11/29/2022
Take Action Tuesday, November 2022
L.A. City Council Votes This Week
The L.A. City Council will vote on multiple issues related to the eviction moratorium this week, which makes it the perfect time for all L.A. City rental property owners to post a public comment or email the council members. There should also be action on the county level as well, so please feel free to use any part of the sample letter below to share with your representatives.
A Few Items on the L.A. City Agenda:
End the moratorium on January 31st, 2023 (Council File 21-0042-S3)
End the rent freeze on January 31st, 2024 (Ridiculous extension!)
Change the tenant relocation fee structure for non-RSO properties to match properties under the City RSO. This would be a massive relocation fee increase for owners not currently under rent control. (Report R22-0414)
Prohibit evictions for non-payment of rent when the amount owed is less than “a month’s rent” (not what the real rent amount is but rather a number determined by bureaucrats).
Remove the requirement for tenants to provide notice of COVID hardship within seven days of rent becoming due. (Which will enable more fraud) Link to the recommendation
Commercial Evictions in L.A. City
There was no mention of expressly repealing "SEC. 49.99.3. PROHIBITION ON COMMERCIAL EVICTIONS". Without this wording in the ordinance, the commercial eviction protections will stay in place.
For “Take Action Tuesday” please post a public comment for the L.A. City Councilmembers. We have provided a sample letter that you can use in whole or in part further down in this email.
L.A. County - December 1st
Many of you heard the good news regarding AOA and AAGLA's joint lawsuit against L.A. County. Back in late October, Judge Pregerson declared the L.A. County Eviction Moratorium was “unconstitutionally vague”, ordering that changes be made or else the moratorium would end on December 1st.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors passed “revisions'' to the Eviction Moratorium amongst themselves; among the revisions, they voted to expand “no-fault” eviction protections. However, the revisions still need to be approved by Judge Pergeson. We don't believe the latest revisions bring the eviction moratorium into compliance with the changes required by Judge Pregerson. All eyes are on Judge Pregerson as the December 1st deadline approaches.
If you have property in L.A. County, please post a public comment for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. We have provided a sample letter that you can use in whole or in part further down in this email.
________________________________________________________________________
Sample letter for L.A. City Council:
Dear City Council Members:
Tuesday marks Day 1,000 since the beginning of the eviction moratorium. I oppose this draft ordinance’s rent freeze. Rents have already been frozen for 32 months! All expenses related to maintaining rental property have increased, far out-pacing the CPI inflation numbers. Utility rates, SCEP fees, RecycleLA rates, and relocation fees have all increased.
Unless you’re willing to take a retroactive pay cut and work at your 2019 salary level and cut the entire city budget back to the budget size back at the end of 2019, then you would be a hypocrite to impose a rent increase freeze on housing providers. Inflation impacts both owners and renters. Will you make rules for others that you would never make for yourself? Rental property owners will be very grateful if you brought a swift end to the rent freeze.
Tenant Relocation Fees: I also strongly oppose imposing higher relocation fees for those owners with newer buildings and single-family homes. This tenant protection is already covered by AB 1482. Do you remember why there was a carve-out for newer buildings and single family homes? It was because you knew that this would discourage even more new development. You knew it then, what has changed? Bad policies like this have contributed to a decrease in housing inventory.
Do you want to encourage the creation of more units? If so, you need to unify RSO tenant relocation fees to match those of the state! In addition to discouraging the creation of new units, instituting more draconian relocation fees on smaller owners and owners of newer buildings will inadvertently cause the process of approving applicants for housing more difficult and raise the bar for tenant qualification criteria.
Is the goal to create more housing or just control more housing? Relocation fees to the tune of “three (3) times the fair market rent (FMR) in the Los Angeles Metro area … for a rental unit of a similar size, plus $1,411, in moving costs”?
The constant chipping away at owner protections discourages the development of new multi-family units and ADUs.
