Residential tenancies: domestic violence.

Existing law governs the hiring of real property based on the terms of the agreement, or on the behavior of the parties. Under existing law, a tenant may notify the landlord in writing that he or she, or a household member, was a victim of an act of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and intends to terminate the tenancy. The tenant is released from any rent payment obligation 30 days following the giving of the notice, or as specified. Existing law establishes the criteria for determining when a tenant is guilty of unlawful detainer of a premises, and includes committing nuisance in this regard. Existing law provides, until January 1, 2012, for the purposes of the law of unlawful detainer, that if a person commits any specified act or acts of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking against another tenant or subtenant on the premises, there is a rebuttable presumption affecting the burden of proof that the person has committed a nuisance on the premises if the victim or a member of the victim's household has not vacated the premises. This bill would, except as specified, prohibit a landlord from terminating a tenancy or failing to renew a tenancy based upon an act of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking against a protected tenant, as defined, or a protected tenant's household member when that act is documented, as specified, and the person who is restrained from contact with the protected tenant under a court order, as defined, or is named in a police report of that act is not a tenant of the same dwelling unit. The bill would require the landlord to change the locks, as defined, within 24 hours of a written request, as specified, when the restrained person is not a tenant of the same dwelling unit. The bill would also require, under specified circumstances, the landlord to change the locks when the restrained person is a tenant of the same dwelling unit. The bill would declare the landlord not liable to a restrained person who is excluded from the dwelling unit if the locks are changed pursuant to that provision. The bill would state that a restrained person who has been excluded from a dwelling unit under that provision remains liable under the lease with all other tenants of the dwelling unit for rent as provided in the lease. The bill would authorize a protected tenant to change the locks without the landlord's permission, as specified, notwithstanding any provision in the lease to the contrary, if the landlord does not change the locks within 24 hours, as specified, with regard to leases executed on or after the date the bill would take effect. The bill would also specify the manner in which a protected tenant is required to change the locks if the protected tenant changes the locks without the permission of the landlord. The bill would also require the Judicial Council, on or before January 1, 2012, to develop a new form or revise an existing form that may be used by a party to assert in the responsive pleading the grounds set forth in this section as an affirmative defense to an unlawful detainer action.