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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2939 Tenant Rights ORDINANCE NO. 1;)5\1J\ AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ASHLAND MUNICIPAL CODE, ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 10.115, TENANT RIGHTS IN CONVERSION OF EXISTING MULTI-FAMILY RENTAL UNITS INTO FOR- PURCHASE HOUSING. WHEREAS, Article 2. Section 1 of the Ashland City Charter provides: Powers of the City The City shall have all powers which the constitutions, statutes, and common law of the United States and of this State expressly or impliedly grant or allow municipalities, as fully as though this Charter specifically enumerated each of those powers, as well as all powers not inconsistent with the foregoing; and, in addition thereto, shall possess all powers hereinafter specifically granted. All the authority thereof shall have perpetual succession. WHEREAS, the above referenced grant of power has been interpreted as affording all legislative powers home rule constitutional provisions reserved to Oregon Cities. City of Beaverton v. International Ass'n of Firefiqhters. local 1660. Beaverton Shop 20 Or. App. 293,531 P 2d 730, 734 (1975; and WHEREAS, ORS Chapter 100 sets forth certain minimum requirements for the protection of the health, safety and welfare of tenants who are adversely impacted by the conversion of multi-family residential apartment units to condominium ownership; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Ashland has determined that in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of existing and future residents of such units proposed for conversion, it is necessary to exercise additional regulatory control over conversion of existing multi-family rental units into for-purchase housing, not inconsistent with state law. THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF ASHLAND DO ORDAIN AS FOllOWS: SECTION 1. New Chapter. A new Chapter 10.115 TENANT RIGHTS IN CONVERSION OF EXISTING MULTI-FAMilY RENTAL UNITS INTO FOR- PURCHASE HOUSING is hereby added to the Ashland Municipal Code to read as follows: TENANT RIGHTS IN CONVERSION OF EXISTING MULTI_FAMILY RENTAL UNITS INTO FOR_PURCHASE HOUSING SECTIONS: 10.115.10 10.115.20 10.115.30 10.115.40 10.115.50 10.115.60 10.115.070 10.115.080 SECTION 10.115.010 Declaration of Policy. Notice of Conversion and Tenant Rights. Tenant Right to Relocation Assistance. Tenant Right to Purchase Unit. Recommendation to Extend Tenancy. Prohibited Harassment or Frustration of Tenant's Rights Additional Notice to Housing Staff. Penalties. Declaration of Policy. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the City of Ashland Oregon to utilize the full extent of the City's municipal charter authority in exercise of its police power, for the protection of public health, safety and the general welfare to assure a certain basic rights are provided to tenants of multi-family residential units displaced or affected by conversion of existing multi-family rental housing into for-purchase housing. SECTION 10.115.020 Notice of Conversion and Tenant Rights. A. In addition to the minimum content of notice provided in ORS 100.305(1 )(a), the declarant in a conversion of existing multi-family rental housing into for-purchase housing shall also include in the notice of conversion all the tenants rights contained in this Ordinance, with specific reference to the Right to Relocation Assistance (moving expenses) adopted pursuant to City Charter authority and ORS 100.320 and set forth in Section 10.115.030 below. Notwithstanding this provision, Notice of Rights shall be deemed sufficient if a copy of this Ordinance is included with an ORS Chapter 100.305 compliant notice. SECTION 10.115.030 Tenant's Right to Relocation Assistance. A. Except as provided in paragraph B below, a declarant shall, no earlier than sixty (60) days and no later than 20 days prior to the end of the tenancy of a unit occupied at the time the Notice of Conversion is served, pay to each and every vacating tenant of a unit a Relocation Benefit as defined herein. The entire benefit shall be paid to a tenant who is the only tenant in a rental unit; if a rental unit is occupied by two or more tenants (as reflected on the lease agreement), then each tenant of the unit shall be paid a pro-rata share of the relocation benefit. B. A Relocation benefit shall not be required when: (1) The declarant has provided a minimum of twelve (12) months written Notice of conversion to tenant, in accordance with this ordinance and ORS Chapter 100; or (2) The tenant has not paid all rent due and payable to the end of the tenancy under the Rental Agreement or extension of such Rental Agreement, if any, twenty-eight (28) days prior to the date the housing unit is to be vacated; or (3) The tenant has purchased or is purchasing a unit within the same conversion to for-purchase housing project; or (4) The tenant quits the premises or otherwise voluntarily terminates the tenancy prior to the end of the tenancy and the 60 day payment deadline for relocation assistance for that tenancy; or (5) The tenant first occupied the unit after the notice of conversion was sent to all unit owners and tenant received a copy of such notice when tenant took occupancy. c. "Relocation Benefit" means a sum of money equal to three (3) times the actual rent or three (3) times the Fair Market Rent, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Medford-Ashland Metropolitan Service Area, for a unit of an equal number of bedrooms as occupied by the tenant, whichever is greater. SECTION 10.115.040 Tenant Right to Purchase Unit. Notwithstanding lesser rights granted tenants in ORS 100.310, the declarant shall first offer to sell the unit to the tenant who occupies the unit, regardless of the extent of alteration to the physical layout of the unit. Such offer shall not terminate before the expiration of ninety (90) days after its receipt or upon written rejection by the tenant, whichever is earlier. For ninety (90) days after the expiration of