Landlords’ Group Sues City Over Fees

A San Fernando Valley-based landlord group sued the city of Los Angeles on Tuesday, claiming a new fee that funds apartment inspections is illegal because it was not approved by voters.

About 70 members of the group urged the City Council on Tuesday to repeal the 6-month-old inspection ordinance.

“We are not going to take it,” said Carol Knapp, a Silver Lake resident and founder of the Van Nuys-based group. “Our tenants are not going to let you in.”

“We aren’t slumlords,” said Ann Hoight, who manages an apartment building in North Hollywood. She called the $8-million program unnecessary.

“We need bureaucracy like we need a hole in the head,” she said.

Added Gary Hendrickson of Valley Village: “This isn’t Iraq and we won’t allow any American inspectors.”

The lawsuit, which lists Knapp as a plaintiff, is being financed by the Apartment Owners Assn. in Van Nuys, Knapp said.

The suit seeks an injunction blocking enforcement of the ordinance, under which the city has collected $2 million in fees since it took effect last July.

The city attorney’s office has ruled the ordinance does not violate Proposition 218--approved by California voters in November 1996--according to Councilman Mike Feuer, a leading proponent of the measure. The measure generally requires that new tax levies be subject to a vote of those affected.

The council attempted to address concerns over widespread slum conditions by requiring that a $1 monthly fee be levied against each of Los Angeles’ 750,000 apartment units, with the money used to inspect each apartment at least once every three years.

Feuer voiced concerns Tuesday about the program. He said the Housing Department has failed to initiate frequent inspections and is instead using the fee revenue to respond mostly to tenant complaints on a piecemeal basis.

“There is a major problem in how it’s working, and I think it’s outrageous,” Feuer said.

The councilman said the fee program was enacted because the old complaint-based system was not working.

The new program is designed to have inspectors visit each apartment in a building and requires a comprehensive approach to repairs by landlords.

“We absolutely made this big promise to people about how we were going to transform the system rather than staying with the broken system we had before,” Feuer said.

Of the 17,500 inspections done between July 1 and Dec. 31 of last year, 13,000 were in response to complaints, city records show. At that rate it would take 21 years to get to every unit.

Despite the slow start, Bill Jones of the Housing Department said the three-year timetable will be met.