Westside : Compromise Reached on Rent Control
Rent control advocates managed to soften the language of legislation that threatens the protections renters enjoy in Santa Monica, West Hollywood and a few other California cities.
The fine-tuning was intended to bring reluctant Democratic members of the Assembly into line behind the legislation, which is expected to pass soon.
Santa Monica rent board attorney Tony Trendacosta called the changes “a significant step toward protecting tenants,” while John Rodriguez, past president of a Santa Monica landlords’ group, said, “We can live with it.”
The language would put a brake on rent increases, gradually phase out rent controls on single-family homes and condos and make non-payment of rent the only cause for eviction until 1998.
After that, property owners would be free to raise rents to market levels whenever tenants move out.
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