Los Angeles City Rent Stabilization – Reminders and Updates
by Patricia A. Harris
Hopefully, if you own in the City of Los Angeles, you have already paid your building’s
registration fees of $24.51 per unit which was due by February 28, 2011. Yes, the City
raised the annual registration fees again!
Collect $12.25 Fees in June
The Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Division allows owners to pass-through one half of
these fees ($12.25) with a 30-day notice, collectible in the month of June only. That
means you MUST serve the notice of the one time annual rent increase found on the
following page in the month of May in order to collect this annual fee from your
tenants. AOA recommends you serve the notice on May 1st to collect this fee along with
the rent due on June 1st.
NOTE: The notice of the one-time annual charge must be accompanied with a copy
of your Rent Stabilization registration certificate to show that you paid the fees.
Code-Enforcement Pass-Through Fees
The newly raised SCEP fee of $43.32 per unit charge for the Housing Department’s
code-enforcement inspection fee may also be passed through to your tenants. This fee,
however, must be amortized over a 12 month period and is collectible at a monthly rate
of $3.61. A 30-Day Notice of Change of Terms of Tenancy must be served to each
tenant after you pay your bill before you can collect this fee. That means with proper
service, you can legally raise your rents (as long as you paid your bill!), $3.61 per month.
Every little bit helps! Your tenant may elect to pay this fee all at once, however, they
will not be awarded a refund should they move before the end of the year. Also, if your
building IS NOT under rent control, you may request and collect the fee in its entirety
after serving the 30 day notice.
Other Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Updates
¢ SECURITY DEPOSIT INTEREST: Please note that the required 2012 interest
that must be paid on security deposits for units in L.A. City is .22 percent. A
landlord may pay tenants the actual rate of interest earned if security deposits are
kept in a separate account by providing a copy of the bank statement showing the
actual interest rate earned for the year.
¢ ALLOWABLE ANNUAL RENT INCREASE: The Los Angeles Rent Control
annual rent increase for 2012 is currently 3% through June 30, 2012 and will most
likely remain 3% from July 1, 2012 through June 30th, 2013. As of this printing,
the July 2012 rental increase percent was not yet determined but we were told it
will probably remain the same. The actual amount should be made available to us
in June.
Note: All AOA forms may be downloaded by members by visiting www.aoausa.com.