when the
restrained person is not a tenant of the same dwelling unit.
The bill would also require, under specified circumstances, the
landlord to change the locks when the restrained person is a tenant
of the same dwelling unit. The bill would declare the landlord not
liable to a restrained person who is excluded from the dwelling unit
if the locks are changed pursuant to that provision. The bill would
state that a restrained person who has been excluded from a dwelling
unit under that provision remains liable under the lease with all
other tenants of the dwelling unit for rent as provided in the lease.

The bill would authorize a protected tenant to change the locks
without the landlord's permission, as specified, notwithstanding any
provision in the lease to the contrary, if the landlord does not
change the locks within 24 hours, as specified, with regard to leases
executed on or after the date the bill would take effect. The bill
would also specify the manner in which a protected tenant is required
to change the locks if the protected tenant changes the locks
without the permission of the landlord.
The bill would also require the Judicial Council, on or before
January 1, 2012, to develop a new form or revise an existing form
that may be used by a party to assert in the responsive pleading the
grounds set forth in this section as an affirmative defense to an
unlawful detainer action.

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Comments/questions on SB 782 (Yee): Residential tenancies: domestic violence.