The Los Angeles City Council this week unanimously adopted an emergency ordinance aimed at halting “no-fault’’ evictions of many rental-unit tenants until Jan. 1, 2020 when a new state law takes effect providing similar protections.
Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month signed AB 1482, the Tenant Protections Act of 2019, which is designed to prevent rent gouging and arbitrary evictions. The law, however, does not take effect until the beginning of the year, raising fears that landlords will evict tenants or rapidly increase rents in advance of the law being enacted.
No-fault evictions are defined as tenants being evicted for reasons that are no fault of their own.
City Councilman Curren Price (Ninth District) commented that it has become increasingly challenging for many renters to keep a roof over their heads.
“People [are] at the mercy of some unscrupulous landlords who have been taking advantage of their desperate situations,” Price said. “Stories are flooding in of individuals having to resort to living in substandard conditions. Today’s action prevents further hemorrhaging of our current housing crisis by giving the power back to the people of the city of Los Angeles.”
David Michaelson, the city’s chief assistant attorney, said the ordinance adopted by the council Tuesday provides a new level of eviction protections that could go into effect by the end of the week, pending Mayor Eric Garcetti’s approval.
The ordinance establishes eviction protection for renters in non-rent-stabilized housing built before 2005.
A companion proposal to limit rent increases until the new year is still being worked on by city staff, according to Rick Coca, a spokesman for Councilwoman Nury Martinez.
Martinez said she wants to “create a rent-relief program for people to stay in their homes until Jan. 1.’’
“We need to ensure we have the right programs in place so we can get relief to these folks as soon as possible,’’ Martinez said.
According to Councilman Mitch O’Farrell’s office, the city’s Housing and Community Investment Department has reported a spike in the number of calls and inquiries about sudden eviction notices, suggesting that property owners are issuing no-fault eviction notices to tenants who pay low rents in advance of the state law taking effect.
O’Farrell said the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act and the Ellis Act put limits on the protections the city can enact on behalf of tenants.
“We have this two-and-a-half month window before the state law goes into effect because the state law did not have an emergency clause,’’ O’Farrell said. “We constantly are bumping up against two state laws that are harming our ability to protect renters.’’
Residents attending the council meeting called for a provision making the measure retroactive, with some saying they have already received no-fault eviction notices.
A woman who identified herself as Rose Serna said she had received a 60-day eviction notice while the state bill was still pending. She said she was supposed to vacate her apartment by Oct. 17, but her landlord was waiting for the council’s action to decide whether to enforce the notice.
As an example, Michaelson said if a tenant is issued a 60-day eviction notice and has 20 days left, the new city ordinance could stop the eviction.
“It does have a somewhat backward-looking view,’’ Michaelson said.
But he said tenants who were given eviction notices and have already reached their move-out dates may not be able to combat it.
“Where an eviction has already run its course and the tenant has been evicted … having a local law or state law try to unravel that, and the ramifications associated with that, presents legal concerns, no question about it,’’ Michaelson said.
According to city officials, 60 percent of the city’s residents are renters and a majority of them are rent-burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing.
Although about 76 percent of the multi-family rental units in Los Angeles are regulated by the Rent Stabilization Ordinance, which protects renters from large rent increases and arbitrary evictions, there are no similar protections for about 138,000 households that will be covered by the state law on Jan. 1.
