Community Preservation – Renters Alliance

How to File a Code Enforcement Complaint

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021 Mark Elliot Community Preservation, Rent Stabilization Program

Code enforcement is compliant-driven in Beverly Hills. Unfortunately the city has no systematic rental housing inspection program, so City Hall relies on the public to report violations. Lax code enforcement has enabled some landlords to practice ‘managed decline’ where money that should go to maintenance is taken as profit. Renters Alliance encourages tenants to file a complaint because that is how we hold landlords accountable. Heck, landlords agree because they don’t want regular inspections. Here is our step-by-step guide to filing a complaint.

Explainer

Tenant’s Challenge: Screening the Landlord

March 18, 2019June 23, 2019 Mark Elliot 152 S Peck, Community Preservation, due diligence, Ross Vaisburd

Time and again we hear stories about unprofessional or unscrupulous landlords and their managers. The ones that slow-roll repairs, engage in intimidation and harassment, and improperly withhold deposits. They are a minority of owners, sure, but tenants who do rent from these landlords share a lament: “I wish I had known before I rented.” Can a prospective tenant screen her future landlord?

Explainer

Exterior Maintenance: Our Code Violation Spotter’s Guide

February 17, 2019January 16, 2022 Mark Elliot 126 N Almont, Community Preservation, maintenance

You are reading this guide because you are probably tired of seeing your apartment building fall into disrepair. Maybe you wondered why an owner would run into the ground his own investment. It is because some Beverly Hills landlords treat their apartment houses like a consumable: they pull out the cash without reinvesting in the maintenance. We have laws against dilapidation. Why doesn’t Beverly Hills enforce them?

Explainer

Interior Habitability: Weak Standard, Few Violations

February 16, 2019January 16, 2022 Mark Elliot Community Preservation, habitability standard

Is your landlord not keeping up with interior interior maintenance? You are not alone: many longtime tenants in our older buildings can’t get attention from the landlord even as vacant units get the gloss. For good reason: the landlord is not obligated to do much to keep the apartment in the condition it was rented. That’s why Beverly Hills needs a habitability standard!

Explainer

Code Enforcement: A Primer

January 28, 2019November 18, 2021 Mark Elliot Community Preservation

The tenant with a rental housing problem in Beverly Hills has likely phoned in a complaint to code enforcement. Maybe the rent increase was too high; or property maintenance was lagging; or an eviction notice was posted. All of those inquiries once went to code enforcement but today our Rent Stabilization Program handles most of those calls. Thinking of making a complaint? Read our primer first!

Analysis

Landlords Say Tenants Were Happy With RSO!

September 13, 2018May 7, 2021 Mark Elliot Community Preservation, Dan Yukelson, Elia Weinbach, Harvey Miller, landlords

Landlords claim that we tenants were a happy lot before City of Beverly Hills mucked around with the rent stabilization ordinance. They hardly ever hit us with excessive rent increases, they say, and properties were maintained just fine. No-just-cause eviction was not even a thing, so why fix what wasn’t broke? This latest attempt to roll back tenant protections isn’t fooling anybody: this was a system that did need fixing.