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Indeed I do. The newish law requires California landlords to include specific language in their leases or rental agreements when they offer a rental to a new tenant. Sounds to me as if the language was written by a whole herd of lawyers, so bear with me while I attempt to wrap my tongue around it. In the written document that you hand new tenants, you must include every word that follows.

Notice: The California Department of Justice, sheriff's departments, police departments serving jurisdictions of 200,000 or more and many other local law enforcement authorities maintain for public access a data base of the locations of persons required to register pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 290.4 of the Penal Code. The database is updated on a quarterly basis and a source of information about the presence of these individuals in any neighborhood. The Department of Justice also maintains a Sex Offender Identification Line through which inquiries about individuals may be made. This is a "900" telephone service. Callers must have specific information about individuals they are checking. Information regarding neighborhoods is not available through the "900" telephone service. (Civil Code Sec. 2079.10a)

So there you have it. Not poetic, but The Law. Ask each new tenant to sign a receipt acknowledging that he or she has received this information -- and keep all the signed receipts.

One final caveat. If you know of people in your building or in the neighborhood who might pose a threat to a tenant, you may have to disclose this information, too. Merely informing a tenant of the possibility of calling the 900 number does not mean that you can ignore hard information you have at hand and mind.

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