Earlier, we covered HB 4213, a COVID-19 related bill that prohibited certain residential and commercial evictions until September 30, 2020 and allowed qualifying tenants until March 31, 2021 to repay their back rent. By Executive Order 20-56, Governor Brown later extended the repayment period for residential tenants until June 30, 2021, but left the commercial repayment period to expire on March 31.
Now, Governor Brown has signed HB 2966 into law, thereby extending the repayment period for qualifying commercial tenants until September 30, 2021. To qualify for extended repayment, commercial tenants will need to have complied with all existing requirements under HB 4213 (payment of all amounts that came due after September 30, 2020 and written notice to the tenant’s landlord that it intends to take advantage of the grace period – see previous legal update for additional detail). Commercial tenants will also need to cooperate with any landlord efforts to apply for financial assistance.
HB 2966 is retroactive back to the prior expiration date of March 31, 2021. Eviction actions filed after March 31, 2021, and which have not been reduced to a judgment by the effective date of HB 2966 (June 14, 2021), shall either be stayed until October 1, 2021, or dismissed without prejudice or costs to any party. So long as the commercial tenant has complied with the requirements stated above, the bill prohibits all eviction activity through September 31, 2021 arising out of nonpayment of amounts that came due from April 1, 2020 through September 30, 2020 (the emergency period).