Los Angeles Apartment Group Files Lawsuit Against City Over Renter Laws

A "for rent" sign is displayed outside an apartment building in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2022. Allison Dinner/Getty Images

An apartment association is taking the City of Los Angeles to court over two of its renter protection laws, arguing that they are detrimental to rental housing providers and small mom-and-pop landlords.

On March 3, the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court “to prohibit the City’s enforcement of two, recently passed, so-called renter protection ordinances,” according to the group.

Beginning in January, Los Angeles City Council members passed a package of expanded renter protections born out of the COVID-19 era eviction moratorium—permanently codifying temporary laws originally intended to help renters stay afloat who were financially hit hard by the pandemic.

The first ordinance states landlords can’t evict tenants who owe less than one month’s fair market rent, and the second imposes financial penalties on landlords who raise the rent too high on certain types of properties.

By mid-February, part of the second law was expanded to require that landlords pay tenants’ relocation fees if they increase rent by more than 10 percent or 5 percent plus inflation.

But these requirements are taking a toll on property owners, making it more difficult to stay afloat, the association said.

“We’ve just come through three horrific years of not being able to collect legally owed rent, and we’ve had hyperinflation and have not been able to increase rent,” Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the association, told The Epoch Times. “A lot of property owners are already suffering.”

And some are leaving the business altogether, he said, because they’re “fed up.”

“There’s a lot of people investing in other states because they just can’t deal with the regulatory environment here in California,” he said.

A judge has been appointed for the case but there is no date for a hearing yet, he added.

This is not the first legal matter the apartment coalition has brought against Los Angeles in recent years.

In 2020, the association filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of its members and housing providers, claiming that the city’s rules against evictions and rent increases were unconstitutional.

And in March 2022, the association filed a joint lawsuit with the Apartment Owners Association of California against Los Angeles County to stop their rule against residential evictions. The court granted a preliminary injunction, but the cases are still ongoing.