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City of East Palo Alto's just cause eviction ordinance includes a requirement that the landlord must allege compliance with the warranty of habitability as part of their unlawful detainer action for any eviction other than evictions based on substantial repair of the rental unit or withdrawal of the unit from the rental market. J. Remedies for Non -Compliance Just cause eviction ordinances typically provide that a landlord's alleged failure to comply, in any way, with the ordinance is a complete defense to an unlawful detainer action (meaning that the landlord would have to start over if found to have violated the provisions of the just cause ordinance). Some ordinances also provide for civil (including injunctive and monetary relief) and criminal penalties for non-compliance by the landlord. II Practical Effect of Just Cause Eviction Ordinances Just cause eviction ordinances are often described as simply requiring landlords to provide a valid reason why they are evicting the tenant when they serve a notice terminating the tenancy. The arguments relied upon by tenant advocates in support of just cause evictions ordinances often relate to the need to protect tenants from retaliatory eviction or evictions motivated by the landlord's desire to increase the rent. These explanations and arguments are misleading. Aside from the fact that just cause eviction ordinances usually include onerous requirements beyond merely requiring the landlord to have cause to terminate the tenancy (as discussed above), simplified explanations of just cause eviction requirements fail to account for the fact that for -cause evictions are substantially more difficult and expensive to complete. Similarly, arguments that just cause ordinances protect tenants from retaliatory eviction and prevent landlords from evicting tenants to raise the rent are simply untrue. A. The Cost of Just Cause As discussed above, just cause eviction ordinances frequently require that landlords' notices to tenants meet very specific requirements. These requirements can include advising tenants of their rights and making specific statements in the notices to tenants. Complying with these procedural requirements can be challenging for landlords because, often, cities do not offer comprehensive resources to help landlords comply with the ordinance. The ordinances themselves tend to be written in dense, vague, and difficult to understand language. As a result, landlords often must retain, at their own expense, an attorney to assist with the preparation and service of both warning and termination notices. These procedural requirements, together with the direct costs (such as relocation assistance) imposed by just cause ordinances substantially increase the cost of terminating a tenancy before even considering the costs of actually litigating a for -cause eviction. For -cause evictions are significantly more difficult and expensive because the landlord has the burden of proving, with evidence, that sufficient cause exists to terminate the tenancy. This may sound simple in theory, but it is not always so simple in practice. Some for -cause evictions are more difficult than others. For example, most non-payment of rent evictions are relatively straight forward, although such cases can be complicated by allegations that the unit is uninhabitable. On the other hand, evictions based on nuisance and illegal activity are perhaps the most difficult because, in most cases, the landlord must rely on reluctant third parties (neighbors and/or law enforcement) to provide the evidence necessary to win the eviction case. Contrary to what one might expect, the more serious the problem with a tenant, the more difficult it is to evict. The neighbors of drug -dealing or gang -affiliated tenants often complain anonymously to the landlord, but then refuse to make written statements or testify in court out of fear that they will be retaliated against by their bad -news neighbor. While a landlord's attorney can subpoena these neighbors to appear at the eviction trial, a subpoena cannot compel a scared neighbor to testify California Apartment Association www.coonet.org Revised 06/2017 — O 2017 — All Rights Reserved Page 4 112t