The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles has filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles in Federal Court to challenge the indefinite eviction moratorium and rent freeze moratorium in Los Angeles. According to the organization, these regulations force landlords to “absorb the residents’ claimed economic losses attendant to the crisis.
“Clearly, the actions taken by the City of Los Angeles under its moratoria represent an improper and uncompensated taking of the fundamental property rights from the city’s rental housing providers. The city’s actions are a clear violations of the contract clauses and the takings clauses under the California and U.S. Constitutions, and a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment denying the due process rights of property owners under both the California and U.S. Constitutions,” Daniel M. Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, tells GlobeSt.com.
These restrictions have been in place for three months, since the onset of the pandemic. The end date for the ban is linked to the citywide emergency order, which appears to be in effect indefinitely. “The eviction ban is being challenged now because there’s no apparent end in sight on if or when the city, Mayor or the city council will lift the local emergency declaration,” says Yukelson. “The moratorium allows residents to not pay rent for an entire year after the emergency ban is lifted and waives interest and late fees without any documentation requirements evidencing need for these interest-free loans.”
Los Angeles—like most cities—has a nigh concentration of independent small landlords, who cannot sustain apartment operations without income. According to AAGLA, that is an infringement on private contractual negotiations but also has the potential to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in liability. “Without an end in sight or any sort of financial relief whatsoever being offered to the City’s housing providers, many will be forced into foreclosure,” says Yukelson. “The City’s housing providers are predominantly smaller “mom and pop” owners who, like renters, already struggled financially and lived month-to-month before the onset of the pandemic. Many of the City’s housing providers have also lost full-time jobs or been inflicted with the Coronavirus and have very little in financial reserves to weather a long-term emergency. Many of these owners are not only struggling to meet the financial obligations of maintaining and managing their rental property, they have been struggling to provide housing, food and clothing for their families.”