I strongly oppose a monetary threshold to evict. Tenants already have free legal aid available to them when they face eviction. Setting a monetary threshold of rents owed before an owner can evict will cause all rents to increase. There are many owners that are proud to be charging below market rents; however, they will have no choice but to increase rents to market rate in order to regain their ability to enforce contracts. Owners need legal protection; if what is proposed passes, owners will have a legal incentive to raise the rent. This recommendation kills organic affordable housing.
Revise the COVID hardship declaration form! Removing the requirement for tenants to provide notice of COVID hardship within seven days of rent becoming due will enable more COVID hardship fraud! You can find a sample revised COVID Hardship Declaration Form at: https://aoausa.com/downloads/basis-for-covid-hardship-declaration.pdf.
Don’t Forget Commercial Owners! There was no mention of expressly repealing "SEC. 49.99.3. PROHIBITION ON COMMERCIAL EVICTIONS". Without this wording in the ordinance, the commercial eviction protections will stay in place.
Thank you for voting for what is best for everyone instead of mis-guided tenant right’s groups.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Click here to post a public comment for the L.A. City Councilmembers.
________________________________________________________________________
Sample letter for L.A. County Board of Supervisors:
Dear County Board of Supervisors:
Thank you for implementing some of the suggestions that AOA made back in August. Over the duration of the moratorium, 985+ days, inflation has exceeded the 7.5% increase in the proposed revision. So, if you can prove inflation, then you can claim COVID hardship? You are insulting the intelligence of all of us.
Solution: Limit “increased costs” strictly to medical-related expenses. This number should be a number large enough to impact the ability to pay rent. The amount of COVID-protected rent debt should not exceed the total amount of additional medical expenses.
Inflation and COVID are two separate issues, although both issues impacted owners and renters. When “financial hardship” is used, it refers to medical bills, unforeseen childcare expenses, or other expenses due to COVID - not gas and groceries. The way this is written continues to enable tenants to commit fraud. Shouldn’t these protections be reserved for genuine cases?
With the way this is written, a 10% decrease in income is also vague. That should be a percentage decrease related to each specific month that COVID hardship is claimed. You need to make this very clear. It has not been clarified!
Solution: Set a limit to the amount of COVID protected rent debt to the difference between 2019 tax reported income and the average of reported income from 2020 and 2021. If there was no decrease in reported income, then there is no COVID hardship protection. Or, if only declaring COVID hardship in 2021, then the difference between 2019’s reported income and 2021’s reported income should be considered. Again, if there is no decrease, there is no COVID hardship protection. If there is a $1,000 decrease, then that amount only should fall under COVID hardship protection.
WIth the burden to prove financial hardship, the COVID Hardship Declaration form utilized by the county needs revision. It is vague. It needs to be made easier to indicate the extent of the protection requested.
Solution: Please refer to the proposed revisions to the Basis for COVID Hardship Declaration Form that AOA submitted to you back in August.
AOA also suggested that a mechanism be created to provide consent to the rental property owner for third-party verification of financial information, to prove COVID-related hardship. We live in the modern era, where Photoshop can be used to edit bank statements. Without the ability to look at credit lines and bank accounts through a third party, this will be another area where fraud will be committed.
Solution: Original tax documents should be required to show previous and current income rates. Please recognize that there are a large number of tenants that are committing fraudulent COVID hardship declarations.
In the case of additional unauthorized occupants, you’re encouraging a free-ride for some tenants. It’s usually a $100 charge for an extra tenant. If you wanted to protect them from eviction, that’s one thing, but they shouldn’t get a free ride. There are utility costs and wear and tear on the property.
Solution: Require additional unauthorized occupants to prove COVID hardship. If they cannot prove COVID hardship, then they should not be protected from eviction.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Your Name
Copy and paste your public comment for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors here.
Email list for L.A. County Board of Supervisors:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Email list for L.A. City Councilmembers:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Copyright © 2022 Apartment Owners Association of California, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
WebsiteFacebookYouTube
