Bad Vibrations Could Be Costly, Rent Board Tells Landlords

By Jorge Casuso

Saturday, July 31 -- Tenants picking up bad vibrations - as well as odors or dust -- due to renovation work stand to win rent reductions under a proposed regulation the Rent Control Board all but approved Thursday night.

Rent decreases would be allowed if construction at the property "significantly impacts the habitability of a unit, interferes with the tenant(s)' quiet enjoyment of their unit, or reduces or removes the housing services of a unit for a period exceeding twenty-four hours," according to the proposed regulation.

The regulation - which the board is expected to approve Aug. 12 - comes in response to increased complaints from tenants who contend that extensive renovation is making life miserable. The renovation of apartment buildings across the city has been spurred by a state law that went into full effect Jan.1 and allows landlords to raise the rents of vacated rent-controlled units to what the market will bear.

Under the proposed regulation, tenants could receive decreases of between 10 percent and 100 percent of the rent, and $20 and $250, depending on the infraction.

"I think we're all interested in having the housing stock improved," said commissioner Alan Toy. "Our point is not to become punitive."

Half a dozen tenants testified to the impacts of construction, which they said caused them to close windows all day, walk up and down stairs and in one case, nearly decapitated a tenant when heavy machinery drove through an apartment wall.

"We call it Kosovo by the ocean or Sarajevo by the sea," said Lynn Montgomery, who said she was evicted from her apartment at 110-120 Pico Blvd. after renovation made the building uninhabitable. "Inhumane, unjust acts have been done to us."

"Construction is inherently noisy and disruptive," said Brett Svatek, who lives in an apartment building on Fifth Street.. "But a tenant stands to gain a lot less than a landlord."

Landlord attorney Rosario Perry, however, warned that the penalties could backfire, inciting landlords to go out of the rental business under the Ellis Act, a state law that allows them to charge market rates after a building is vacated for a year.

"These are horrible regulations," Perry said. "All you're doing is throwing out your poor tenants. It will be cheaper for a landlord to Ellis a building than to follow the regulations."

The rent board will encourage tenants and landlords to work out differences with a mediator. But the board has put in place a complex set of calculations to compute the rent decreases.

The proposed categories and the range of the decreases are as follows:

· For noise and vibrations, 10 to 50 percent.
· For odors, dust and ventilation, 10 to 75 percent.
· For loss of safety (compromised security, gas leaks, fire hazards, significant trip and fall hazards, asbestos, lead paint, interference with coming and going, etc.), 10 to 100 percent.
· For utility shutoffs, 10 to 75 percent.
· For inadequate construction management (including significant debris and work exceeding the permitted hours), 10 to 75 percent.
· For other interference with quiet enjoyment of the unit, such as substantial holes in floors, walls or ceiling, or water leakage, 10 to 50 percent.
· For loss or reduction of parking, $20 to $250.
· For loss or reduction of storage, $5 to $100.
· For loss or reduction of security gates, doors and fencing, $20 to $120.
· For loss or reduction of laundry facilities, $20 to $80.
· For loss or reduction of recreation facilities, $10 to $80.
· For loss or reduction of yards, patios, balconies or play areas, $10 to $80.

According to the staff report, "for each construction impact or impairment, the appropriate monthly decrease percentage or amount…. is calculated by dividing that amount by 30. That result is multiplied by the number of days the condition was or is reasonably expected to be in existence.

"To obtain the total monthly decrease amount, these figures for each construction-caused impact or impairment are added together and then divided by the number of months the construction is contemplated…. The decrease schedule will remain in effect for the same number of months the construction is anticipated to last."

The board will notify landlords that rent decreases may be granted for significant disturbances, and will forward a copy of the notice to tenants.

The proposed regulation comes in the wake of city council ordinances that protect tenants against harassment and force landlords to provide housing comparable to their units for tenants displaced by construction.

If approved, the regulation is expected to take effect Aug.16.