L.A. City Council votes to dramatically expand tenant protections ahead of deadline

After a dramatic and lengthy floor debate, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Friday to dramatically expand protections for renters.

With the city’s longstanding COVID-19 anti-eviction rules set to expire in 11 days, council members had been racing the clock to formulate a new policy that could garner enough support to pass.

Friday’s vote should ensure that the measure — which particularly expands protections for tenants who don’t live in rent-stabilized units — goes into effect before the order expires.

The more than four-hour meeting recessed just after 2 p.m., as the city’s attorneys left to draft the revised legislation that the council had amended and signed off on during the meeting. A second, pro forma vote was expected to take place Friday afternoon.

The version of policy that passed was championed by the council’s progressive bloc, with the support of tenants rights groups and several community organizations.

The new policy will establish a minimum threshold for eviction for tenants who fall behind on rent and require landlords to pay relocation fees in some situations where a large rent increase would result in the tenant’s displacement.

Landlords will no longer be allowed to evict tenants in any rental property, including single-family homes, unless there was unpaid rent, documented lease violations, owner move-ins or other specific reasons. That provision will go into effect after six months or when a lease expires, whichever comes first.

Some renters, including those in rent-stabilized units, already have “just cause” eviction protections, but making them universal will considerably expand the number of tenants covered by the protections.

The new policy will also block evictions until February 2024 for tenants who have unauthorized pets or who added residents who aren’t listed on leases, and create a new timeline for paying back rent owed from the emergency period. Tenants would have until Aug. 1 to repay back rent accumulated between March 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, and until Feb. 1, 2024, to repay back rent accumulated between Oct. 1, 2021, and Jan. 31, 2023.

The council also voted to direct city departments to report back within 30 days with recommendations for the establishment of a new relief assistance program for mom-and-pop landlords.