The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to formally codify an existing rule requiring landlords to file eviction notices with the city, a procedural step that aims to improve enforcement of tenant protections and spot patterns of evictions.<\/p>\n
Under the newly adopted ordinance, landlords must submit a copy of any written notice ending tenancy to the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) within three business days of serving the tenant. The amendment, originally drafted by the City Attorney\u2019s Office in April<\/a>, specifies that notices must be submitted either electronically or using a form approved by the LAHD and the City Attorney.<\/p>\n City officials and housing advocates say the rule is part of a broader push to increase transparency around evictions and ensure renters aren\u2019t being forced out of their homes illegally.<\/p>\n In a statement, Sharon Sandow, director of communications for the city\u2019s Housing Department, said the amendment requires landlords who don\u2019t file eviction notices online to instead mail the notice along with an LAHD Eviction Filing Cover Sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis ensures that LAHD receives all necessary tenant information directly from the landlord,\u201d she said. \u201cTenant information is essential for providing tenants with valuable renter protection and referrals to appropriate legal services, thereby safeguarding tenant rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, a longtime tenants\u2019 rights nonprofit, praised the move, saying it strengthens tenant protections<\/a> and enables groups like his to help tenants fight unlawful evictions.<\/p>\n \u201cTenants are in some cases unaware that they\u2019re being evicted, until they get the notice to appear in court,\u201d Gross said. \u201cSo landlords play a lot of games with these notices and this will hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n He also connected the ordinance to broader tenant protection infrastructure, like the city\u2019s Right to Counsel Program, which provides eligible tenants with free legal representation.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIt goes hand in hand with the city\u2019s commitment to funding Right to Counsel,\u201d Gross said, \u201cto ensure that tenants, particularly low-income tenants, are represented with legal representation when they have to fight an eviction in courts.\u201d<\/p>\n But landlord groups criticized the move as overly burdensome. Daniel M. Yukelson, executive director and CEO of Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, said the measure adds yet another layer of bureaucracy for landlords already grappling with complex rules.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city is doing everything in its power to make it more difficult for property owners to collect legally owed rent or deal with problems that tenants are causing, whether they be conducting criminal activity, destroying property, creating a nuisance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Yukelson said that under the city\u2019s eviction-filing rules, even small technical errors, such as forgetting to list the number of bedrooms, or failing to submit the required forms within three business days, can allow a tenant to raise an affirmative defense in court. That means a judge could delay or dismiss the case, forcing landlords to start the eviction process from the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aBelieve me, evictions are a last resort in any situation,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re very costly and time-consuming and nerve-wracking for property owners to go through, so nobody wants to do it. And the city is just creating even more burdens on property owners through this latest action. It is basically death by a thousand cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n The item passed Tuesday without discussion. The updated ordinance amends sections 151.09 and 165.05 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code to clarify how landlords must comply with the city\u2019s eviction filing rules, which was enacted in January 2023 as part of a broader package of pandemic-era tenant protections.<\/a><\/p>\n This rule applies to all written notices terminating a tenancy for at-fault reasons, including those for nonpayment of rent, lease violations, nuisance complaints or other tenant misconduct under the city\u2019s Rent Stabilization and Just Cause ordinances.<\/p>\n Notices for no-fault evictions \u2014 such as owner move-ins or demolition \u2014 must be filed separately through a Declaration of Intent to Evict, which includes an application fee and paid relocation assistance to the tenant.<\/p>\n