Housing developments: urban lot split: owner-occupancy.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and digest do not provide specific details about the consequences of non-compliance with owner-occupancy requirements.

Owner-Occupancy Requirements for Urban Lot Splits

AB 2005 requires applicants of urban lot splits to either sign an affidavit stating they will occupy one unit as their principal residence or ensure that one unit remains owner-occupied for three years after sale.

What This Bill Does

• Requires local agencies to make applicants of urban lot splits sign an affidavit stating they will live in the property for at least three years.
• Allows applicants to require homebuyers to keep one unit owner-occupied for three years instead of signing the affidavit.
• Prohibits local agencies from imposing extra requirements or restrictions on urban lot split projects.
• Requires sellers of urban lot splits to inform buyers about any owner-occupancy rules that apply for three years after the sale.

Who It Names or Affects

• Applicants seeking to create urban lot splits
• Homebuyers purchasing units from urban lot splits
• Local agencies responsible for approving and regulating urban lot splits

Terms To Know

Urban Lot Split

Dividing a single property into two smaller lots, each with its own housing unit.

Owner-Occupancy Requirement

A rule that requires the owner to live in one of the units on the property for a certain period.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if an owner fails to comply with the three-year occupancy requirement.
• It is unclear how this will affect existing urban lot split projects that do not have these requirements in place.
• Local agencies must follow new procedures, but it's not clear how they will implement them.

Official Summary Text

AB 2005, as amended, Ahrens.
Housing developments: urban lot split: owner-occupancy.
Under the Planning and Zoning Law, the legislative body of a city or county may adopt ordinances that, among other things, regulate the use of buildings, structures, and land, as provided. The Subdivision Map Act vests the authority to regulate and control the design and improvement of subdivisions in the legislative body of a local agency and sets forth procedures governing the local agency’s processing, approval, conditional approval or disapproval, and filing of tentative, final, and parcel maps.
Existing law requires a local agency to ministerially approve a parcel map for an urban lot split if the development or parcel meets specified requirements. Existing law requires the local agency to require an applicant for an urban lot split to sign an affidavit stating that the applicant intends to occupy one of the housing units as their
principal residence for a minimum of 3 years from the date of the approval of the urban lot split. Existing law authorizes a local agency to adopt an ordinance to implement these provisions, as provided.
This bill would require the local agency to require an applicant to either sign the above-described affidavit requiring owner-occupancy or for the applicant to require, as a condition of sale to a homebuyer, that
all
one
of the units on both parcels of an urban lot split remain owner occupied for 3 years, beginning on the date a parcel or unit is conveyed by the applicant to a homebuyer. By increasing the duties of local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would impose prescribed recording and
notice requirements on this 2nd owner-occupancy requirement, as provided. The bill would provide that, for the purposes of either owner-occupancy requirement, an applicant may be the managing or authorized member of a limited liability company or the trustee of a living trust.
This bill would additionally prohibit a local agency from adopting or imposing any requirement, process, practice, or procedure, or undertaking any course of conduct, that applies to a project solely or partially on the basis that the project is an urban lot split, including, but not limited to, restricting the eligibility of an applicant of an urban lot split.
Existing law requires that specified disclosures be made upon any transfer by sale, exchange, real property sales contract, lease with an option to purchase, any other option to purchase, or ground lease coupled with improvements, of any single-family residential property.
This bill would require the seller of an urban lot split subject to the second owner-occupancy requirement described above to disclose, in writing, any owner-occupancy requirement for three years after the conveyance of an urban lot split unit.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Current Bill Text

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