Last week I attended a Rent Control Luncheon hosted by the Beverly Hills Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors. L.A.’s rent control laws are quite strict…any investor or person looking to purchase and occupy a multi-family dwelling really needs to know these laws BEFORE purchasing. Here are highlight notes I’d taken:

L.A. City:

 

  • Law Applications:

Rent control applies to 2 or more units (per lot) build prior to 1978

Rent control DOES NOT apply to single family homes

Rent control DOES apply to condos in most situations

Maximum allowable annual rent increase is 4%

  • Legal Eviction/Relocation

Qualified: 62 yrs+, disabled or family (parent(s) with children named on lease). $8550 relocation fee

Others: $3450 relocation fee

60 days from close of escrow (though there was much debate on this, even the spokesperson for LA City Rent Stabilization said he believes it MIGHT only be 30 days.

Legal relocation does not overrule a lease. Tenant has the right to stay through term of lease. i.e.….month-to-month, 60 days. Lease, expiration of lease or 60 days (whichever is longer).

  • Unlike West Hollywood, LA City landlords are not required to paint units every 4 years and replace carpets every 7 years. There currently aren’t any laws requiring LA city landlords to paint or replace carpet, however, by law, units ARE to remain in acceptable condition.
  • If a L.A. City landlord is out of compliance and caught by the rent stabilization board, the property may become part of a program called REAP, which is highly restricted and regulated by the board. (You DON’T want this to happen). For more information on this and everything else related to rent control laws in L.A. City, see www.lacity.org/lahd

 

Culver City, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Inglewood: NO rent control

 

Santa Monica:

 

  • Pretty much all laws pertaining to LA City also pertain to Santa Monica with the following increased restrictions:
  • 3 units or less (when owner/occupied) may become EXEMPT from rent control laws! However, when that owner sells the property to a non-owner/occupant, the building reverts back to rent control, and rents for current tenants are to be reduced to 1999-level rents + 4% annual (for 2006, for example, the rents would be converted this way: 1999 standard + 4% + 4% + 4%, etc…
  • If a buyer intends to owner/occupy, he can’t simply evict any tenant/unit he wishes. Rather, it must be a month-to-month tenant who has most recently moved into the building and is residing in a unit which most similarly matches the buyer’s needs (a single person/buyer couldn’t evict a family from a 2 or 3 bedroom unit if there are singles or 1 bedrooms in the building).
Advertisement