City of Beverly Hills proclaimed a local emergency in response to COVID–19 and literally the first order of business was the protection of tenants. Agenda item #2 read: Enacting a moratorium preventing landlords from evicting any tenant who is unable to pay rent as a result of losing income caused by COVID–19 for the non-payment of rent. The moratorium passed unanimously as part of the city’s emergency order. Here’s what you need to know.
City of Beverly Hills office of rent stabilization just posted a revised ordinance enacting the moratorium on evictions and rent increases for residential tenants. It comes the day before tenants are required to inform the landlord if they cannot pay due to a substantial reduction in income related to COVID-19. Just in the nick of time. Find the ordinance and an explanatory document linked from the rent stabilization office website: http://beverlyhills.org/rent.
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Five days have elapsed since Beverly Hills enacted a revised moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent. Yet we have not heard a word about it from the city: no update to the rent stabilization website, no email announcing it, and no guidance for tenants who cannot pay the rent due to COVID-19. Landlords will take advantage of that information vacuum and tenant uncertainty and anxiety will result. Here’s one example courtesy of landlord Elm Enterprises, LLC.
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After another marathon eight-hour emergency meeting, Beverly Hills city council unanimously agreed to improve our moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent due to COVID–19 by extending the repayment period from six months to one year AND adding a new protection against Ellis Act eviction. City council also agreed to freeze rent increases, too, so no tenant will see a rent hike while the local emergency is in place.
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City of Beverly Hills this month declared a state of emergency and adopted an eviction moratorium that would put the break on residential evictions for non-payment of rent (and even prevent no-fault evictions when otherwise allowed by law). This Tuesday at 2:30 pm city council will consider revising that moratorium to make it much more burdensome for tenants to qualify for forbearance.
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Governor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order imposing a statewide moratorium on residential and commercial evictions for non-payment of rent. Effective March 27th, and extending through May 31st, the order compliments an earlier order that only allowed localities to prohibit evictions for non-payment. Beverly Hills was among the earliest in the Southland to do so. What does the statewide moratorium say, and how does our local moratorium compare?
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One year ago Beverly Hills city council formally created a new Rent Stabilization Commission to discuss changes to the rent stabilization ordinance and to decide certain disputes between tenants and landlords. Standing up the new commission signaled city council support for the rent stabilization program, but more immediately it heralded the next step in our ongoing three-year process to revise the ordinance. We anticipated commission appointments soon but then the city erroneously sent out letters announcing it. Here is a look at who will be appointed next Tuesday.
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Coronavirus has challenged local governments in a way that no public health emergency has before. We see a cascade of executive orders and urgency ordinances that have shuttered businesses, prohibited gatherings and tried to cushion the impact of an economic shutdown in response to this insidious threat. The most surprising: a sweeping embrace of the eviction moratorium. Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch has ensured that our city was among the earliest in the Southland to step up with one. He deserves an ‘A’ grade in a crisis.
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City council discussed suspending certain street parking regulations during the local state of emergency. And the city has a very helpful coronavirus webpage where there is a brief blurb about parking guidance posted. But that guidance is too general to be of much help when we are talking about violations that come with penalties among the highest in the Southland. I dug into the city’s website to nail down the details but didn’t realize it would be such a time-consuming challenge.
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Beverly Hills city council has unanimously agreed to impose a moratorium on residential rental evictions for non-payment of rent if coronavirus can be demonstrated to be a contributing factor. The process for adjudicating whether a factor is or is not material has yet to be established but for now the prohibition is effective immediately. Symbolically it puts Beverly Hills in the company of cities that put the welfare of tenants first. We thank Mayor John Mirisch for making sure that this key protection was considered by city council during its unprecedented emergency council meeting today.
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The votes keep rolling in! Twice-weekly Los Angeles County, our election administrator, posts revised vote totals. With votes remain yet be counted we are confident we have two winners — and both are incumbents. Councilmembers Lili Bosse and Julian Gold will serve another 4-year term beyond the nine years each has already served. That means stability for at least two years when three council seats will be up for grabs in the 2022 election. Here’s our preliminary take on the numbers.
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Fresh off the first city council election consolidated with the statewide primary, and with a final statement of votes case yet to be recorded, I want to offer my take on what made Election 2020 notable. Your mileage may vary, so do get in touch to offer your own takeaways!
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