In college towns like Davis, lease terms often match the academic calendar. Predatory landlords have exploited this tendency by forcing tenants to renew leases six or more months in advance in order for tenants to secure stable housing for the coming academic year.

This practice places an unreasonable burden on renters who must anticipate housing conditions six or more months in advance. This also inhibits non-students from finding secure housing in Davis throughout the year. The COVID-19 pandemic further revealed the gravity of these predatory lease renewal conditions. Many Davis renters who were forced to sign leases before the pandemic were unjustly subjected to rent for housing in which they could not live due to the unprecedented circumstances of a global pandemic. Overall, this practice has placed upon Davis renters financial, legal, and mental health burdens to which they would not be subjected in communities with greater housing security.

1. We demand that the Davis City Council create a city ordinance that protects tenants from landlords' unreasonable insistence that tenants renew their residential leases more than 60 days before their current lease ends.
2. To further protect tenants from retaliation by landlords, we demand that the City of Davis immediately prepare tenant protections in line with the Sacramento Tenant Protection Act (Chapter 5.156 of Sacramento City Code).
3. We also demand that the City of Davis and UC Davis leaders immediately address the lack of accessible, affordable housing exacerbated by unchecked landlords, including UC Davis itself, and enforce and expand renters-rights protections.
4. Finally, we demand that the UC Davis not only adhere to this ordinance in all residential leases on university property, but also endorse it as an affirmation of the dignity of all renters essential to the maintenance of a climate of equity and justice as stated in the UCD Principles of Community.