San Jose has opened a petition period for landlords hoping to offset losses after discontinuing the use of Ratio Utility Billing Systems.
The petition period opened today, July 5, and runs until Oct. 31. Any petition received after Oct. 31 will not be considered.
If granted an offset, landlords with existing tenants who are paying a RUBS charge can petition for a portion of that charge to be added to the tenant’s monthly base rent.
This spring, the City Council voted to ban the use of RUBS in the city’s rent controlled housing, defined as buildings constructed before 1979 with three units or more.
Some property owners use RUBS to divide utility bills among tenants based on the number of renters in the building or square footage.
Owners who signed a new lease between Jan. 1 and May 1 of this year are eligible to apply for the offset, as long as they can establish that charging RUBS is a standard business practice, defined by employing the practice before June of 2017. Owners will not be allowed to charge RUBS for any tenancies created after May 1.
Landlords can access the petition for RUBS offsets here.
The offset petition may be submitted by mail to the Rent Stabilization Program at 200 E. Santa Clara St., San José, CA 95113 or electronically to RSP@sanjoseca.gov with subject line “RUBS Petition – Your Property Address.”
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