After the Quake : NEWS IN BRIEF : Law Gives Priority to Tenants of Damaged Buildings

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to require landlords to give tenants of quake-damaged apartments first priority to reoccupy them after repairs, despite a warning from the city attorney that the law may be flawed.

The ordinance was supported by an alliance of apartment owners, tenant representatives and community activists.

The law was designed to prevent landlords from using quake damage to evict the thousands of tenants forced out of about 18,000 apartment units citywide so they can be replaced by new tenants paying higher rents.

It allows a displaced tenant five days after the completion of repairs to inspect the unit and decide whether to reoccupy it at the same rent. The landlord cannot raise the rent to recoup repair costs without city approval.

But Senior Assistant City Atty. Claudia McGee Henry said the law may be vulnerable to legal challenges by landlords, who may complain because, in most cases, tenants who have found other lodgings they must cancel will not actually move back until the beginning of the next month. That could tie up the unit with no rent coming in for up to 30 days. She said the law also is vague about when the landlord must give the former tenant a chance to inspect a unit.