It’s just gotten a lot harder for landlords across much of Los Angeles County to evict residential tenants.
Tenants in unincorporated parts of the county now only have to tell their landlords in writing that they can’t make rent within seven days of rent coming due to prevent an eviction, according to the L.A. Times. They’ll also have a year to pay back that rent.
The County Board of Supervisors approved the measure on Tuesday, the same day it passed a measure to cover up to $1,000 in rent for three months for vulnerable renters in the county.
Numerous cities in the county, including the city of L.A., have instituted temporary eviction protection measures to help keep people housed until the immediate threat of the pandemic subsides, but the county government only has direct jurisdiction over unincorporated parts of the county. The unincorporated areas span 2,650 square miles and contain about 1 million residents.
The county has passed tenant protection measures for unincorporated L.A. County before. Last year it instituted a rent control measure for the roughly 50,000 units in unincorporated L.A. County that exceeded protections in place in some cities in the county.
The measure passed Tuesday builds on tenant protection measures in place at the state level and is stronger than both the state’s measures and measures adopted in the city of L.A.
Late last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order halting all residential evictions until the end of May if a tenant can’t pay because of some loss in income related to the pandemic.
Newsom’s order, however, requires that tenants provide some documentation proving financial hardship, whereas the county does not — landlords must accept the written notice from tenants. [LAT] — Dennis Lynch