152 Valparaiso Associates v. City of Cotati

Appellants 152 Valparaiso Associates, 402 Grand Avenue Associates, and 378 Belmont Associates contend the trial court wrongly sustained a demurrer and dismissed this lawsuit, which alleges that the rent control system of respondents the City of Cotati and the Cotati Rent Appeals Board has accomplished a taking of appellants’ property without just compensation, in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and article I, section 19 of the California Constitution. We agree and, therefore, vacate the judgment of dismissal.

I. Facts and Procedural History

Appellants are the owners of residential rental property in Cotati. Their property is subject to respondents’ rent control ordinance and regulations.

The stated purpose of respondents’ rent control laws includes the preservation of an affordable stock of residential rental units in the city for low-income renters, renters who are aged or on fixed incomes, and students.

However, according to the allegations of the first amended complaint and the United States Census Bureau figures referred to therein, respondents’ rent control laws have not advanced those goals. The complaint…