LOS ANGELES – The Board of Supervisors Tuesday adopted two permanent rent stabilization ordinances to take effect April 1 in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, including Quartz Hill, Lake Los Angeles and Littlerock.
The votes on the ordinances, which cover both rental properties and land leases in mobile home parks, were 4-1, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger dissenting.
Under the new regulations, rent increases for non-luxury units will be limited to the annual change in the Consumer Price Index, with a maximum of 8%. Properties exempt from the caps on rent include units built after 1995, condominiums, single-family homes and public housing. The rental ordinance also prohibits evictions without just cause.
The mobile home ordinance limits increases on space rentals to 75% of the CPI with an 8% maximum.
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and other champions of the rent controls said they would help prevent people from falling into homelessness, while opponents said the regulations would stifle new housing supply.
The rental ordinance also limits landlords to passing through only 50% of the cost of property improvements to tenants and requires them to pay a lump sum to tenants who are temporarily displaced or evicted for “no-fault” reasons — which include ending a lease because a landlord’s family member is moving in or taking the property off the rental market.
That lump sum — to be set by the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs — is expected to be higher for seniors, low-income and disabled tenants. Recommendations in board documents set payments to a senior permanently displaced from a one-bedroom apartment at $10,675 and to a low- income renter permanently displaced from a one-bedroom apartment at $12,688.
Tenants or landlords seeking more information can find it by calling 833-223-RENT (7368), emailing rent@dcba.lacounty.gov or at http://rent.lacounty.gov.
Previous related stories:
L.A. County set to impose permanent rent control for unincorporated areas
Signature-gathering approved for rent control initiative
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surfside 6 says
This is wonderful. Unless of course you happen to be one of the irrelevant slobs who acquired these properties to generate personal profit rather than a mandatory act of police enforced philanthropy. Because if you were,…you might just move out of this county and state as fast and completely as possible. And do so permanently, with pleasure.