Eviction Notices Served; Thousand Oaks Delays New Rent Control Law

Enactment of a new rent control law was put off by the Thousand Oaks City Council after one of the city’s landlords served eviction notices on residents of a 496-unit apartment complex and threatened to keep the buildings vacant to protest the measure.

Tenants of the Oakview apartments, many of them senior citizens, were served with 30-day eviction notices late Monday, informing them that the building’s owner, Standard Investments Co. of Los Angeles, would “no longer operate the project because of the city’s pending rent control legislation.”

Called Blackmail

Lawrence Kates, a partner in the firm, said he agreed to withdraw the eviction notices only after officials of the Ventura County city said they would delay for at least six months the rent control law that was scheduled to be given final approval Tuesday.

Mayor Alex T. Fiore called the landlord’s action a form of “blackmail.” But Fiore and other city officials conceded that there was little they could do to prevent the evictions except to agree to Kates’ demand.

Under the state’s Ellis Act, which became effective July 1, local governments are prohibited from blocking landlords from emptying their buildings and withdrawing from the residential rental business.

Limit on Rent Increases

The new rent control law would limit yearly rent increases to 7% for the more than 3,600 apartment units citywide. The law would have expanded a 6-year-old ordinance, which covers only about a quarter of the apartments in Thousand Oaks.

The council did pass an emergency ordinance extending the current law, scheduled to expire Oct. 31, for another six months. It limits rent increases for apartments still covered by the law to 3% for that period.