LA County Supervisors Adopt Rent Control Ordinances in Unincorporated Areas

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday adopted two permanent rent stabilization ordinances to take effect April 1 in unincorporated areas of LA County.

The votes on the ordinances, which cover both rental properties and land leases in mobile home parks, were 4-1, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger dissenting.

Under the new regulations, rent increases for non-luxury units will be limited to the annual change in the Consumer Price Index, with a maximum of 8%. Properties exempt from the caps on rent include units built after 1995, condominiums, single-family homes and public housing. The rental ordinance also prohibits evictions without just cause.

The mobile home ordinance limits increases on space rentals to 75% of the CPI with an 8% maximum.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and other champions of the rent controls said they would help prevent people from falling into homelessness, while opponents said the regulations would stifle new housing supply.

The rental ordinance also limits landlords to passing through only 50% of the cost of property improvements to tenants and requires them to pay a lump sum to tenants who are temporarily displaced or evicted for "no-fault" reasons which include ending a lease because a landlord's family member is moving in or taking the property off the rental market.

That lump sum--to be set by the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs--is expected to be higher for seniors, low-income and disabled tenants. Recommendations in board documents set payments to a senior permanently displaced from a one-bedroom apartment at $10,675 and to a low-income renter permanently displaced from a one-bedroom apartment at $12,688.