California Judicial Council Amends Rule Suspending Evictions Part 2 of 2

August 21, 2020

The past week has seen good news for landlords with the expiration of federal CARES Act moratorium on eviction and a reversal of the California Judicial Council’s Emergency Rule eviction moratorium. But local ordinances from the City of Fresno, City of Madera and others still may stand in the way of an eviction.
No Federal Moratorium
President Trump signed Executive Order on Fighting the Spread of COVID-19 by Providing Assistance to Renters and Homeowners on Saturday, August 8, 2020. Many have reported that President Trump extended the federal eviction moratorium passed as part of the CARES Act. However, he did not extend the CARES Act moratorium which expired on July 24, 2020. The Executive Order Section 3(a) says “The Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of CDC shall consider whether measures temporarily halting residential evictions of any tenants for failure to pay rent are reasonably necessary to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 ….”
So, there is currently no federal eviction moratorium. However, the President may still implement a new eviction moratorium, but he has not done so yet and neither has Congress, although they are considering it as part of this next COVID-19 relief package.
California Judicial Council Moratorium Ends 9/1/2020.
In March, the California Judicial Council voted to enact emergency orders that prevented any evictions to be served, scheduled for trial or writs to be issued until 90 days after the statewide emergency order was lifted. However, this was challenged and on August 13, 2020, the Judicial Council voted to amend their rules thereby terminating the eviction moratorium effective midnight of September 1, 2020.
That is good news but the California Legislature is working on their own bills that would extend and probably add new eviction restrictions.
One of these bills is AB 1436, which would allow tenants to NOT pay rent for 15 months after the COVID-19 state of emergency is lifted. The California Apartment Association (CAA) has asked that all landlords contact your legislators and oppose this bill. Here is a link.
City of Madera Moratorium
Fresno Moratorium Ends When State of Emergency for California Ends
On March 19, 2020, the City of Fresno passed an eviction moratorium ordinance for 30 days. That ordinance was extended but is set to expire when the State of California emergency is lifted.
The expiration of the federal eviction moratorium and the change to the Judicial Council Rules are good news for landlords, however, there are still local ordinances in effect that must be considered before proceeding with evictions. If you have an eviction in a certain City or County, let us know and we can do the research to determine if your eviction is located in a City or County affected by a local ordinance.