the offer to tenant, declarant shall not sell the unit on terms and conditions which are more favorable to the purchaser than the price or terms offered to tenant. SECTION 10.115.050 Recommendation to Extend Tenancy. Nothing in this ordinance is intended to alter or amend an existing contractual relationship between landlord and tenant or the rights and remedies available to landlords or tenants under existing state law. If the Notice Period exceeds the term of tenancy in the Rental Agreement, it is recommended that the length of tenancy be extended to coincide with the expiration of the Notice Period to provide for continued occupancy. Early expiration of the tenancy after notice is given does not relieve the declarant from the requirement to provide relocation assistance for existing tenants. In addition, termination of a tenancy by the landlord for improper purposes of avoidance or frustration of the rights granted tenants by ORS Chapter 100 or this ordinance, is a violation of this ordinance as detailed below. SECTION 10.115.060 Rights. Prohibited Harassment or Frustration of Tenant No declarant, or agent thereof shall engage in conduct which has the effect of harassing, molesting, intimidating, interfering with, or frustrating a tenant's enjoyment or exercise of rights granted pursuant to this Chapter and ORS Chapter 100. Specifically, and without limitation, no declarant shall engage in the following conduct which adversely impacts tenant's exercise of rights: A. Right to Non-disturbance. ORS 100.315 prohibits improvements or rehabilitation of units, except ordinary and necessary repairs, during the 120 day notice period prescribed by ORS 100.305, without the permission of the tenant. This statute provides a tenant occupying a unit with the right to continued quiet use and enjoyment of the premises and to be free from unreasonable interference with that right. Declarant is not prohibited from making improvements to common areas; however, declarant shall not harass, molest, intimidate, interfere with, or frustrating a Tenant's quiet use and enjoyment of the premises by creating unreasonable noise or unreasonable physical disruption of common areas, including access and parking, during the notice period. B. Tenant Right to Occupancy. This Chapter and ORS 100.310 provides tenants with a right to purchase the unit they occupy at the time the notice is provided in accordance with ORS 100.305. In addition, this chapter provides for the payment of relocation benefit to tenant after the notice of conversion is provided. Declarant shall not harass, molest, intimidate, interfere with, or frustrate a Tenant's right to fully consider such offer to purchase by attempting to terminate the tenancy during the offer period, without legal cause, or increasing rent or assessments or by engaging in other actions or conduct which adversely impacts the exercise of tenant's rights. Notwithstanding this prohibition, a scheduled rent increase in accordance with the provisions of a written rental agreement or an increase in rent no greater than a percentage equal to the percentage increase in the Portland-Salem Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for All Items as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics shall not be considered a violation of this section. In addition, declarant shall not harass, molest, intimidate, interfere with, or frustrate a Tenant's right to collect the relocation benefit by engaging in conduct or actions, including but not limited to those identified herein, which attempt to cause the tenant to voluntarily quit the premises or otherwise abandon tenant's right to relocation benefit. SECTION 10.115.070 Additional Notice to City Housing Staff. Notice of Conversion given pursuant to this ordinance shall be served as provided in ORS 100.305, except that a copy of said notice and list of all recipients shall be provided by regular mail or personal delivery to the City of Ashland Housing Program Specialist within 7 days of its delivery or mailing to tenants SECTION 10.115.080 Penalties. A. It shall be unlawful and a violation punishable under AMC 1.08.020 for a declarant, of a multi-family residential building to fail to strictly comply with, or violate the notice, relocation assistance, right to purchase, or prohibited actions provisions of this Chapter. For purposes of this chapter, the term declarant includes the owner of the multi-family building, regardless of the form of ownership, as well as declarant's authorized agents and contractors. B. Notwithstanding the fine limitations of AMC Section 1.08.020, the fine for violation of any provision of this Chapter shall be a minimum of $1000.00 for each unit affected. If the violation is a failure to pay the relocation benefit or prohibited harassment or frustration of tenant's rights and the offender is a corporation or other business entity, then an additional special corporate fine shall be imposed, in addition to the minimum fine, equal to an amount twice the relocation assistance amount unlawfully withheld. SECTION 2 Severability. If any section, provision, clause, sentence, or paragraph of this Ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstances shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the other sections, provisions, clauses, or paragraphs of this Ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Ordinance are declared to be severable. SECTION 3. Codification. Provisions of this Ordinance shall be incorporated in the City Code and the word "ordinance" may be changed to "code", "article", "section", or another word, and the sections of this Ordinance may be renumbered, or re-Iettered, provided however that any Whereas clauses and boilerplate provisions (i.e. Sections 2-3) need not be codified. The foregoing ordinance was first read by title only in accordance with Article X, Section 2(C) of the City Charter on the n day of "'~ . 2007, and dul PASSED and ADOPTED this / day of Ii. ,2007. , /I{~ Barbara M. Christensen, City Recorder SIGNED and APPROVED this~ day of ~, 2007.