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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The majority err. There has been a taking of a substantial property right—plaintiff’s right to seek a fair and reasonable return from his property. Plaintiff has both a federal and a state constitutional right to recover the loss he suffered as a result of that taking from the Board. By mandating rents so low that its action denied plaintiff due process of law, the Board took from him a significant stick in the bundle of sticks that together constitute ownership of real property (see Kaiser Aetna v. United States (1979) 444 U.S. 164, 176 [100 S.Ct. 383, 391, 62 L.Ed.2d 332])—the opportunity to earn a reasonable return on his property. Since the rent ceiling imposed by the Board denied plaintiff the reasonable return his property would otherwise have earned, it necessarily denied plaintiff economically productive use of his rental property and to that extent took a right to which he was constitutionally entitled. Under both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution (Fifth Amendment) and article I, section 19 of the California Constitution (article I, section 19), plaintiff must be compensated for that taking by the governmental entity that took his property. It is not sufficient that he is permitted to raise the rent paid by his tenants from which increases he may eventually recoup his losses. I The “Takings” Clause and Rent Control

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