Los Angeles County Moratorium Expired March 31, 2023
The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors allowed the county moratorium to expire on March 31st thereby removing the last protection from eviction for nonpayment for Beverly Hills tenants. Starting April 1, 2023 tenants throughout the county must pay full rent as there is no longer any means to delay the payment of rent and still be protected from eviction. In the next 30 to 60 days we can expect many renting households to enter the eviction process which begins with a 3-day notice to pay-or-quit and can end with a court-ordered eviction. Here’s what to expect.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has been a consistent supporter of vulnerable and precariously-housed tenants. The board’s moratorium resolution first adopted in 2020 protected tenants against eviction for nonpayment; but it also also protected tenants from eviction for keeping an unauthorized pet or an occupant not on the lease (if it was related to pandemic impact).
But the county did more: it barred all no-fault evictions and also enacted a set of sweeping anti-harassment provisions which will survive in the county rent stabilization ordinance after the expiration of the moratorium. (We urged Beverly Hills city council to write anti-harassment protections into our own rent stabilization ordinance. That didn’t happen.)
Even as Beverly Hills, like other localities, let our local moratoriums expire, the Board of Supervisors kept in place its own county moratorium for low-income households. No doubt that kept many people housed instead of banishing them to the streets.
The Calvary Ain’t Coming Again
After repeated extensions of the county moratorium the Board was unable to agree to extend it again. On March 21, 2023 the couldn’t summon the necessary three votes. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath made an impassioned statement in support of an extension (watch the video) and she was joined in supporting the extension by fellow boardmember Hilda Solis. Voting against the extension were Supervisor Janice Hahn and reliable landlord-supporter Supervisor Kathryn Barger (who had opposed earlier extensions).
The surprise was the swing vote: Supervisor Holly Mitchell who had favored earlier extensions but this time abstained from the vote. Because there was no majority voting in favor of an extension the motion to extend failed and the moratorium was allowed to expire on March 31, 2023. Ironically the motion was defeated by a vote that was not even cast!
The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles claimed credit. “WE WON!!! No extension of just cause restrictions throughout L.A. County,” the association crowed in an email to member landlords. The email continued:
This is a tremendous victory for all our members throughout Los Angeles County due in large part to the substantial numbers of rental housing owners that called, emailed and spoke during the Board of Supervisors meeting. As soon as we learned about Supervisors Horvath’s and Solis’ grossly overreach and damaging proposal, AAGLA’s government affairs team immediately began outreach efforts to Supervisors’ offices to advocate for the proposal’s defeat.
That outreach evidently influenced supervisor Mitchell to abstain and brought the county moratorium to an end.
The expiration of the Los Angeles County moratorium resolution on March 31st means that households are no longer protected from eviction if they can’t pay the full rent. That will be a real problem if an extension of some kind can’t be negotiated with the landlord. Because landlords have been egged-on by the Apartment Association to take a hard line with tenants. Webinars like ‘Time to Get Rid of the Deadbeat Tenant’ for example are encouraging landlords to aggressively evict.
What Happens Next?
A renting household that cannot pay full rent will first be served with a 3-day notice to pay-or-quit. That is simply a demand for payment; the notice does not obligate a tenant to vacate. And the three days, by the way, do not include weekends or holidays.
If served with a 3-day notice first look carefully:
- Does it accurately state the tenant name and address?
- Is the notice properly dated?
- Was it served in accord with the law? Most important,
- Does the notice accurately state the amount of rent owed?
The landlord may only demand rent that came due on April 1 or after. If earlier rent was lawfully delayed pursuant to moratorium — and it is not yet due for repayment — then that owed rent cannot be ground for eviction and should not be included in the rent demanded. Feel free to contact Renters Alliance with any question about a notice however be informed that the Alliance cannot offer legal advice.
If served we encourage a tenant to contact the landlord to attempt to resolve the issue with a partial payment or perhaps a negotiated repayment agreement because the 3-day notice is the first step in the eviction process.
If after the expiration of the 3-day notice the rent remains unpaid, or if the tenant simply hasn’t responded to the notice, then the landlord may summon the tenant to court for unlawful detainer of the premises.
Avoid court if at all possible. The resulting post-pandemic caseload surge will put courts under pressure to move these cases even more quickly than they do today. That could mean greater pressure on tenant defendants to settle with the landlord — which most often means agreeing to vacate the unit. Expect bench trials to be perfunctory without an opportunity to mount much of a defense.
If summoned to court get legal representation. The deck is stacked against tenants in court. An unrepresented defendant will most likely be evicted and very likely would still owe the back rent to the landlord. With legal representation a tenant will be more able to gain more time in the unit or negotiate-away owed rent and ensure that the record of proceedings is sealed.
Low-income tenants in Beverly Hills should contact the city’s contracted legal services provider Bet Tzedek at (323) 939–0506. Make sure to follow the prompts for Beverly Hills tenants. Hopefully you will get a call back in 24 or 48 hours. Alternately reach out to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles which provides some assistance to low-income renting households. Call LAFLA’s intake hotline: 800–399–4529 or reach them online.
For information about the process don’t bother with the Beverly Hills rent stabilization website. Instead see the eviction webinar hosted by Richard Bloom with some very useful information provided by attorneys with the Legal Aid Foundation. We have cued it up for you!
One-Two Punch for Some Tenants in June
Tenants who delayed the payment of rent under the Beverly Hills moratorium can expect a one-two punch come June: the full rent will be due and the rent that was delayed under the city’s moratorium also comes due…in full. Those rent arrears are also subject to a 3-day notice to pay-or-quit come June and, unlike the state moratorium, there is no non-eviction protection. We call that a one-two punch!
Mindful of that approaching deadline back in February we asked city council to delay the city’s moratorium rent repayment deadline. City council declined to extend the June 1, 2023 deadline.
We expect many renting households to suffer a post-pandemic financial hangover. Some will be evicted. But we won’t hear much about it in the media — and nothing at all from our own rent stabilization office (which didn’t even inform tenants the LA County moratorium was expiring). The LA Times did provide some context recently in a report on one tenant’s experience. This must-read article but be warned it does not offer much hope! Inside One Woman’s Fight to Stave Off Homelessness as Eviction Cases Flood Courts.