For many renters in Los Angeles, apartment renovations are no cause for celebration. Instead of getting a brand new kitchen or bathroom, tenants know they’ll often be getting an eviction.
But on Tuesday, the L.A. City Council decided to push back on these “renovictions.”
The council voted 11-0 to get rid of a local provision allowing landlords to evict tenants in cases where “substantial remodel” work will take more than 30 days. Instead, landlords could soon be required to temporarily relocate tenants and let them return after renovations are complete.
Reaction to the vote
Tenant advocates cheered the decision. They argued landlords often use remodeling plans as a pretext for getting rid of long-term tenants in order to dramatically raise rents for the next occupants.
Landlord advocates said the city’s aging housing stock needs repair, and requiring landlords to maintain tenancies during lengthy remodeling will put property owners in financial straits.
“It would constructively prohibit existing mom-and-pop owners from conducting needed major system repairs by prohibiting increasing rents to cover these substantial costs, and as a result, drive more naturally occurring affordable housing off the market,” David Kaishchyan with the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles said during the City Council meeting’s public comment period.
Who is covered by the new protections
Protections against eviction due to renovation work already exist for most of the city’s renters because they’re covered by L.A. rent control, which provides a host of eviction safeguards. The City Council passed rules against “renoviction”…
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