Rent Control 101

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

October 11 -- After three decades of butting heads with local landlords over rent control, City officials are hoping a 101 course for new owners will reduce complaints in the future.

Nearly 40 landlords -- new and old -- packed a media room at the new library Tuesday morning for a 90-minute power point presentation led by a City mediator and rent control administrators.

The topic: how to own rental property in Santa Monica.

“We are hoping you learn things here today so you won’t have to see her in the future,” said rent control director Mary Ann Yukonis, referring to Christy Engels, the hearings officer and mediator who led the presentation.

But smoothing relations with property owners -- and helping them comport to local laws -- is no joking matter.

As Costa Hawkins enters its seventh year as State law – allowing landlords to raise the rents of vacant units to market rates – properties continue to change hands in the seaside city, Engels said.

However, many new owners don’t know how to navigate Santa Monica’s complex rent control laws.

“We have seen a rise in the number of petitions in the past couple of years, so we thought we would hold these seminars to help people,” Engels told the group. “It seems many of these disputes can be prevented.”

When can someone be evicted? How much can you raise a rent once you take over a building? And when is it appropriate to pass along improvements to tenants? These were among the topics covered at the seminar, the second of three such meetings to be held, officials said.

Many property owners and managers said the seminars were a step forward.

Mark Rogers, a long-time property manager in Santa Monica and regional vice president of the Carmel Partners, said he came not only for a refresher course, but to take advantage of increasing communication between groups that can, at times, be antagonistic.

“Any platform that brings landlords, the rent control administration and tenants together is a good thing,” he said.

Others said they appreciated the session, but felt the meeting could have been more productive by opening it up for a longer question and answer period.

While rent control officials don’t have hard data, they said many of the same problems seem to keep popping up, with many disputes arising over maintenance issues and passing those costs on to tenants, officials agreed.

Before Costa Hawkins, some landlords failed to maintain their condition of their rental stock.

Now that rents are rising again, many landlords are making long overdue repairs, but are having trouble hashing out what improvements, and how much of their cost, can be passed along to tenants, officials said.

Although registration fees charged by the rent board may be passed onto most tenants, surcharges for capital improvements can only be calculated by contacting the rent control department, because those are based on property taxes.

Another common complaint comes from tenants who claim they are being charged a higher rent by a new owner when a property changes hands, officials said.

“That happens a bit,” Engles said.

She invited landlords to continue to seek information from the City’s rent board.

“You can come in anytime or call us,” Engles said, emphasizing that the lines of communication are wide open.

The next seminar for landlords will be held in January, and rent officials said they are working on a subsequent seminar for renters as well.