Some New 2020 Laws in California That May Affect You

2020 New Laws in California

Over 800 new laws were passed into law effective January 1, 2020!

AB5 - Affects independent contractor status of many occupations.  Certain workers were exempted, or "carved out."  Realtors were one such group exempted and still maintain their independant contractor status.  Truckers, as you may know, were not, but are fighting that status in the courts. Realtors are one of the exempt classifications.

AB 1482 - Certain notices to ALL tenants should be sent out already, and new CAR forms contain the appropriate notices.  There are ambiguities in this statute, ie., "region" vs "area" for calculating CPI, which will require time to work out. However, all landlords should be providing, as of January 1, 2020,  an advisory about the tenant rent cap and just cause provisions.  If the landlord is exempt, for example, because the rental property is a single family home or a condo, the exemption does not apply if the tenant has not received the advisory.  As a Realtor, I may give an advisory form to my client for their tenant, but otherwise landlords should contact their property manager or find the appropriate advisory on the internet. This information should be given immediately to tenants. Some cities have additional rent cap laws which may be more restrictive, however, Long Beach recently completely rescinded its law and is now following state law. Property managers, owners and interested parties are advised to independently research this law, one of the most restrictive in the nation, through their own counsel.


AB 1110 - Rent noticing where AB 1482 does not apply to a property and there is a month-to-month tenancy.   A 90-day notice is required if landlord increases rent by more than 10% of current annual rent.

AB 68,670, 881 - Accessory dwelling units.  Limits on what cities can impose.  HOAs must allow construction of ADUs, cities cannot prohibit laws against ADUs (but there are requirements to follow for construction). ADUs in HOAs would not reasonably be considered for apartment style multi-family structures, which typically have a common parking garage and balconies. It would have to be an HOA with single family lot with a garage, for example; the owner is also advised to check governing documents in their HOA.  If you have a question about ADU requirements in the area you live in, I advise checking your local city's website for all their posted information.  If you still have questions, or believe you are being given wrong information in regards to the state law, contact me for further help.

SB 329 - No discrimination allowed based on source of income, i.e., child support, Section 8 housing income, or other public assistance, for example.So if between two applicants the Section 8 applicant has, for example, a better credit score, than another, a landlord may not discriminate against the Section 8 applicant simply because of Section 8.

SB 969 - Garage Door battery backups - effective 7/1/2019 - If a new automatic door is installed, or an existing opener is replaced, a battery backup installation is required in event of power outage.

California Consumer Privacy Act - Privacy Act Advisory provided through CAR forms.  Relative to real estate transactions, a party may come into contact with a "big company" as defined in the Civil Code may be collecting information about which the consumer may have the right to opt out, but with certain results. Such companies may include the MLS, which uses photographs and sales information about your property. An advisory form is now in effect describing to the consumer their right to be notified which is given to clients of Realtors.  Others wishing to obtain similar consumer information may contact me for the Legal Q&A on this topic.

Employment laws:
SB 530 - Workplace sexual harrassment training required. New harrassment laws also include abusive conduct, not just sexual harrassment.  This is, in fact, because agents work broadly in the field which is their entire workplace, so would also include client behavior towards an agent or broker.  This is meant to address repeated insults, or hostile and offensive behavior.

AB2770 - Protection for reporting victims of sexual harrassment.

AB 51 - Employer no longer can require waiver of rights to arbitration by employees.

SB 1412 - Criminal background checks limit sealed or expunged material.






Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996