A. It is the purpose and intent of this chapter to provide housing stability through adoption of local protections against arbitrary terminations of residential tenancies and to increase certainty and fairness in the residential rental market within the city in order to promote the health, safety, and general welfare of Petaluma residents and property owners.

B. This chapter is enacted to further the purposes of and in partial reliance on the statewide rent control regulations codified in California Civil Code Section 1947.12, part of the Act, and in California Penal Code Section 396 during times of declared emergency. This chapter is intended to exercise the city’s constitutional police power in Article XI, Sections 5 and 7 of the California Constitution and the authority granted in California Government Code Section 1946.2, part of the Act.

C. This chapter is intended to provide tenant protections in addition to those in the Act by: commencing tenant protections sooner than does the Act; regulating residential tenant relocation assistance; prescribing required notice of tenants’ rights under this chapter; and the just causes based on which landlords of rental dwelling units located within the city may terminate specified residential tenancies in the city.

D. This chapter is also intended to support the interests of residential property owners in: enforcing the lawful terms of their rental agreements; renting their property for temporary tenancies; and exiting the rental housing market, including upon sale of a rental unit.