Santa Monica Sues 74 Landlords for Failure to Pay Rent Control Fees
Santa Monica’s Rent Control Board has sued 74 landlords for failure to pay the city rent control fees, which they have refused or neglected to collect from tenants.
Joel Levy, the board’s general counsel, said some landlords owe as much as $12,000 and that the total is between $50,000 and $100,000.
The city’s rent control law requires landlords to pay $84 a year per rental unit, then collect the cost from tenants.
Many landlords, Levy said, have failed to pay the fees for years, and some delinquencies date to the enactment of Santa Monica’s rent control law in 1979.
“Most landlords are paying their fees,” Levy said. “The people who are failing to pay are unfairly shifting their responsibilities onto the great number of landlords who comply with the law.”
He noted that there are about 3,000 landlords who collect nearly $3 million yearly to finance operation of the rent control administration.
Levy said that while the lawsuits have been filed in Santa Monica Municipal Court, his office will wait a few days before notifying landlords to give them an opportunity to settle their bills.
“I expect that a substantial number will want to settle the matter rather than go into litigation,” Levy said.
Levy said he is not certain what motivated landlords to forgo collection but that some may think their units are exempt.
The rent control board gives fee waivers for units occupied by owners and for units that are part of a federal or state rent subsidy program.
“But only the rent control board has the authority to establish such waivers,” Levy said. “In most cases, an appearance before the board is required before there is a waiver of fees.”
Levy said the board is trying to collect only money owed since 1982 because the statute of limitations governing such cases is three years.
He said a penalty of 5% a month on fees not paid since last November will be added to the payment to coincide with passage of a revision of the rent control charter giving the board authority to impose a penalty for nonpayment of fees.
