News – Renters Alliance

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!

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.

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.

News

City Council Extends and Enhances Emergency Tenant Protections

April 2, 2020April 3, 2020 Mark Elliot eviction moratorium

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.

News

Need Rent Forbearance? Beverly Hills May Make it Untenable

March 30, 2020April 3, 2020 Mark Elliot eviction moratorium

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.

News

Governor Newsom Orders a Statewide Eviction Moratorium

March 29, 2020 Mark Elliot eviction moratorium, Gavin Newsom

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?

City Council at RSO commission formation 2019-3-5

News

Rent Stabilization Commission Appointments

March 27, 2020April 10, 2020 Mark Elliot Rent Stabilization Commission

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.

News

Beverly Hills Eviction Moratorium Protects Tenants Affected by Coronavirus

March 16, 2020March 22, 2020 Mark Elliot Coronavirus, COVID-19

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.

News

Traffic & Parking OKs Crescent Q-Zone Restrictions

February 10, 2020February 10, 2020 Mark Elliot Canon Drive, Crescent Drive, preferential parking permits

South Crescent Drive homeowners last week petitioned to restrict visitor parking on their block. A split commission agreed: residents there accommodate visitor parking and that means inconvenience for the petitioner because he can’t park in front of his home. The test for the commission was to balance the petitioners’ interests against negative impacts to nearby residents and in our view the commission failed. Here is why that matters.

News

Crescent Homeowners Say No to Visitor Parking

February 2, 2020February 2, 2020 Mark Elliot Crescent Drive, preferential parking permits

Homeowners are petitioning the city to modify the preferential parking permit zone on the 200 block of South Crescent. Their objective is to prevent any visitor from parking on their street. While the proposed ‘No Parking Anytime, Permit Q Exempt’ designation could benefit fewer than 40 homeowners, it would make curb parking more difficult for hundreds of multifamily households south of Wilshire. Street parking is already a challenge. This new designation would make it worse by pushing day & nighttime parking demand from Crescent to our blocks.

News

Candidates Kick-Off Election Season!

January 11, 2020January 14, 2020 Mark Elliot Election 2020, Julian Gold, Lili Bosse, Lori Greene Gordon

Candidates Julian Gold, Lili Bosse and Lori Greene Gordon kicked-off their campaigns at 11 a.m., noon and 12:30 p.m respectively. (The other two candidates on the ballot did not hold a kick-off event.) Tightly-scheduled and even overlapping campaign events are the rule for these kick-offs and thankfully they are often in the flats so the only challenge is to time one’s arrival with time to graze, catch the speech and then move on.

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