It’s pretty bleak these days for Los Angeles renters on the hunt for an affordable place to live. With a rental vacancy rate of just 2.7 percent (the national average is 7 percent), competition for housing in the LA metro area is steep, and prices are reflecting that.
In the midst of these unaffordable housing woes is an upswing in Ellis Act evictions. The Ellis Act allows landlords to evict tenants in order to demolish the building or take it off the rental market, in return for paying a relocation fee for the evicted tenants. (Getting out of the landlord business can prove very lucrative, whether its to sell the property to developers or place the property on Airbnb).
All this comes at a dramatic cost to LA’s already struggling rental market. In April, the Los Angeles Times revealed that evictions from rent-controlled units have doubled since 2013. The number of affordable rental units removed from the housing market has tripled in the same timeframe.
So, Mayor Eric Garcetti, along with the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department, is launching a new campaign called "Home for Renters" to help renters better understand their rights as tenants. The campaign will use "cutting edge" ads, flyers, and doorhangers to ensure tenants in LA’s "most vulnerable" neighborhoods are aware of the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, passed in 1979.
The longstanding ordinance sets guidelines for what is a legally allowable reason for eviction, outlines the types of evictions that require landlords to pay tenants' relocation costs, and puts limitations on how much a landlord can raise rents. Nearly 624,000 rental units, or 75 percent of the city’s apartment stock, falls under the rent control ordinance.
The new campaign also has a home online at the newly redesigned housing and community investment department website, where there's a handy downloadable guidebook on the "ABC's of the RSO."
- 10 Los Angeles Renters' Rights Your Landlord Doesn't Want You to Know [Curbed LA]
- Los Angeles Has the Fewest Available Rentals of Any of the Biggest US Cities [Curbed LA]
- LA Rent-Control Evictions Have Doubled Since 2013 [Curbed LA]
- LA landlords face criminal charges after booting tenants [Curbed LA]
Comments
Why is there NEVER ANY PROTECTION FOR LANDLORDS.?
SomeTenants don’t pay rent. Tenants destroy apartments.
Some tenants wait to be evicted so they can live rent free for months.
I am retired and my rents support me but there is no help or advice for me as a landlord.
WHY IS THAT MR MAYOR.
I WORKED MY WHOLE LIFE TO RETIRE AND YOU DO MOTHING TO HELP LANDLORDS
WHO ARE FAIR AND GOOD LIKE ME.
By Handbag on 07.12.16 5:13pm
…perhaps ask another landlord a few questions?
By otisthedrifter on 07.12.16 6:52pm
Well, landlords are professionals (or should be) while tenants are not. So why should the City tell a bunch of professionals how to do their job? On the other hand, tenants don’t know the rules and this lack of knowledge can be exploited by landlords . In other words, there is an unequal level of knowledge between landlords and tenants about the laws/ordinances that govern their contractual relationship. So the City goes ahead and tries to make it easier for the common person to understand their rights (remember, a lease is a property RIGHT) and you shit on it by crying that no one thinks of the landlords? Come on, get real.
In case you are wondering, I’m a landlord. I think of it as a job and so I learn how to do my job just like any other job. What are your expectations of being a landlord? Since you said you are retired, it sounds like you would have enough time to figure this out. Start with the basics – read a couple of books on being a landlord. Join one of the apartment owners associations – they can be a great resource with a lot of helpful landlords. You can even advocate for changes to the laws to make it easier to evict. In other words, there is a lot you can do yourself besides complaining about the City trying to make its rules easier to understand.
Finally, the rules for running apartments in L.A. have been around for decades. If you don’t like them, you can buy an apartment building in one of other 87 cities of L.A. County or in an unincorporated area. Plus, prices for apartment buildings are sky-high at the moment. If you want to sell, you would get top dollar and maybe could find a building in a city that has less stringent eviction proceedings.
By I Like Buildings on 07.15.16 1:05pm
Let me guess. You are a developer of luxury housing and not subject to rent control.
By lahope on 07.16.16 1:52pm
you can join the apartment renters association for I think around $100 annually and they have all kinds of resources including legal support. if you end up with a crappy tenant you have to go through the legal system to deal with it. it’s costly and unpleasant. that’s why it’s so important to select your tenants very carefully and make sure they have credit scores above 700. that type of tenant has a lot of incentive to pay the rent on time etc because they want to maintain that credit score. this is why I would never own rental property in crummy neighborhoods where the vast majority of renters do not have very good credit.
By LAoneWay on 07.13.16 7:21am
The Home For Renters campaign includes resources for landlords as well as tenants, including downloadable pocket guides for both: http://hcidla.lacity.org/home-for-renters
By dando guerra on 07.13.16 10:48am
The sad thing is it is renters and criminals who have more rights and protections in Los Angeles over those who own and work hard for a living.
By lady who lunches on 07.14.16 10:23am
My landlord doesn’t work hard for a living. They hire someone else to do the routine maintenance.
By michael_weho on 07.14.16 3:29pm
Thats funny there is a ad to the right for me about Yoga Pants. And the Mayor story is above. HA HA HA!!!
By beachwooddude on 07.14.16 12:16pm
The landlords may have the Ellis Act (the right to go out of business, a state law), but low income tenants have the Shriver Act which provides unlimited legal assistance via "tenants’ rights" law firms. These outfits use every possible means to delay court proceedings even for simple non payment of rent, giving the tenant plenty of time to destroy the unit. Furthermore, Ellis Act evictions amount to a very tiny percentage of available units. Where is the outcry when the planning commission approves turning an apartment building into a hotel as was recently done in Hollywood or approving Snapchat to lease an entire apartment building to house their workers while decreeing draconian penalties for residents acting as home sharing hosts in their own homes? Where is the outrage when huge luxury mixed users are approved by the Planning Commission that are not meant for low income tenants or subject to rent control? Why is it that Mom ’n Pop owners of older buildings and home sharing hosts are always the scapegoats, never those who approve and develop luxury housing?
By lahope on 07.16.16 1:50pm