Judge weighs mass eviction by Douglas Emmett at LA’s Barrington Plaza

Douglas Emmett is booting hundreds of tenants from Barrington Plaza in West Los Angeles because of a city law that allows a landlord to remove rent-controlled units “permanently from rental housing use.” Only it may not.

Superior Court Judge H. Jay Ford III will decide whether the Santa Monica-based real estate investment trust obeyed the law in its eviction of 577 occupied rent-controlled units to install fire sprinklers at 11740 Wilshire Boulevard, in Sawtelle, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The judge is expected to rule on the mass eviction case in the next few weeks following a trial that began last month at the Santa Monica Courthouse. Lawyers for both sides made closing arguments at the end of April.

More than 100 people still live at the Barrington after Douglas Emmett tried to evict them last year, according to the Times.

The tenants are being evicted under the Ellis Act, a state law that allows landlords to remove tenants from rent-controlled apartments if the building is taken off the rental market. When evictions are complete, a total 712 units will be affected. 

In the case of Barrington Plaza, Douglas Emmett says that’s the plan — while at the same time admitting it might rent out the apartments in the future. The retrofit is expected to take three to five years.

“The term ‘permanently’ does not mean forever,” the company’s lawyers argued in court filings.

Uh?

State law allows landlords “the absolute right to exit the rental market, which means that the landlord’s motivation and reason for doing so does not matter,” the company argues in court filings.

At Barrington, company lawyers add there is a compelling reason to evict the tenants, according to the Times. After two major fires, the REIT needs to install fire sprinklers and make fire safety upgrades to the property.

At the heart of the case are two laws. One is the state Ellis Act, which gives landlords the right to get out of the rental business. The other is the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance, which controls rent increases, limits permissible evictions for rent-stabilized units and says how the Ellis Act can be applied in L.A.

Tenants and their advocates see the lawsuit as a crucial effort to defend rent control in Los Angeles, according to the Times.

If companies can simply say they’re permanently removing units from the rental market, evict tenants and then re-rent the units, they say the laws have no meaning.

Peter Dreier, a professor at Occidental College, told the newspaper a decision accepting the company’s position “could be devastating for tenants in L.A., for tenants all over the state who are in rent-controlled apartments.” 

In court, Ford has said he agrees that there is “substantial evidence” that the company’s intent was to revive Barrington Plaza as apartments.

Douglas Emmett argues it would still be within the law if it later re-rents the apartments.

Its lawyers say the state Ellis Act, which doesn’t use the word “permanent,” pre-empts the city law, which does. And even if it’s not pre-empted, they say, “permanent” in its legal application to this case means “non-temporary” or “indefinite” — not forever.

They point to provisions in the law that impose requirements on landlords who re-rent properties following Ellis Act evictions.

In February, Douglas Emmett secured a $550 million construction loan, backed by the 62-year-old Barrington Plaza and three other residential properties, The Real Deal reported.

— Dana Bartholomew

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