Sec. 8-2.03. Rental inventory fees.
A. Rental Inventory Fees.A rental inventory fee shall be imposed annually for each rental unit owned by the landlord. Each landlord shall pay the required rental inventory fees upon registration of their rental unit(s). The City Council shall set the rental inventory fee on a per rental unit basis and the fee shall be adopted and integrated into the City’s Master Fee Schedule by resolution of the City Council, as required by Section 19-103 of Article 4 (Fee and Service Charge Revenue/Cost Comparison System) of Chapter 19 (Licenses, Fees and Charges) of the Monterey City Code. The rental inventory fee required by this section is in addition to and not in lieu of any general business license tax that might be required by Chapter 19 of the Monterey City Code. The fees shall be used to defray the reasonable costs associated with the implementation and administration of this Chapter, including costs of maintenance of a rent inventory database, enforcement of the registration required by this Chapter, outreach, education, and other services as deemed appropriate by the Community Development Director pursuant to Section 8-2.00.
B. Late Fees--Penalties.A landlord’s failure to pay the annual rental inventory fees required by this section shall result in the City taking the following actions:
1.Issue a delinquency notice to the owner that provides up to thirty (30) days to pay the amount due.
2.If not paid within thirty (30) days following the issuance of the delinquency notice, the City shall assess a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the rental inventory fee, due and payable with the rental inventory fee on the first day of the month following the due date provided in the delinquency notice.
3.For every thirty (30) days thereafter that the rental inventory fees remain unpaid, the City shall assess a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the rental inventory fee. If the rental inventory fees remain unpaid within one hundred eighty (180) days following the issuance of the delinquency notice, the landlord shall be subject to a citation described in Division 1 (Administrative Citations) of Article 2 of Chapter 1--General Provisions of the Monterey City Code.
The City may collect any past due rental inventory fees and/or late payment penalties by use of all available legal means, including, but not limited to, means available for the collection of judgments, liens, and actions for recovery of money. The City also may recover its collection costs.
C. Rental Inventory Fees Pass-Through.A landlord may recover up to fifty percent (50%) of the rental inventory fee, excluding any associated late penalties, from their tenant(s).
1. Notice Required.A landlord who purports to recover any portion of the rental inventory fee from their tenant(s) shall provide the tenant(s), on a form created and published by the City, with thirty (30) days’ advance written notice of the dollar amount of the rental inventory fee to be recovered, an explanation of the rental inventory fee and a summary of the services to which the tenant has access pursuant to Section 8-2.04.
2. Separate Line Item.To the extent that a landlord provides a tenant with a monthly rental statement, the landlord shall list the rental inventory fee as a separate line item on the rental statement for the month(s) during which the landlord seeks to recover the rental inventory fee from the tenant.
D. Exemptions.This section shall not apply to the following rental units:
1. Subsidized Rental Units.Rental units in the housing developments are restricted by deed, regulatory restriction contained in an agreement with a government agency, or other recorded document as affordable to persons and families of very low-, low-, or moderate-income, as defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code, or subject to an agreement that provides housing subsidies for affordable housing for persons and families of very low-, low-, or moderate-income as defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code or comparable federal statutes.
2. Mobile Home Spaces.A lot or space of land in a mobile home park where a mobile home is or may be located. Mobile home and mobile home park shall have the same meaning as the definitions of “mobilehome” defined in Section 798.3 of the Civil Code and “mobilehome park” defined in Section 798.4 of the Civil Code, respectively, as those sections may be amended from time to time, or their successor code sections.
3. Accessory Dwelling Units.Legal accessory dwelling units, junior accessory dwelling units, and second dwelling units, if the primary dwelling is owner-occupied. If the primary dwelling is presently or has previously been held out for rental, then both units are subject to this section.
4. Owner-Occupied Residences.Any residential dwelling unit where the owner of record occupies the dwelling unit as their principal residence, rents out one (1) or more bedrooms in the dwelling unit, and regularly shares in the use of kitchen or bath facilities with the tenants.
5. Small Property Owner Exemption.Any rental unit that is exempt from the registration requirements pursuant to Section 8-2.02(D). (Ord. 3671 § 5, 2023)