In a move to stave off a surge in rent increases and evictions by landlords in Los Angeles, Councilmembers Curren Price (Ninth District) and Mitch O’Farrell (13th District) have co-introduced a motion directing staff to draft an emergency ordinance to implement a temporary moratorium on “no-fault” evictions for rental units built prior to Jan. 1, 2006.
On Oct. 8, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1482 into law. Also known as the “Tenant Protections Act of 2019,” the law is designed to address a key cause of our state’s affordable housing crisis by preventing rent gouging and arbitrary evictions. The Tenant Protections Act of 2019 becomes effective Jan. 1, 2020, establishing the strongest statewide law in the country to protect renters in non-rent stabilized housing.
However, the city’s Housing and Community Investment Department is reporting a spike in the number of calls and inquiries from community advocates and tenants facing sudden eviction notices, while a prominent eviction attorney is on record as advising property owners at a trade show to quickly issue no-fault eviction notices to tenants who pay low rents in advance of the Act’s new protections.
“We are possibly witnessing the unintended consequences of a law that was designed to assist our low-income earners and families who struggle on the margins,” O’Farrell said. “We are in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, and as lawmakers we must do everything in our power to protect those renters who may face rent gouging from landlords who are trying to take advantage of a window of opportunity.”
“While landlords may properly evict tenants for cause under the provisions of state law, landlords should not be able to evict tenants in good standing for no reason simply to avoid the limitations on rent-gouging afforded to renters under the new legislation,” Price said. “Just [recently], my office heard from a number of tenants whose rent hiked more than 150 percent within the last year alone. This includes: one senior citizen on Section 8 housing who has been living at a CD 9 facility for three decades; a city of LA employee who is raising her three young daughters in our community; and a grandmother living with her granddaughter and her great granddaughter who is exhausting her savings just to cover the increases in rent. We simply can’t allow massive rent increases and unjust evictions to happen anymore.
Once the AB 1482 goes is in effect on Jan. 1, 2020, the state will begin to regulate how much Californians’ rent can increase every year, limiting it to 5 percent, plus the local rate of inflation. The rules, however, will vary for cities that already have rent control laws. The measure will expire in 2030 (unless lawmakers vote to extend it).
