It is Premature to End COVID-19 Tenant Protections
The Beverly Hills Rent Stabilization Commission on September 1st will likely decide whether to recommend to City Council that tenant
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Author: Mark Elliot
RSO Commission to Discuss Modifications to COVID Emergency Order
The Beverly Hills Rent Stabilization Commission has been busy since it was reconstituted in August with new tenant representatives. The commission first recommended bringing to an end the city’s moratorium on eviction for nonpayment. Then it took tentative steps toward allowing a double rent increase while trying to cushion the impact on tenants. Now at the upcoming September 1st meeting the commissioners will decide whether to end or amend the other emergency tenant protections: the moratoriums on rent increases and no-fault evictions. Is it time for those protections to end?
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Relocation Fees Come BACK to RSO Commission
Relocation fees returns to the Rent Stabilization Commission for more discussion at the upcoming September 1st meeting. The commission is discussing it because City Council tasked the commission with making a recommendation as to what, if any, change should be made to the fees provided to tenants when they are evicted due to no fault of their own. But the commission has grappled with this complicated issue four times already. Will any recommendation emerge from this next go-around?
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Governor Gavin Newsom Must Not Be Recalled
On September 14th voters will answer the question that could change the direction of the Golden State: Should we recall Governor Gavin Newsom? For those of us who rent housing the answer is NO. This governor has been there for us. He signed legislation to extend rent control throughout the state and wrangled the legislature to send to his desk not only one eviction moratorium but three of them. Whatever one thinks of masks and mandates it seems clear that the governor has put public health at the forefront of the state’s response to the pandemic. In my book that alone is a ground to oppose a recall.
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Next Up for Rent Stabilization Commission: Moratoriums on Rent Increase and No-Fault Eviction
The moratorium on rent increases and the moratorium on no-fault eviction will return to the Rent Stabilization Commission in September for additional discussion and a likely recommendation to the city council to end or amend those COVID-era tenant protections. Indeed commissioners at the last meeting seemed ready to end the moratorium on rent increases as soon as October. Here’s what transpired. Will commissioners also give the nod in September to allowing no-fault evictions to proceed?
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RSO Commission Recommends Moratorium on Eviction for Nonpayment to End
The Beverly Hills Rent Stabilization Commission has recommended that city council sunset our local moratorium’s prohibition on eviction for nonpayment as soon as September 30th. The recommendation was suggested by the Apartment Owners Association and supported by landlord representatives on the commission and it passed by a vote of 4-2. If city council agreed then we could see local tenant protections end as soon as Sacramento decides to sunset its own moratorium. Will the commission follow with a recommendation to end the prohibition on rent increases and no-fault evictions too?
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Relocation Fees Up for Discussion at RSO Commission AGAIN
Our newly reconstituted Rent Stabilization Commission will discuss the relocation fee again. Pursuant to direction from city council, the commission is to make a recommendation to council concerning the fee schedule. Today it ranges from $7,000 to $16,000 depending on the size of the unit and the tenant. The fee is paid compensation to Beverly Hills rent-stabilized tenants when they are involuntarily terminated for reasons described in our rent stabilization ordinance. Are the fees too little, too much, or about right?
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AB 889: More Transparency on Rental Housing Providers
Assembly Bill 889 introduced by Assemblymember Gipson in February would require landlords who hold rental property in the name of a corporation or limited liability company to identify the beneficial owners to the California Secretary of State. Renters Alliance supports full disclosure of ownership interests and so does Beverly Hills: the city’s legislative liaison committee agreed to support the bill in Sacramento. Let’s take a look at AB 889 and why we support it.
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City Council Agrees to Discuss Sixty Hotel Permit Renewals
The Beverly Hills Planning Commission has allowed Sixty Hotel to continue rooftop activities for up to 165 visitors until as late as 2 a.m. within earshot of hundreds of multifamily households living near the hotel at Wilshire & Crescent. Planning Commissioners were not persuaded by residents who cited past problems with rooftop noise and expressed their concerns with future hotel compliance with conditions of operation. No new restrictions on hours of operation or occupancy were added. Update: City council has scheduled for September 14th a formal review of the commission decision. Stay tuned!
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Beverly Hills Multifamily Market Heats Up!
Industry reports suggest the giant federal stimulus and rising inflation are pushing rents higher. But the story is complicated: Midwest and sunbelt cities are seeing the greatest percentage increases followed by big-city suburbs. But the most concerning aspect of today’s changing rental market is the effect of macroeconomic pressures on lower-income households and and the lower-quality apartments we inhabit. Let’s take a look.
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Beverly Hills Moratorium Likely to Sunset on September 30th [updated]
County and state COVID–19 moratorium protections are set to expire on September 30th and it looks like City of Beverly Hills will follow suit. City hall has been mum about it yet the evidence suggests that city council will sunset our local moratorium by September 30th. That will open the door to eviction for nonpayment and even rent increases. More surprising is that council is tasking the newly reconstituted Rent Stabilization Commission with making a recommendation. Tenants, brace for a rent increase come October!
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