Mark Elliot – Page 2 – Renters Alliance

The Mandatory Rent Repayment Plan: No Good Option for Tenants

May 4, 2020July 31, 2020 Mark Elliot eviction moratorium

Tuesday afternoon city council will consider modifying the urgency ordinance that sets the terms for the moratoriums on eviction for non-payment. The agenda item A–2 is titled ‘Consideration of Modifications to the City’s Urgency Ordinance 20-O–2808.’ We could have missed this important discussion had we not read through each of the five meeting agendas on the council calendar that day. Good thing we noticed: up for discussion is a proposal to make a rent repayment plan mandatory for tenants who delay paying the rent.

News

Mandated Moratorium Rent Repayment Plans? A Solution in Search of a Problem!

May 4, 2020May 5, 2020 Mark Elliot eviction moratorium, Julian Gold, NMHC

On Tuesday afternoon’s city council meeting agenda is an item dryly titled, ‘Consideration of Modifications to the City’s Urgency Ordinance 20-O–2808.’ Proposed for council consideration is a major change to the terms of the city’s residential eviction moratorium: A tenant who asks for rent forbearance could have to sign on to a rent repayment plan in order to receive it. Here’s why that is a solution in search of a problem!

Commentary

The Beverly Hills Carbon Footprint: By the Numbers

May 2, 2020May 3, 2020 Mark Elliot Christopher Jones, climate change, CoolClimate map, Daniel Kammen, global warming

The coronavirus stay-at-home order has upended daily living for millions in the Southland. Beyond the implications for public health and the economy, hitting the pause button has put in relief the toll that our collective lifestyle choices take on the environment. But that’s so abstract, isn’t it? Two academics looked in greater detail at those choices by zip code and used that data to generate a ‘carbon footprint’ map for the United States. How do we in Beverly Hills compare?

News

City Council Tweaks the COVID-19 Emergency Regulations

April 28, 2020April 29, 2020 Mark Elliot COVID-19, Julian Gold, urgency ordinance

Beverly Hills city council adopted a new urgency ordinance at the April 21st meeting making several changes to several emergency measures related to COVID–19. The amendments are part of council’s continuing refinement to the city’s response (to which we gave an A grade). Here we review those changes with specific focus on measures that affect tenants.

Commentary

Property Maintenance in the Era of COVID: Cleanliness Matters!

April 28, 2020July 31, 2020 Mark Elliot 212 S Reeves, AAGLA, CAA, Carole Hoffman, COVID-19, Essential management, Inc., maintenance

Residential rental dwellings must be fit for human habitation and free from ‘dilapidations,’ says California Civil Code section 1941. In part that means “all areas under control of the landlord, kept in every part clean, sanitary, and free from all accumulations of debris, filth, rubbish, garbage, rodents, and vermin.” Not a high bar! But not all landlords live up to that standard and during the COVID-19 pandemic we may see some landlords shirk their responsibility.

Commentary

Tenant Advocates Spring Into Action with a Call for Rent Relief

April 17, 2020April 26, 2020 Mark Elliot CARES Act, COVID-19, Mark Elliot, rent relief, rent strike

Renters Alliance sees the COVID-19 relief promised to taxpayers and businesses as wanting. Taxpayers get a one-time payment of $1,200 per adult and $500 per child and some who need it won’t even get it. But businesses (including apartment landlords) already get plenty of tax breaks and now they’ll get more while small landlords lose out. If tenants and landlords can agree on one thing it is that providing relief to tenants will provide relief to landlords too.

News

CARES Act: An Emergency Assist From Congress for Some Landlords

April 16, 2020April 27, 2020 Mark Elliot CARES Act, COVID-19, NAA

Congress in March passed H.R. 748, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) which extended unemployment benefits for laid-off workers and granted a ‘recovery rebate’ of $1,200 to qualified taxpayers. But there was A LOT more in that federal bag o’ treats, and many — but not all — multifamily housing owners in Beverly Hills may benefit. Let’s take a look at Washington’s largess and the multifamily housing industry’s opportunities for relief under the CARES Act of 2020.

Explainer

Moratorium on the Rent Increase: What You Need to Know

April 13, 2020 Mark Elliot max increase, rent-increase moratorium

City of Beverly Hills expanded its moratorium on eviction due to the COVID–19 emergency to also include a moratorium on the allowed annual rent increase. The provision is included in a new urgency ordinance which took effect on April 1st. However the rent freeze appears to apply retroactively to the date that the local emergency was declared: March 15th. Let’s take a closer look to see how it may apply to tenants who faced a rent increase.

Explainer

Moratorium on No-Fault Eviction: What It Means

April 10, 2020April 11, 2020 Mark Elliot COVID-19, eviction moratorium, no-fault-termination

The revised emergency measures related to COVID–19 adopted by Beverly Hills is notable for the moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent and the moratorium on rent increases. But as important is a moratorium on no-fault eviction. State law allows for terminating a tenancy for reasons where the tenant is not at fault and localities are preempted from stepping in with more restrictive regulation. But that’s gone out the window during this emergency. Here is what you need to know about no-fault eviction.

Explainer

Moratorium on Eviction for Non-Payment: What You Need to Know

April 8, 2020April 25, 2020 Mark Elliot eviction moratorium

Beverly Hills city council has revised the moratorium on eviction for the non-payment of rent to add two important protections: it now prohibits any no-fault eviction including under the state’s Ellis Act (and stops the clock on evictions underway); and it puts the freeze on rent increases for residential tenants effective April 1st. But the most significant protection is against eviction for non-payment related to COVID–19. Here’s what you need to know.

Commentary

Tenants Suffer as City Stays Mum on the Revised Moratorium Ordinance

April 6, 2020 Mark Elliot 137 S Elm, 141 S Elm, 145 S Elm, Elm Enterprises, eviction moratorium, LLC, Ophir Perelson, Rose Wolfe

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.