News – Renters Alliance

Cannabis Rule Change: A Loophole in the Smoke-Free Multifamily Ordinance?

July 29, 2024 Mark Elliot marijuana, smoking

The Department of Justice has proposed to regulate cannabis more like Tylenol plus codeine instead of hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Makes sense! Cannabis always seemed out-of-place on the schedule I controlled substances list. But the proposed reclassification to schedule II may open the door to the smoking of marijuana in multifamily housing. That is not allowed in Beverly Hills even for Cannabis medical consumption. If the new DOJ rule takes effect we might well smell weed wafting through our hallways.

News

SB 712: Tenants May Keep a ‘Micromobility’ Device At Home

July 4, 2024July 4, 2024 Mark Elliot micromobility, transportation

Landlords can be arbitrary when it comes to ‘house rules.’ We know landlords that don’t allow the storage of bicycles in common areas or even leased premises like the balcony. Yet few apartment houses provide bicycle parking. That is also the problem with personal mobility devices like scooters and e-bikes: where to store and charge them? On January 1st Senate Bill 712 took effect. The new law allows a bicycle, e-bike or other micromobility device to be stored inside an apartment. But some conditions apply so let’s look at the details!

News

Sacramento Limits Security Deposits to One Month’s Rent*

July 3, 2024July 3, 2024 Mark Elliot AB 12, security deposit

In recent years our state legislature has chipped away at certain rental housing practices that harm tenants every day. Most recently Assembly Bill 12 took effect on July 1st to bar most landlords from demanding more than one month’s rent for the security deposit. It was intended by legislatures to make renting more financially affordable at the front end. But it also provides a move-out benefit for tenants who would be ripped-off by their unscrupulous landlord: he can keep only one month’s worth of deposit without any justification. Here is what Assembly Bill 12 means for tenants.

News

Juneteenth: The Beverly Hills Construction Holiday That Wasn’t!

June 23, 2024June 24, 2024 Mark Elliot Juneteenth

Beverly Hills employee unions asked for a paid holiday for Juneteenth. City hall couldn’t agree more and city council gave its approval in December. Would residents also get a holiday from construction on this new city holiday? Yes! Five months later council proclaimed it so. However the holiday ordinance was adopted two days too late for Juneteenth to be recognized as a construction holiday this year. The employees got their paid holiday but residents didn’t get our holiday so construction proceeded apace across the city. Read on to learn how we lost our promised construction holiday in 2024.

Disruptive tenant provision B.H.M.C. 4-6-6(M)

News

Are You a ‘Disruptive’ Tenant? A Hearing Officer Could Decide Your Fate!

June 17, 2024June 19, 2024 Mark Elliot Craig Corman, disruptive tenant, Sharona Nazarian

Dear tenant troublemakers: Did you know that the Beverly Hills rent stabilization ordinance allows your landlord to haul you up before a city council committee as a ‘disruptive tenant’? And if adjudicated as disruptive you could face eviction? Three tenants faced the process but none turfed-out by our council’s committee. Had an independent hearing officer heard those cases any could have been decided differently. Now city council wants to put a hearing officer in charge. The change is up for discussion on the June 18th council afternoon agenda.

News

City Employees Get Another Holiday…and We Get a Break from Construction Noise

June 16, 2024June 19, 2024 Mark Elliot holiday construction ban

Last year Beverly Hills reached agreement with city labor unions to bump-up pay and benefits. Pay will rise much faster than inflation and employees can now cash-out a full two to four weeks of unused vacation time for pension-padding compensation under the new agreement. These changes, and more, will add $12 million in new employee costs over three years. But this new perk caught our eye: a new paid city holiday added to the existing ten city holidays. ‘Juneteenth’ falls on June 19th. If city council could, by the stroke of the pen, create a new paid holiday….can’t could make Juneteenth a construction holiday too?

News

Maximum Allowable Annual Rent Increase for Chapter 6 Tenants: 3.9%

June 14, 2024July 5, 2024 Mark Elliot max increase

The maximum allowable annual rent Increase for Chapter 6 Beverly Hills rent-stabilized tenants has been posted: through June of 2025 the rent may be increased by 3.9% with proper notice. That figure reflects the May-to-May percentage change in the federal Consumer Price Index (CPI) for our region. (The maximum allowable increase for the relatively few Chapter 5 households, i.e. old rent control, for June is 3.2%.) The rent increases did not require city council approval because the percentages were again indexed to inflation after pandemic-era measures came to an end in May 2023.

News

Renting Households Will Be Hardest-Hit by Electric Rate Change

May 27, 2024May 27, 2024 Mark Elliot SoCal Edison, utilities

The California Public Utilities Commission has approved a change in electricity rates that will hit hardest the smallest households that pay the power bill directly to investor-owned utilities like Southern California Edison. New for electricity bills in 2025 is a higher fixed charge of $24.15 monthly that will fund improvements to the power grid and the costs of mitigating damage from wildfires. Offsetting the higher charge is a modest decrease in electricity usage rates. The goal is to encourage consumers to buy electric appliances and vehicles but the cost of the policy change will be borne disproportionately by smaller households.

LA County rent relief program splash screen

News

County COVID Rent Relief is Available…With Caveats

May 26, 2024July 5, 2024 Mark Elliot Los Angeles County, rent relief

Los Angeles County is providing another $68 million in rent relief to qualified LA County landlords for COVID–19 rent arrears. Funds will cover up to $30k in back rent if that debt was incurred after April 1, 2022. The caveats: the landlord must apply; and priority will go to geographic areas in the county that are deemed high or highest need. The application window closes June 4th.

News

Beverly Hills to Dissolve the Rent Stabilization Commission

May 26, 2024May 26, 2024 Mark Elliot

City council has tentatively agreed to dissolve the Rent Stabilization Commission. The commission from the outset was beset with operational challenges: discussions were by turns divisive and meandering; commissioners were slow to grasp complex policies; and commissioner vacancies proved difficult to fill. Given the dysfunction this commission was a distraction for rent stabilization staff that had more important problems to address. So city council tentatively agreed to scuttle it. What does that mean for Beverly Hills tenants?

News

220 Lasky Fire: Grief for Occupants, Opportunity for the Landlord

August 14, 2023August 15, 2023 Mark Elliot 220 Lasky, Mark Migdal, Migdal BH Properties LLC

A structure fire at 220 Lasky on the morning of August 1st displaced eight households from their rent-stabilized housing. The cause of the fire is unknown and remains under investigation. What is known is that the fire originated in unit #3 in this 8-unit apartment building and firefighters were able to contain it. But the smoke and water damage has rendered the property uninhabitable. Nearly two weeks after the fire the landlord has yet to provide displaced occupants with the required temporary housing. It seems like the landlord is playing for time while pitching low-ball buyouts to traumatized tenants.

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Explainer

My Landlord is Asking for an Estoppel. Need I Sign It?

July 16, 2024July 29, 2024 Mark Elliot

An estoppel certificate is a legal document that simply establishes the terms and status of a rental agreement (or lease) for a third party like a prospective buyer. Typically a tenant is asked to complete an estoppel when purchase negotiations advance and that request may come from the current owner or an agent working on behalf of a prospective buyer. It is nothing to fear; it is a standard step in the sale of real property. In any case the lease or rental agreement may require the tenant to complete it. When presented with an estoppel to complete and sign you may have questions. Here is what you need to know.

Explainer