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I discovered that the border between two cities runs through an apartment that I am renting. There are two official parcels, one in one city (City A) and one in another (City B), they are both in the same county in California. The building straddles the line between the two cities.

  1. My living room is in City A and my Bedroom is in City B

  2. My mailing address is in City B but the Entrance is in City A

  3. There are two tax assessments, same address number, different city.

What does this situation mean for me in terms of

  1. Which tenant laws apply to me
  2. Where I register to vote

Additionally, in this situation, which address should be listed on a lease agreement. The real property address (entrance) or the effective mailing address.

2 Answers2

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The location of your residence entrance is irrelevant for the law, what matters most is your "street address", i.e. mailing address. That is the address (therefore city) that you use for voter registration, and basically how you identify "where I live". If you lives 5 miles out in the country in an unincorporated area, you'd still use Needles (e.g.) as you mailing address: but you would not be able to vote for a mayor of Needles, just based on your mailing address.

Both municipalities might claim jurisdiction based on the physical location of the property, especially for matters of building code. It should not be possible for both municipalities to tax the full value of your property, but they could split the assessment proportionally. The cities themselves are not collecting the tax, the county is (though property straddling a county line raises an interesting question).

user6726
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That's a fascinating circumstance, but I would say it has limited bearing on you as a tenant, except for a couple of issues. I say this because landlord-tenant laws in most U.S. jurisdictions are a matter of state law, and litigation is handled at the county level.

Exceptions that might apply are city-level ordinances, such as safety requirements; some cities have additional requirements for landlords.

Another issue (that you raise) is properly identifying the property at issue in the lease. Ambiguity can kill any contract, including a lease. In most residential leases a mailing address or 911 address is sufficient, but it may be helpful to add additional identifying information in this case (county tax parcel ID(s), for example).

I'm sure there are other issues, some may not even be foreseeable.

I look forward to hearing more experienced voices offer opinions.

Eric Rainey
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