If you own a rent-controlled apartment building in Los Angeles and you’re thinking about selling, there’s a conversation you need to have with yourself before you ever call a broker or check what buildings are trading for. That conversation isn’t about cap rates or interest rates or what the guy down the street got for…
A lawsuit in Oakland may do what legislation hasn’t: crack open the door to rent control on newer housing. At first glance, it looks like a narrow disability-access claim, but in reality, it could upend one of the pillars of California rent control: the exemption for newer construction under the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Let’s…
A recent California Court of Appeals decision centered on Pasadena’s rent-increase relocation rules is now shaping a separate legal battle over a similar ordinance in Los Angeles, after the appellate court asked parties to explain how the Pasadena ruling affects the Los Angeles case. The Pasadena decision held that a local requirement forcing housing providers…
For many Los Angeles property owners, the ADU has become the new favorite way to boost income without buying another building. Turning a garage, side yard, or unused corner of the lot into a rentable unit sounds like a straightforward value play – and in many ways, it is. Last month in Part One of…
California Housing Providers Face Another Cost Squeeze California housing providers are no strangers to rising costs and restrictive regulations. Between tightening rent control laws, escalating insurance premiums, labor shortages, and inflationary pressures, running a rental housing business has become increasingly difficult. Now, a new wave of federal tariffs threatens to make things even worse—driving up…
Rent control in California has been a cornerstone of housing policy, aimed at reducing the impact of rising rents and preventing homelessness in some of the nation’s most expensive cities. However, the policy in practice has caused the exact opposite of its original goals. Rent control’s actual effect is a decrease in housing supply, less…
The disclosed purpose of rent control policies is threefold: (a) to stabilize housing markets, (b) to protect tenants from exorbitant rent increases, and (c) to promote affordability in urban areas. California and New York have some of the most well-known and comprehensive rent control frameworks in the United States, though their approaches differ due to…
On December 17, 2024, the Oakland City Council amended the Rent Adjustment and Just Cause for Eviction Ordinances to, among other things, limit banking to five years instead of 10 years and to prohibit banking after a title transfer (except transfer through inheritance to certain relatives) as well as prohibit any rent increases if the…
AIDS HealthCare Foundation, controlled by Michael Weinstein, has once again initiated a campaign to destroy the protections afforded home-owners, condominium owners, commercial and retail property owners, apartment owners and developers of new apartment construction, heretofore protected by the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Props 10 and 21 Defeated! Weinstein was the engineer and architect of…
California Legislature Doubles Renters’ Unlawful Detainer Response Time From Five to Ten Days Signed into law in September, AB 2347 amended the CA CCP 1167, extending the time renters have to respond to an Unlawful Detainer filed against them from five to ten days. The justifications for this extension are the false assertions that renters…