Item 8-C

City Council Meeting 4-13-99 Santa Monica, California

TO: Mayor and City Council

FROM: City Attorney

SUBJECT: Ordinance Amending Sections 4.36.090 and 4.36.100 of the Municipal Code Specifying an Owner’s Relocation Obligations When the Owner Must Obtain Temporary Possession of A Rental Housing Unit to Comply with Health, Safety or Building Laws and Legal Remedies and Declaring the Presence of an Emergency

Introduction

City staff is currently working on a comprehensive proposal addressing a range of issues related to protecting tenants in apartment buildings undergoing substantial rehabilitation. Meanwhile, in order to provide basic protections until that proposal is made, staff recommends adoption of the attached emergency ordinance. It clarifies relocation obligations and establishes additional remedies.

Discussion

A significant number of apartment building owners in the City are opting to substantially rehabilitate their properties in order to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by state-mandated vacancy decontrol. In many instances, the rehabilitation work renders the premises uninhabitable, and the tenants must be temporarily relocated. Current local law requires that the landlord assume responsibility for relocation under these circumstances. However, current law leaves unclear the extent of the landlord’s obligations and fails to provide adequate remedies.

Recent experience shows that current law is unclear and inadequate. In one situation, a controversy arose when tenants had to be relocated on very short notice when City safety personnel determined that the construction work rendered the building unsafe for habitation. In another case, substantial controversy has arisen about the legality of the relocation arrangements made by the landlord. Both of these controversies might have been avoided if the Municipal Code had more clearly specified the landlord’s obligations and provided effective remedies. Moreover, additional controversies are likely to arise in the near future because of the volume of rehabilitation being undertaken.

To ensure that all aspects of such situations are addressed, planning staff will propose recommendations which would create a mechanism within the building permit review and inspection process to ensure that tenant safety is protected during construction, establish a review process for mitigation of construction nuisances, and expand noticing requirements to ensure that tenants are aware of their rights during construction and receive complete information about the scope and schedule of the proposed project. It is anticipated that these recommendations will be presented in the next two months.

The temporary proposal encompassed in the attached ordinance basically clarifies existing law and establishes new remedies. The proposed ordinance would clarify that the landlord must pay all actual and reasonable moving costs and also provide temporary housing which is comparable to the tenant’s unit. The tenant would be responsible for paying his or her regular rental payment; and if the cost of the temporary housing exceeded that amount the landlord would pay the difference. The proposed ordinance would also establish a civil remedy for violation of local relocation laws which would be available to any person, including the City, and would make punitive damages available.

Recommendation

Staff recommends that the Council adopt the attached emergency ordinance.

PREPARED BY: