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Housing

Every story on LexCircuit filed under housing: court orders, regulation, ethics opinions, litigation and research, each summarized across its sources.

11 stories

CAL.Regulation

California pilots partial property-tax exemption for moderate-income rental housing

Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1294 on September 29, 2026. It adds subdivision (h) to Revenue and Taxation Code section 214, a pilot partial welfare exemption equal to the value of rental units serving low- and moderate-income households. It covers properties in Alameda County, Sacramento County or San Francisco where units are newly built, or converted from commercial use, between January 1, 2027, and January 1, 2030.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Office of the Governor
CAL.Regulation

California requires ministerial approval of qualifying townhome subdivisions

Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1751, the Missing Middle Townhome Ownership Act, on September 29, 2026. New Government Code sections 66499.45 and following subject qualifying townhome subdivisions to ministerial approval on sites zoned for multifamily use or underutilized single-family-only sites. New parcels must be at least 600 square feet, with units in fee-simple, condominium, community-land-trust, limited-equity-cooperative or tenancy-in-common ownership, and tenant, rent-control and demolition protections apply.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Office of the Governor
CAL.Regulation

California makes density-bonus approvals nondiscretionary and exempt from CEQA review

Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2433 on September 29, 2026, amending the Density Bonus Law, Government Code section 65915. From January 1, 2027, a city or county's grant of a density bonus, incentive or concession, or waiver of development standards is not discretionary and requires no CEQA review. Once an application is deemed complete, the city or county must give the applicant a density-bonus eligibility determination. Applicants filing a base density study may elect a floor-area-ratio bonus.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Office of the Governor
CAL.Regulation

California requires early estimates of housing-project improvement costs

Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1014 on September 29, 2026. New Government Code section 65941.3 lets housing applicants request a preliminary estimate of required onsite and offsite improvements, which the city or county must provide within 30 business days with a good-faith list of improvement types and costs. Within 30 business days of deeming a postentitlement permit application complete, the city must give an itemized list of required improvements and generally may not require unlisted ones.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Office of the Governor
CAL.Regulation

California lets defendants move to strike suits against priority care developments and doubles housing-suit bond cap

Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1344 on September 29, 2026. New Code of Civil Procedure section 425.21 lets defendants bring a special motion to strike lawsuits challenging approval or permitting of priority care developments, which provide housing tied to behavioral-health services and other specified purposes. The court denies the motion only if the petitioner shows a probability of prevailing. SB 1344 also raises the cap on undertakings in suits against qualifying housing projects from $500,000 to $1 million.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Office of the Governor
CAL.Regulation

California widens Infill Infrastructure Grant eligibility to streamlined housing sites

Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 772 (Ch. 804, Stats. 2026) on September 29, 2026. It amends Health and Safety Code 53559 and 53559.1 to widen the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program of 2019: qualifying infill projects may sit on sites mostly bordered by previously developed urban uses, and qualifying infill areas include sites made ready for streamlined housing under the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022. HCD must rank applications on on-demand transit access and walkability.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Office of the Governor
CAL.Regulation

California extends emergency rent-gouging limits to all rental housing and narrows landlord exemptions

Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1365 on September 30, 2026, amending Penal Code section 396. From January 1, 2027, the emergency price-gouging ban covers rental housing regardless of initial lease length, and existing exemptions become affirmative defenses. Rent increases above 10% are defensible for repair costs only if incurred within a year before the emergency, while the unit was rented or offered for rent or intended for rent within six months.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Office of Governor Gavin Newsom
UKRegulation

UK Online Procedure Rules possession pilots go live in three county courts

England and Wales’s first Online Procedure Rules possession-claim pilots went live at noon on September 29, 2026, at Bradford, Huddersfield, and Wandsworth county courts, the Online Procedure Rule Committee and Legal Futures reported. The initial phase is limited to registered social landlords in covered postcodes; a Wales pilot at Caernarfon begins October 15, 2026, and Civil Procedure Rules still fill gaps such as appeals and enforcement.

Text (GOV.UK / Online Procedure Rule Committee) → · Legal Futures

Rulings this week

All court orders

CAL.Regulation

Newsom signs wildfire recovery package: smoke-damage insurance rules and permanent mortgage forbearance

Governor Gavin Newsom signed four wildfire-recovery bills in Altadena on September 15, 2026. Assembly Bills 1642 and 1795 direct state agencies to set standards for testing and remediating lead and asbestos contamination from wildfire smoke, require insurers to cover qualifying testing, cleanup and restoration, and bar cutoff of living-expense coverage until homes are safe. Assembly Bills 1842 and 1847 create permanent mortgage-forbearance protections and double the forbearance window for Los Angeles fire survivors from 12 to 24 months.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California, Desert Sun, Los Angeles Issue