The City of Salinas has proposed and drafted an ordinance that amends Chapter 17 of the Salinas Municipal Code regarding rent stabilization and tenant protection. While seemingly beneficial to tenants, this ordinance greatly hinders most homeowners' power to maintain, control, and grow their real property investments.

The proposed ordinance seeks to protect tenants from inflation by limiting how much rent can be increased yearly, to a greater extent than is already imposed en masse by the State of California. The ordinance also creates a petition system that tenants can easily manipulate for temporary rent discounts - a system landlords must fund via fees paid directly to the City. These measures further restrict landlords' ability to fight inflation themselves, effectively punishing them for attempting to diversify and grow their portfolio through real estate, or for simply owning a property they do not live in.

Furthermore, if a landlord wished to increase the desirability and rental value of their property by performing a full remodel, they would first have to pay the tenants still under contract a lease termination payoff equal to two to three times the monthly rent - even after serving the tenants a fair 30- or 60-Day Notice to Vacate. This and other proposed regulations leave property owners with a complicated process before they make property improvements, thus likely leaving those improvements out of the question for most owners. This, in turn, leaves tenants with fewer updated properties and landlords with fewer growth options.

The proposed ordinance is not the right short- or long-term solution for inflation within the rental market. This ordinance heavily favors and protects tenants at the expense of landlords who, in most cases, are just average people seeking to invest in their local economy through real estate. Ironically, the proposed new system also leaves landlords with less power to improve or even maintain their rental properties at a level higher than the bare minimum required by tenant law. This ordinance effectively solves part of one problem by creating a series of others.

Officials, tenants, and landlords need to discuss this proposed ordinance until an effective, balanced compromise is found. Please sign this petition to help us show the City of Salinas that its proposed ordinance is neither effective nor balanced and that we need to work together to find a solution that everyone can support.

Please sign now - every signature counts!