Rent Control Board Told to Give Up Some Powers

Just weeks after Rent Control Board officials celebrated a U.S. Supreme Court move that bolstered their power, a Los Angeles Superior Judge has mandated that the board relinquish some of its power.

Judge Hugh Gardner III ruled that the state’s Costa-Hawkins Act, which allows landlords to raise controlled apartment rents to market rates after a tenant moves out voluntarily, supersedes the board’s authority to dispute the validity of rent increases in such cases.

The decision calls for the Santa Monica Rent Control Board to cease requiring landlords to register vacancies. It also means the board cannot continue to require landlords to submit petitions to the board whenever they want to increase their rents under Costa-Hawkins.

“Most important, it is the owner which may establish rent for a unit and then notify the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, not the other way around,” the court ruling states.

Doris Ganga, attorney for the Rent Control Board, said she plans to appeal this decision, arguing that it is well within the board’s right to determine whether a vacancy is voluntary. She said the ruling could make it practically impossible for the board to keep tabs on the effects of vacancy decontrol.

The ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed last year by Ross Vaisburd of Cabinda, LLC, which owns a 20-unit apartment building on 6th Street. The suit states that Vaisburd was denied several 15% rent increases in 1997 because the rent control officials ruled that the apartments were not vacated voluntarily. Officials argued that some of the tenants in question moved out because they were coerced to do so.