Rent Control Governs Security Deposits Too

The June 6 Rent Watch column, “There Are Limits Set for Security Deposits” from Project Sentinel, fails to discuss the ramifications of rent control on security deposits.

In Southern California, the cities of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Santa Monica and West Hollywood all have rent-control laws.

In these cities, if a property is subject to the rent-control law, a landlord may not unilaterally change the terms of the rental agreement to charge a security deposit when none has previously been charged.

Nor may a landlord suddenly make a tenant liable for 100% of the rent for an apartment when the tenant was previously liable for only 50% of the rent.

Security deposits are normally defined as “rent” under the various rent-control rules. In general, it is a violation of the rent-control laws in the various cities to increase rent by more than the percentage allowed by the particular law or to change the terms of tenancy in such a way as to make the tenancy more burdensome or more expensive to the tenant.

A landlord who overcharges rent, including overcharge of a security deposit, may find himself or herself subject to both civil and criminal penalties.

SONYA BEKOFF MOLHO

Los Angeles

The writer is an attorney who has specialized in landlord-tenant law for 21 years and a former commissioner of the Los Angeles Rent Adjustment Commission.