Effective January 1, 2007, owners of residential income property in Marin County (and the entire state of California) will have a new law to contend with. On that date, a new state law goes into effect that requires landlords to give tenants on periodic leases (e.g. month-to-month) who have been tenants for at least a year 60 days notice to terminate.

Current law requires only thirty days notice to terminate a month-to-month tenancy. In cases where any tenant or resident has been residing in the property for less than one year, then thirty days notice is sufficient.

Compared to the city of San Francisco or Berkeley, Marin County landlords have it pretty easy. Both of those cities have rent control, one of the worst laws ever created. This new change in state law makes things a little more difficult for property owners, but won’t significantly change the way they have to operate.

Rent control is a different topic, and one I could write about extensively. In a nutshell though, it’s a classic case of the law of unintended consequences - a law that’s intended to do one thing, and then something else unintended happens.

The intent is good: protect tenants from unreasonable rent increases, and keep housing affordable for people. Unintended consequence: with income effectively capped by rent control, landlords have no incentive to and in many cases can’t afford to  properly maintain property. Maintenance gets deferred, property gets run down, and the quality of life for tenants suffer as the housing stock degenerates.