Pennell v. City of San Jose

Opinion

GRODIN, J.

Defendant city appeals, and plaintiffs landlord and association cross-appeal, from a judgment of the Santa Clara Superior Court (i) declaring part of defendant’s rent control ordinance facially unconstitutional and (ii) upholding the constitutionality of the ordinance’s rental unit fee provision. We affirm the latter ruling and reverse the former.

1. The City’s Appeal

In July 1979 the city enacted a rent control ordinance “to alleviate some of the more immediate needs created by San Jose’s housing situation. These needs include but are not limited to the prevention of excessive…