Santa Clara County officials want to toughen eviction protections in unincorporated areas

Santa Clara County landlords are dodging a decades-old law that requires they pay to relocate evicted tenants. To combat that, county leaders could give unincorporated neighborhoods stronger eviction protections than surrounding cities.

The Board of Supervisors next month will discuss expanding their 1993 tenant relocation assistance policy which covers renters in unincorporated areas. The changes would expand protections against unreasonable evictions for tenants who have lived in their homes for any amount of time — even less than a few days — and renters living in single-family homes or duplexes. It would also apply to housing built in the last 15 years and add new restrictions on landlords hoping to evict tenants for remodeling.  The changes would only authorize evictions for remodeling if the work specifically deals with “rehabilitations and repairs.”