15 Can Live in One-Bedroom Unit
QUESTION: I own an apartment building in Los Angeles and I have a question regarding the number of tenants allowed in one-bedroom apartments. I recently heard that the occupancy limits on such units have been raised from six to 10 people. I find that hard to believe. What are the occupancy limits in the city of Los Angeles?
Also, will the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) assess extra penalties for excess water usage in units with more than two people in them? In other words, if six to 10 people live in an apartment unit, they must use more water than two people.
ANSWER: Occupancy limits in the city of Los Angeles, like in most California cities, are determined by the size of units, rather than by their number of bedrooms.
The codes, Los Angeles Municipal Codes 91.1207 and 91.1208, say that the limits are as follows: 70 to 119 square feet can accommodate two people; 120 to 169 square feet can accommodate three people; 170 to 219 square feet, three people, and one added person for each additional 50 square feet.
Thus, in a large one-bedroom apartment, say 800 square feet, the occupancy is “restricted” to 15 people--two for the first 119 square feet plus 13 for the additional space.
As you indicate in your letter, 10 people could live in an average one-bedroom apartment of 520 square feet.
While the number of tenants that are allowed to live in apartments may seem high, it can be restricted by leases or rental agreements. In the absence of such agreements, the code prevails.
How much you can restrict occupancy is the subject of some debate, but the Department of Fair Housing and Employment has determined that two per bedroom, plus one, is not an unreasonable standard. For example, three people in a one-bedroom apartment and five in a two-bedroom is reasonable.
As for water penalties, they are not assessed by the MWD. It does not deal directly with consumers. Water penalties in Los Angeles area are assessed by the Department of Water and Power (DWP).
While there is no specific allowance for more or less water usage because of the number of occupants, it’s based upon previous usage, there is an appeal procedure for unfairly levied fines.
For example, if you formerly had a duplex with only one resident in each unit, and now each is occupied by 10, you would seem to have a compelling argument for more water use. To file an appeal call DWP’s appeals hot-line at (800) 439-7728.
Can’t Be Evicted for Not Paying for Parking
Q: I live in a rent-stabilized apartment in West Hollywood. According to the rent-control law, the legal maximum rent for my unit is $350 a month.
However, when I signed the lease last year my landlord told me that besides signing the lease for the apartment at $350 a month, I would also have to sign a separate lease for the parking space at $250 a month, making the total rent payments $600 a month.
The landlord also has written a clause into the lease that says that neither lease can be terminated without the other also being terminated. When I signed these leases, I thought that this parking space scam sounded illegal, but I suspected that if I didn’t sign the parking space lease, I would not be offered the apartment.
Is this legal? It seems to me that the landlord has found a way to ignore the rent-control law for this apartment. What do you think? Can I get the rent for the parking spot lowered? If not, can I give up the parking space and keep the apartment? Can landlords circumvent the rent law by attaching extra leases for extra services to apartment leases?
A: Landlords cannot circumvent the rent law in West Hollywood, or any other rent-controlled city, in the fashion that you describe. In general, rent laws prohibit making apartment unit availability contingent upon extra services contracts.
When the parking lease expires, the landlord cannot force you to renew it. He also cannot evict you for not renewing the parking lease.
In West Hollywood, as in most other rent-controlled cities, eviction controls go hand-in-hand with rent laws. They allow eviction for only the following reasons:
1--Nonpayment of rent.
2--Violation of obligation of tenancy (under the lease or rental agreement).
3--Surviving tenant (one who has lived with the vacating tenant of record for less than one year).
4--Nuisance.
5--Illegal use (of the unit).
6--Tenant’s refusal to renew lease.
7--Refusal to provide reasonable access (to the landlord or his agents or maintenance people).
8--Illegal subtenant.
9--Resident manager or employee who is being terminated and who was provided the unit as part or a condition of this employment.
10--Temporary absence from principal residence. (Under the West Hollywood ordinance, a tenant of record who subleases his apartment for a specific duration can evict the subtenant at the end of the term, if the subtenant refuses to leave.)
11--If the owner or an immediate relative wants to occupy the unit.
Those are the only reasons for which an owner can evict in the city of West Hollywood. As you can see, failure to renew an extra services contract is not one of them.
For information on the possibility of getting the rent lowered for the parking space, contact the West Hollywood Rent Stabilization Division at (213) 854-7450.
