Rent Control Laws

I'm willing to bet that many of you out there have heard so many stories about Rent Control that you are really confused. I'm also willing to bet that many of you believe that rent control is a statewide law in California. If you said yes you would be wrong. In California Rent Control Laws are city ordinances and not state laws. At least not yet. Below is a list of cities currently covered by some sort of rent control in the State of California:

Cities With Full Rent Control

Cities with Partial Rent Control

Following Cities are Full Rent Control:

Beverly Hills
East Palo Alto
Hayward
Los Angeles & Outlying Cities
Los Gatos
Oakland
Palm Springs
San Francisco
San Jose
Santa Monica
West Hollywood

Following Cities are Partial Rent Control:

Campbell (Mediation Only)
Fremont (Mediation Only)
Glendale (Just Cause Eviction)
Thousand Oaks (Mobile Home Rent Control)

The City of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood are governed by rent control ordinances, while other cities that border Los Angeles may or may not be covered. If you live in a city that is part of the Greater Metropolitan City of Los Angeles, such as San Pedro, Van Nuys Northridge or Venice, to name a few, you may be covered by the Rent Control Ordinance of the City of Los Angeles. You have to check with the particular city where the units are located to be sure.

What is the Dispute Behind Rent Control?

Rent Control has polarized the population into two separate and disparate groups that basically dislike each other. One faction believes that it is government's function is to regulate every part of life to make it easier for some people to live at the expense of others. The other group believes that the Government has no business getting involved in a person's right to engage in the free market system. They feel that if Government wants to provide cheap housing, then government should buy up the rental units and rent them out themselves. Predictably, with each side becoming more and more strident, urban myths emerge. On such myth is that Rent Control Laws are state laws. As we have demonstrated above they are city ordinances.

From my point of view this is part of the problem. These rules are more political than they are regulatory. To make matters worse, the cities sometimes change or suspend parts of the laws at will. This results in chaos amongst the landlords who are the group most impacted by the regulations. Predictably, they resort to extra judicial efforts to avoid the system. They take the units out of the market, by converting them to Condominiums or they just let the units languish empty. Neither solution helps ease the housing shortage. It is virtually impossible to understand these laws without understanding the political and philosophical battle that rages over this issue. Hopefully we will try and present both the law and the philosophical sides so that you can better understand the whole problem. If you are interested in learning more about the underlying dispute, you can easily find information on both sides of the controversy on the web.

**Introduction To The Law**
Introduction to Rent Control	Introduction to the New Laws
Rent control ordinances are laws adopted by cities to control the availability of affordable housing. These rules typically limit rent increases and severely restrict evictions. In many instances these Ordinances have had the opposite effect of their stated purposes. They have also been the lightning rod for political actions such as various attempts for cities to try and break-away from the City of Los Angeles. To read the entire law as it currently exists, click on "L.A. Rent Control" and you can see it for yourself. If you are interested in reading about rent control in the City of Glendale, then click on "Glendale Rent Control"	Some of the New Laws have their roots in the Rent Control Statutes that cities like Los Angeles have adopted. These new laws have been largely characterized as being pro-tenant, although many of the laws cut both ways. In any event, if you are a landlord or a tenant, you need to be aware of the new laws and how they will effect your rights. To see the new laws for the years 2002 to 2005, click on the "New Laws 2002 to 2005" Button to check them out for yourself.

An Introduction to Rent Control and Changing Laws:

During the last few years we have faced some major changes in California's Landlord-Tenant laws and the rent control statutes that various cities have enacted. To see the new laws for the years 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005, click on the "New Laws 2002 to 2005" Button. Since these laws were located deep in the Tenant section, I decided to gather them and put them together in a section of their own. This way you no longer have to go to the Tenant section to find changes in the New Landlord-Tenant Laws. By doing it this way you can also see the progression of each change.

Rather than try and list the Ordinances of every city, I decided to use the Los Angeles City Rent Stabilization Ordinance as the model for all of the ordinances. I didn't decide to do this on a whim. Most of the other cities that have Rent Control use the Los Angeles City law as a model for their own Rent Stabilization Laws. Since there will be some variation from city to city, it would behoove you to go to the website of the actual city where you live. That way you will (hopefully) have the latest version of their law to review.

Concerning the Rent Stabilization Act for the City of Los Angeles, I fully intend to attach articles that examine and explain certain key provisions of that law that may be of interest to the most number of people. I will decide which sections to expand upon by utilizing the questions posted to the site from our search engine. Given the length of the statute, obviously this cannot be done in one month, so I will be preparing this section in parts. You will also be able to directly go to the statute itself for a comparison of the actual law. This page is intended to be the starting point for the entire section.

Los Angeles City Rent Control
Rent Control Myths	Eviction Rules Under Rent Control
Some tenants incorrectly believe that these laws apply to every city and every rental unit. In reality the opposite is true. Most cities do not have rent control. The City of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood are governed by rent control ordinances, while other cities that border Los Angeles may or may not. If you live in a city that is part of the Metropolitan City of Los Angeles, such as San Pedro, Van Nuys Northridge or Venice, to name a few, you may be covered by the Rent Control Ordinance of the City of Los Angeles. You have to check with the particular city where the units are located to be sure.	Landlords that are covered by rent control ordinances, must register their units with the City of Los Angeles. If they don't, they cannot legally collect rent or sue you for non-payment of rent until they register. Additionally all units must be legal units. That means that they must have permits, obey zoning and have a certificate of occupancy. This is to prevent people from living in garages and illegal add on units. Most of the cities that have adopted Rent Control Ordinances, have telephone numbers for tenants to find out if the units are legal and registered. They will usually send you a copy of the Ordinance, if you request it. Want to know what the 12 sacred reasons to evict a tenant under L.A. City rent control are? If so click "12 Eviction Rules" to see for yourself

THE LAW OFFICES OF

ANTHONY J. ROBINSON

(626) 797-5001

Are You Confused About Rent Control?

What is the Dispute Behind Rent Control?

Introduction To The Law

An Introduction to Rent Control and Changing Laws:

Los Angeles City Rent Control