By Jorge Casuso

August 20, 2025 -- A total of 26 units in five Santa Monica rent control buildings have been returned to the rental market this year, according to occupancy permits approved by the City.

The move by multi-family property owners furthers a trend that saw 34 units returned to residential rental use in 2024 as multifamily housing construction came to a standstill.

A total of 20 units in three of the buildings were withdrawn under the Ellis Act before the coronavirus shutdown slowed housing construction and drove up the cost of building materials.

The 1985 State law allows owners of rent control buildings to exit the rental housing market.

The latest Occupancy Permit determination was made on Monday by
Arminé Chaparyan, the City's director of Community Development.

It was for a four-unit property at 822 21st Street that was removed from the rental market on January 7, 2020, some six weeks before a health emergency was declared.

"Because the property is being returned to the rental market more than five years after its withdrawal, the owner may set the initial rent for any unit at market rate," Chaparyan informed the Council Tuesday.

The owner "may re-rent all units at an initial market rate rent, but future increases are subject to the annual general adjustment under the rent control law."

Displaced tenants have a right of first refusal if the units were returned to the market less than ten years after they were withdrawn.

"Only one tenant requested an offer but ultimately decided against re-renting her former unit," according to the memo to the Council.

On June 18, a five-unit property at 1026 14th Street was returned to the rental market less than six weeks after it was withdrawn on May 8.

"The owner states in the application that the property will be occupied by the owner and family members," according to the Reoccupancy Permit request.

The Rent Control Board’s investigator "visited the property on January 31, 2025, and observed that it was occupied," according to the memo.

"The investigator was able to speak with one occupant who confirmed that she is a relative of the owner."

"Staff also mailed notices about the property’s withdrawal and the rights of tenants in an Ellis withdrawal to all of the property’s units; none of the occupants responded by claiming that they were tenants of the property," the memo states.

The largest building that has been returned to the market this year is a 12-unit property at 2441 34th Street that was withdrawn under the Ellis Act on December 17, 2015.

Only one tenant requested an offer before their former unit was re-rented and the owner was required to comply with the Board's regulations.

The smallest property returned to the rental market was a duplex at 2634 6th Street that was reduced to a single-family home after it was removed under the Ellis Act on January 14, 2023.

"The property is now being returned to the rental market, and the owner filed the required notice of intent to Re-Rent with the Board on January 16, 2025," the Reoccupancy Permit determination states.

"Because the property was vacant when it was withdrawn under the Ellis Act, the owner may rent the unit at market rate."

Converting small rent control buildings into single family homes became a prominent trend before the pandemic ("Speculators Turning Small Santa Monica Rent Control Properties Into Single-Family Homes, Report Says," June 3, 2019).

As Santa Monica real estate prices skyrocketed, speculators rushed in.
According to a 2019 report, nearly 30 percent of the properties being withdrawn under the Ellis Act were filed by applicants who had owned the property for less than six months.