(a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), any person who, without the owner’s or owner’s agent’s consent, claims ownership or claims or takes possession of a residential dwelling for the purpose of renting that dwelling to another is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both that imprisonment and fine. Each violation is a separate offense.

(b) Except as provided in subdivision (c), any person who, without the owner’s or owner’s agent’s consent, causes another person to enter or remain in any residential dwelling for the purpose of renting that dwelling to another, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by both that imprisonment and fine. Each violation is a separate offense.

(c) This section does not apply to any tenant, subtenant, lessee, sublessee, or assignee, nor to any other hirer having a lawful occupancy interest in the residential dwelling.

(d) Nothing in this section shall preclude the prosecution of a person under any other applicable provision of law.

(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that this section shall not preclude the prosecution of a person on grand theft or fraud charges. The Legislature finds that this section has never precluded prosecution of a person on grand theft or fraud charges.

(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 580, Sec. 1. (AB 1800) Effective January 1, 2011.)