Los Angeles County renters have gotten another reprieve.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday extended its coronavirus eviction moratorium through the end of September, according to the Los Angeles Times. The measure bars landlords from evicting tenants who suffered a financial hardship brought on by the pandemic.
The county, the city of L.A. and California have separate eviction moratoriums in place.
The state’s measure ends on June 30, when the federal moratorium expires. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to extend it later this week, as the clock runs down.
The county’s eviction ban applies to both residential and commercial tenants. Landlords have pushed the county and other jurisdictions to let the temporary bans expire, arguing that the emergency is over and they are losing money.
The county also sought to provide $10 million in rent relief programs to landlords of small businesses that have been affected by the pandemic, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
Officials also want to prevent commercial landlords from collecting back rent from tenants accrued between March 2020 and the end of the moratorium.L.A County supervisors said the extension was in part a stopgap measure as the state ramps up its rent relief program and extends its own moratorium.
Earlier this year, a commercial landlord sued the county to overturn the moratorium. A prominent Southern California landlord group also sued the city over its moratorium last fall. This month, landlord and brokerage groups called on President Biden to allow the June 30 ban to expire.
Last May, UCLA estimated that hundreds of thousands of L.A. County renters could be evicted when moratoriums are lifted.
[LAT] — Dennis Lynch