Tenant Faces Eviction as Landlord’s Son Gets Set to Move In

Question: I have lived for 24 years in a rent-controlled apartment in Los Angeles. The landlord has asked me to move out of the apartment so that his son may move in. If the son lives there for less than one year, can I sue the landlord for a bad-faith eviction? If the son moves out after one year, is the apartment vacancy decontrolled, or would the new tenant pay the same rent as I paid?

Answer: The apartment is not vacancy decontrolled after the son moves out, regardless of how long he stays. However, the new tenant will pay the amount of rent that you paid, plus any annual or other allowed rent increases. Annual rent increases under Los Angeles rent control are 3% per year.

Under state law (Civil Code section 1947.10, which applies only to rent-controlled cities), the owner or owner’s relative must live in the apartment for at least six months after an eviction. If the son doesn’t live in the apartment for the six-month minimum, a court must determine that the eviction was based upon fraud before it penalizes the owner.

Penalties are fairly severe but there are exceptions. For instance, if the son moved into the apartment and then after three months his employer transferred him out of state, causing the son to move before the required six months, it is unlikely the court would find that the owner engaged in a fraudulent eviction.

Loss of Off-Street Parking Requires Compensation

Q: Last year my wife and I bought an eight-unit (four two-bedroom units and four one-bedroom units) rent-controlled apartment building in Los Angeles. It was fully occupied when we bought it so we inherited the tenants and their rental agreements.

The rental agreements do not reference off-street parking so any understandings the tenants had with the former owners must have been verbal.

Now we’ve had vacancies and we’ve re-rented those units. The problem is that there are only six parking spaces for this eight-unit building. As a result, some of the new tenants who live in the higher-rent two-bedroom apartments do not have off-street parking.

Can we reassign parking to those tenants who should have it by virtue of the higher rent they pay?

A: You can reassign the parking spaces at your building, but you will have to compensate tenants for the loss of this service. The rent-control law requires you to compensate tenants for any losses of services that are included with their rentals. These services do not have to be written into their rental agreements.

The fact that these “understandings” the tenants had with the former owners were verbal does not make them unenforceable. They are enforceable verbal agreements.

The law says, “Whenever there is a reduction in housing services which are defined in the LAMC 151.02.F, there must be a corresponding decrease in rent equal to the reduction in the monthly cost to the landlord of the service, divided by the number of units deprived of that service. In those cases where the monthly cost to the landlord is not readily available, the decrease in rent shall be equal to the reduction in market value of the service.”

In other words, under the L.A. rent law, you must reduce the rent by the precise value of the service being eliminated or reduced. If the value of parking in your neighborhood is $100 per month, you must reduce a tenant’s rent by $100 per month if you take away his parking.

Landlord Can Assess $7 Surcharge--Only in June

Q: I am told that the owner of our West Los Angeles apartment building is going to tack $7 onto our July rent. He says he is entitled to a $7 refund from his tenants because he participates in rent control.

The other tenants got letters informing them of this. I did not. Can he do this?

A: Assuming that you are asking if the landlord can assess the tenants a one-time $7 fee, the answer is yes, but only if he meets certain conditions.

The landlord pays to the city’s Rent Stabilization Division an annual $14-per-unit registration fee for the administration of rent control.

He is entitled to recover half of the fee, $7, from the tenants through a one-time annual surcharge to the tenants, but there are specific procedures the landlord must follow.

First, a landlord must give a tenant a 30-day notice of the annual rent surcharge. Second, and most important to your situation, the landlord must collect the surcharge during June. The law does not allow for collection during any other month of the year, which includes July.

Your landlord is tardy if he is trying to collect the surcharge in July.

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Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of AAGLA, an apartment owners’ service group. Mail your questions on any aspect of apartment living to AAGLA, 12012 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025.