MALIBU : Key Provisions of Rent Control Law Struck Down

A federal judge has struck down key provisions of Malibu’s rent control ordinance--and the owners of the city’s two mobile home parks now are suing to recover $3 million in back rent and other losses.

Against the city attorney’s advice, the Malibu City Council in 1991 adopted one of the state’s strictest rent control laws, designed in part to protect tenants in the two parks from large rent increases and to correct alleged rent gouging.

But U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer ordered the city to stop enforcing provisions of the law that she had deemed unconstitutional, such as a rent rollback to 1984 base levels--before cost-of-living increases were figured in--and a two-year rent freeze.

Pfaelzer ruled that although Malibu had the right to protect low-income residents by limiting future rent increases, the city had not proven that the rates were too high or had been raised unfairly, thus preventing park owners from getting a fair return on their property.

The city is working on a proposal to settle the damage suit out of court.