rental unit registration – Renters Alliance

Rental Unit Registration: What Does It Mean for Tenants? [Updated]

April 7, 2023July 5, 2024 Mark Elliot rental unit registration

Owners of Beverly Hills rental property which is not exempt from rent stabilization must register each rental unit with the city’s rental unit registry. Registration starts in January. After the registration period closes in spring, a 15-day appeal window opens. The city then sends each rent-stabilized household a ‘notice of rent amount reported by the landlord’ If the reported rent is the amount paid then no action is required; an incorrect rent amount should be corrected through an appeal. But this is also an opportunity to see if the paid rent is the lawful rent. Here’s what you need to know.

News

Landlord Registration of Rental Units is Badly Lagging

March 21, 2023July 5, 2024 Mark Elliot rental unit registration

City of Beverly Hills every year requires each owner of a multifamily property to register his rental units with the city’s rental unit registry. The registry identifies the property owner and keeps track of the lawful rent and much more. It is the backbone of our rent stabilization program because it helps the city hold landlords to account for unlawful rent increases and other malfeasance. Landlords strongly opposed it and even filed two lawsuits to stop it without success. Now some landlords simply resist registration. How many failed to comply?

News

Landlord’s Lawsuit to Block RSO is Dismissed

May 29, 2019June 21, 2019 Mark Elliot Hank Dayani, Petris Act, rental unit registration

State Superior Court judge Hon. Mary Strobel has dismissed landlord Hank Dayani’s lawsuit to block the city’s registration of rental units. Dayani himself petitioned for the dismissal. Back in 2017 he requested from the court a temporary injunction citing numerous grounds, claiming that the registration program runs afoul of state law and also alleging harm to him and his tenants from the requirement. With a trial set for August 15th and little hope of prevailing, the plaintiff evidently concedes the city’s program is lawful after all.

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

Rent Stabilization Update: What’s Next?

February 11, 2018June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot rental unit registration, Sukhsimranjit Singh, Susan Healy Keene

Months have passed without a single word from City Hall about rent stabilization. No press release, newspaper announcement or website update has keept us informed. Officials let weeks go by without a reply. And don’t get me started about the programs that must be better managed if they are to properly serve tenants. What gives with the silent treatment? Is City Hall on hiatus?

Rental unit registry registration notice

Analysis

Rental Unit Registration: Landlord Laggards

December 28, 2017June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot Elia Weinbach, rental unit registration

When staff presented City Council with an overview of registration data in November of 2017, it was clear just how many rental properties had not been registered with the city as required: almost twenty percent! And those properties were disproportionately small properties. We take a look at the data on non-registration to suggest what it may say about owners who have not registered.

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

News

Penalty for Rental Registration Laggards

December 22, 2017June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot Hank Dayani, Harvey Miller, rental unit registration

Beverly Hills City Council wrapped up the year with an ordinance adopted December 19th to impose a penalty on any landlord that fails to register his rental property: no rent increase until it is registered. Council had to act because the city faces a state deadline to complete the registry yet according to the city one-in-five properties is still not registered.

Registration progress over-under by property size

Analysis News

Slow Progress on Rental Unit Registration

November 19, 2017June 18, 2019 Mark Elliot rental unit registration

City Council recently received an update on the status of the registry of rental units: landlords have only registered four-out-of-five properties to date. As many as 1100 units remain unregistered. That is 14% of all units. Yet only about 80 of 1,000 notices sent to individual property owners were kicked back (a failure rate of only 7%). Are landlords unaware of the registry; or are they choosing not to register?

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!

News

Rental Registry Notices in the Mail

October 18, 2017July 5, 2024 Mark Elliot rental unit registration

Have you received a notice from the city asking you to confirm your rent as reported by the landlord? Appeal notices went out last Thursday to many but not all households. If you did receive a notice, please pay attention! The certified, correct rent for each unit is the foundation of any rent stabilization program. If you did not yet receive a notice, don’t be alarmed for there may be a good reason.

News

City Council (Finally) Adopts Registry Resolution

September 23, 2017June 21, 2019 Mark Elliot AAGLA, Elia Weinbach, Harvey Miller, Kevin Davis, rental unit registration

City Council in Tuesday’s September 19th evening session adopted a resolution to create the rental unit registry. It was a formality, really. Council had decided to move ahead with it on September 5th despite a small parade of landlords who argued that the registry was not only unlawful but too costly and the product of an improper process.

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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