...Title
Amendments to the Apartment Rent Ordinance - Title 17 for Utility Pass Throughs.
...Recommendations
(a) Approve an ordinance amending Section 17.23.315 of the Apartment Rent Ordinance, Chapter 17.23 of Title 17 of Municipal Code to modify the date on which existing written Ratio Utility Billing Systems (RUBS) pass through agreements are no longer effective and changing the timing regarding petitions for the one-time offset rent increase, specifically:
(1) All verbal utility pass through agreements are void upon the effective date of the ordinance amendment;
(2) All written utility pass through agreements with new tenants executed after January 1, 2018 are void upon the effective date of the ordinance amendment;
(3) The petition filing period for offset petitions will be July 5, 2018 to October 31, 2018, no longer linked to the rent registry process;
(4) All pre-existing written utility pass through agreements will be void following the decision of a Petition Examiner determining the outcome of the offset petition. If the landlord does not file a petition, the existing written utility pass through agreement shall be void after October 31, 2018; and
(5) If the landlord has a written utility pass through agreement with a new tenant executed prior to May 1, 2018 and the landlord can prove that he/she has prior to June 30, 2017 required utility pass through agreements with the same terms for all tenants in the building, the landlord may continue, on the same terms as for a pre-January 1, 2018 pass through agreement, to apply that pass through agreement and to petition for an offset rent increase.
(b) Direct staff to submit to the City Manager for approval the proposed amendment adding a Chapter 13 to the Apartment Rent Ordinance Regulations, which describe the offset petition process.
CEQA: Not a Project, File No. PP17-008, General Procedure & Policy Making resulting in no changes to the physical environment. (Housing)