Within the three years since Los Angeles banned landlords from harassing tenants and made violating the foundations a felony offense, greater than 13,000 complaints alleging harassment have been filed with the housing division. About two dozen of these circumstances had been referred by the division to the town legal professional’s workplace. To date, 4 fines are pending and no circumstances have been criminally prosecuted.
When it was permitted in 2021, Los Angeles’ Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance was touted as a breakthrough for renters’ rights. At a time of quickly rising housing prices, the foundations had been meant to guard tenants from being threatened or intimidated by landlords — a tactic advocates say is typically used to push individuals out of rent-controlled houses.
However tenant advocates say harassment has continued largely unchecked within the three years because the regulation handed, with tenants often reporting that their landlords resort to intimidation, unlawful eviction notices, threats, lockouts and different actions meant to make their residing conditions tough to bear. The hundreds of complaints and lack of prosecutions since 2021 are additional proof that the regulation is weak and must be strengthened, advocates say.
“It’s been actually irritating as a result of there’s been so many examples of landlord harassment, of taking away parking, garages, bedrooms, illegal entries into individuals’s houses, code violations, illegal eviction and a number of retaliation for organizing,” mentioned Edna Monroy, director of organizing at Strategic Actions for a Simply Financial system. However “it’s actually arduous to current these circumstances in small claims and it’s actually arduous for the town legal professional to take these circumstances as effectively.”
Her group and others are urging the town to undertake a number of amendments meant to tighten the foundations and incentivize non-public attorneys to tackle circumstances. The Metropolis Council’s housing and homelessness committee is anticipated to quickly take into account a number of proposed modifications to the regulation.
Landlord advocates, in the meantime, say the shortage of prosecutions reveals that tenant harassment isn’t the issue advocates say it’s and are urging the town to reject the modifications.
“It was dangerous sufficient the primary go round,” mentioned Daniel Yukelson, government director of the Condo Assn. of Higher Los Angeles. “Now they’re opening the door by loosening up the language and it’s simply going to open up property house owners to extra frivolous lawsuits.”
The ordinance was adopted amid the pandemic when the town’s eviction moratorium was in place. Tenants mentioned landlords had been more and more turning to harassment to get them to go away with out having to go to courtroom to hunt an eviction. However as quickly because the regulation was permitted some advocates mentioned they apprehensive it had been watered down an excessive amount of to be efficient.
A 2022 housing division report famous that when the ordinance was initially adopted, sources weren’t supplied to that division or to the town legal professional for its implementation. Some funding was finally permitted and the housing division created a Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance Job Pressure, which was charged with specializing in drawback properties and landlords and monitoring for compliance.
The report additionally famous that there had been challenges proving that landlords had been appearing in dangerous religion, because the regulation requires.
Sharon Sandow, a spokeswoman for the housing division, mentioned that when harassment allegations are substantiated, a housing investigator will name the owner to handle the allegation and ship them details about the ordinance.
If the matter is egregious or persists, the case is referred to the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance Job Pressure “for additional assessment and evaluation to find out the potential for a sample of habits, and assess the enforcement mechanism,” Sandow mentioned.
Within the overwhelming majority of circumstances, she added, tenants withdraw or abandon the criticism, fail to offer proof to substantiate the case or the matter is resolved by the division.
Sergio Vargas, co-director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Alliance of Californians for Group Empowerment, or ACCE, mentioned the town has not completed sufficient to observe up and totally examine complaints.
“We all know there are far more circumstances on the market that must be taken under consideration,” he mentioned.
Karen Richardson, a spokeswoman for the town legal professional’s workplace, mentioned that her workplace has obtained 23 anti-harassment referrals from the housing division. Of these, 4 have fines pending and 4 had been referred to a diversion program.
Fifteen of the referrals had been for potential felony filings. Eight had been rejected by the workplace and 7 are pending.
Among the many modifications proposed to the ordinance is a brand new definition of harassment aimed toward landlords who interact in “dangerous religion conduct” that causes tenants detriment or hurt.
The present definition requires landlords to knowingly and willfully interact in bad-faith conduct that “serves no lawful function,” an ordinary advocates say might be not possible to show.
The modifications additionally embody requiring that tenants who win in courtroom be awarded legal professional’s charges and a minimal civil penalty of $2,000 per violation. Proponents say the brand new language would put the town’s anti-harassment guidelines extra in keeping with different cities like Santa Monica, Oakland and San Francisco.
The 2022 poll initiative Measure ULA, typically generally known as the “mansion tax,” can be anticipated to considerably enhance funding for implementation of the ordinance.
Yukelson, of the condo affiliation, mentioned the foundations merely create “a lot of landmines” that may trigger house owners to get sued.
“House owners are going to have their backs put in opposition to the wall,” he mentioned.
For Stephano Medina, an legal professional for the authorized advocacy group Motion Authorized, which is affiliated with ACCE, the issue with the present regulation is that its not making a distinction.
“I don’t know of any tenant that has benefited from this regulation,” he mentioned. “It’s not getting used.”
