landlords – Renters Alliance

SoCalGas to Copen Tenants: It’s Up to You!

February 7, 2019June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot 152 S Reeves, landlords, Reeves Drive, Stephen Copen

Here is the message that SoCalGas has for Dr. Stephen Copen’s tenants at 152 South Reeves: pay up the $1,359 your landlord owes or we’ll shut off your gas. It should come as no real surprise to any resident in his 12-unit apartment building. Helpfully this NOTICE TO TENANTS lets residents know that they could take this burden off the landlord by assuming “individual or joint responsibility” for the account and be on the hook for money and then deduct it from the rent.

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.

Sharon Darnov shares stories about tenants 2018-8-7

Commentary

Landlord Stories: “Extortionist” Tenants

August 11, 2018February 28, 2021 Mark Elliot 217 S Tower, 401 Shirley, landlords, property taxes, Proposition 13, Sharon Darnov

Rental property owner Sharon Darnov appeared before City Council to share an observation: “There are good landlords and there are bad landlords,” she said, “and there are good tenants and there are bad tenants.” But Darnov didn’t talk about bad landlords. She did have a few words about the ”extortionists” and “grifters” she counts as tenants. Every landlord has a story and this is Darnov’s.

AAGLA vs Beverly Hills federal complaint

News

Landlords File Federal Lawsuit to Invalidate Registry

August 10, 2018June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot AAGLA, Dan Yukelson, landlords, Orit Blau, rental unit registration

Beverly Hills landlords never liked the city’s rental unit registry. They fought tooth-and-nail against this ledger of landlords, properties and tenancies because this must-have rent-stabilization tool would hold landlords accountable to the law. Last year the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles brought a Superior Court lawsuit to tank it. Now they are back again with their federal case and a new local landlord plaintiff.

Commentary

We Knock Down Some Landlord Claims

July 20, 2018June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot 303 N Swall, 423 N Palm, Kevin Davis, landlords

Landlord Kevin Davis penned a letter to the Courier in the July 13th issue that warned of a “massacre” upon those who lease apartments. While we are accustomed to hyperbolic bloviating by associations like AAGLA and its director Dan Yukelson, Davis reminds us that even sober speakers sometimes offer up specious claims. Here is our rebuttal as published in the July 20th Courier.

Yukelson landlord crusader BH Weekly Cover

Commentary

AAGLA Executive Director’s Thoughts on Rent Control

April 30, 2018February 28, 2021 Mark Elliot BH Weekly, Dan Yukelson, landlords

‘Landlord crusader’ Dan Yukelson recently shared his thoughts about rent stabilization with the Beverly Hills Weekly and he’s not happy! The former Planning commissioner (and current executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles) capped his career in corporate finance with the purchase of a fourplex in Beverly Hills — a good investment until City Council amended the rent stabilization law, he says. But Yukelson is no naïve investor: he knows rental housing in Beverly Hills will always be the best place to invest!

Landlord Harvey Miller is one of the foremost opponents of the rental unit registry and rent control generally.

Commentary

This Landlord Wants OUR Tenant-City Communications

November 13, 2017August 13, 2022 Mark Elliot 9925 Durant Drive, Harvey Miller, landlords, rental unit registration

Beverly Hills landlords sat across the table from our tenants committee at the dialogues this summer and opposed in every way possible the city’s rental unit registry. The registry is the heart of the city’s rent stabilization program and is a means to hold landlords accountable. Which is why they have embraced a scorched-earth campaign to tank it. This landlord took another tack: demanding from the city any record of a tenant complaint about her landlord — as we learned by filing our own public records request on the landlord!

Commentary

Tenants and Landlords: Is It Always About Class?

October 30, 2017June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot landlords

I’ve met many lovely people while walking my dog. There’s Ross, a newly-married young guy who, with his wife, resides in their duplex down the block. Our pups don’t really spark but Ross and I chat amiably a few mornings a week. Then there’s Dick, the retired physician who owns an immaculate fourplex around the corner. I’ve seen him on morning walks with his beagle Alice for years. These folks own property but they are not of the landlord class.

Smithwood Drive assessor map showing buildings

Commentary

Personal Attacks are Unwelcome in a Civic Debate

September 11, 2017August 28, 2019 Mark Elliot City of Los Angeles, landlords

Now that City Council has agreed to go forward with the rent stabilization program, proponents and opponents are continuing the policy dialogue in the media. Thankfully, recent exchanges have reflected the comity we enjoyed during the facilitated sessions. But some would malign, though personal attacks, anyone who would speak up with a different vision of a better Beverly Hills. Here we rebut Nathan Hirsch’s September 8th letter to the Courier – a model of how NOT to conduct a public dialog.

Analysis

A Closer Look at Landlord Objections to the Registry

August 11, 2017June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot landlords, rental unit registration

City Council in January created a registry of rental units to identify every rental property owner in the city and inventory the apartments rented, available for rent, or otherwise occupied. The registry is KEY to the rent stabilization program, which is why rental housing business owners are trying by hook and by crook to cripple it.

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