Local News in Brief : Lax Landlords Targeted

Landlords who fail to pay an apartment building’s utilities may face up to six months in an apartment of another kind--one with bars--under an ordinance given tentative approval Friday.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 11 to 0 to fine or jail any landlord who has the ability to pay a master-meter water and power bill, but who after adequate notice refuses to do so. If found guilty under the proposed law, a landlord could be subject to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

The council’s action comes six months after it approved a related measure that subjects recalcitrant landlords to a tax lien if they repeatedly fail to pay their master-meter bills. The two laws came after disclosures last November that the Department of Water and Power shut off utilities to a Wilshire Boulevard apartment building for a week because the landlord failed to pay a $15,000 water bill.

The council is expected to give the proposed law final approval next Friday.