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Los Angeles

Court to hear challenge to Pasadena rent control measure

California Apartment Association wants to invalidate voter-approved Measure H

CAA's Thomas K. Bannon with Pasadena (CAA, Getty)
CAA's Thomas K. Bannon with Pasadena (CAA, Getty)

An L.A. County judge has set a late March court date for an ongoing legal challenge to Measure H, the signature Pasadena rent control law that was passed by the city’s voters in November.

Measure H, which Pasadena voters approved by nearly 4,000 votes — about 8 points — is the city’s first-ever rent control law, and took the form of a new charter amendment. The measure created an independent rental board, restricts annual rent increases and implements just cause eviction and relocation assistance requirements, among other programs. It applies to tens of thousands of units in the city.

“This is a win for every renter, and every resident in Pasadena who is tired of watching their longtime neighbors getting priced out,” one advocate declared in November.

Many area landlords and their advocates, however, strongly opposed the measure, arguing it would create millions of dollars of government bureaucracy while doing little to actually lower local housing costs.

In mid-December, soon after the measure’s backers rallied at Pasadena City Hall calling on elected officials to quickly implement protections, the California Apartment Association (CAA), the state’s largest landlord advocacy group, along with several Pasadena landlords, filed a lawsuit against it. On Dec. 22, a judge issued a notice of the March 30 date for a trial conference.

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“Measure H is invalid in several respects,” the suit claims, including that the law constitutes a more encompassing city charter “revision,” rather than a charter “amendment”; that its rental board’s tenant-designated seats are discriminatory against property owners; and that some of its provisions violate California’s existing Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a 1995 law that limits some residential units from the reach of rent control ordinances.

Along with CAA, the plaintiffs include a retired professor who owns four properties and residents who own a fourplex and two condo buildings, among others. The suit names the City of Pasadena and its City Council as defendants.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to quickly block the law’s implementation.

The City of Pasadena declined to comment.

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PasadenaPoliticsRent Control