Kavanau v. Santa Monica Rent Control Board, 16 Cal. 4th 761 (1997)

Citation: Kavanau v. Santa Monica Rent Control Board, 16 Cal. 4th 761 (1997)
Parent Document: Kavanau v. Santa Monica Rent Control Board, 16 Cal. 4th 761 (1997)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 1997-08-26
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/5607899/kavanau-v-santa-monica-rent-con... ↗

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Some rent control cases speak of confiscatory regulations without engaging in “end result” analysis. (See Birkenfeld v. City of Berkeley (1976) 17 Cal.3d 129, 165 [130 Cal.Rptr. 465, 550 P.2d 1001].) In Birkenfeld, we found that Berkeley’s rent control law, as then drafted, was partly unconstitutional because it failed to make adequate provision for adjusting base rents. (Id. at p. 169.) Although Birkenfeld used the language of confiscation, it is in fact closer to substantive due process analysis. As we stated: “The provisions [of a rent control law] are within the police power if they are reasonably calculated to eliminate excessive rents and at the same time provide landlords with a just and reasonable return on their property. However, if it is apparent from the face of the provisions that their effect will necessarily be to lower rents more than could reasonably be considered to be required for the measure’s stated purpose, they are unconstitutionally confiscatory.” (Id. at p. 165.) Turning to Berkeley’s rent control scheme, we concluded that “Here the [law] drastically and unnecessarily restricts the rent control board’s power to adjust rents, thereby making inevitable the arbitrary imposition of unreasonably low rent ceilings.” (Id. at p. 169.) Thus, this particular feature of Berkeley’s scheme was deemed to be constitutionally invalid not because its end result was actually “confiscatory,” in the sense in which Hope and its progeny employ that term, but because it was arbitrary and could not be rationally related to the legitimate state purpose of “eliminat[ing] excessive rents and at the same time provid [ing] landlords with a just and reasonable return on their property.” (Birkenfeld, supra, 17 Cal.3d at p. 165.)

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