As of January 1, 2025, several key legislative updates affecting landlords and tenants in California have taken effect. At KeyOpp, we are committed to staying ahead of these changes to ensure full compliance while protecting both our property owners and residents. Here’s a breakdown of the latest updates:

For more information please watch our recent webinar with Landlord Attorney, Justin Goodman from Zach & Freedman:

Navigating the New Landscape of 2025 Landlord Laws in San Francisco

Watch Here

Active Changes: AB 2493 – Tenant Screening and Application Fees

  • AB 2493 limits landlords to two fee options: charge based on first come first serve order and stop once one applicant is approved (refund others), or collect from everyone and refund non-selected.
  • Landlords must keep published screening criteria (e.g., income and credit thresholds) without automatically disqualifying voucher holders.
  • Applicants with housing vouchers must be allowed to provide alternative documentation if they don’t meet standard credit requirements.

Changes:

To maintain our focus on selecting the best-qualified resident (instead of a first-come, first-served approach), we will not charge application fees upfront, as refunding unselected applicants can become more costly for our Landlords. Moving forward, we’ll include a $50 application fee for each approved resident, which will be applied through the owner portal for tenants who successfully lease a unit.

 

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Lawrence Leung