Santa Monica : Rent Law Exemption Ruling
A Santa Monica Superior Court judge ruled last week that a five-unit apartment building moved from North Hollywood to Santa Monica does not fall under the beach city’s rent control law.
In addition, Judge Lawrence Waddington ordered the Rent Control Board to pay $4,000 in attorney fees and $1,500 in court costs.
The rent board had argued unsuccessfully that the building should not be exempted from rent control provisions because it was not new construction, which is exempted.
But attorney Gordon P. Gitlen, who represented the building’s owner, Ernest Malanga, cited a board regulation that considers buildings moved into the city after 1979 to be exempt from rent control. The building was moved to a vacant lot at 1941 Euclid St. in 1985.
Board administrator Mary Ann Yurkonis said the board will not appeal the decision, but it will consider amending the regulation to include buildings moved into the city under rent control.
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