Case study: L.A. minimum loss threshold for eviction will increase rents for everyone

Extremist progressive policies often get launched in S.F. and L.A. before they reach the shores of the Guadalupe. Our Southland readers note a new anti-market, anti-productive housing scheme making the rounds in L.A. and predict SJ Housing Dept. will float this concept within a year: It's a requirement for a minimum loss before an eviction notice can be filed for failure to pay rent. Evictions often take 6 months to process as is; delaying the process’s start can add 3 months to that rent holiday. The impact? An increase in the cost of renting, and the increase will be spread out among other tenants. From Apt. Ass’n Greater Los Angeles newsletter.

Los Angelos Monetary Threshold Requierment – Eviction for Non-payment of Rent

This recommendation would establish a permanent monetary threshold before evictions may proceed for non-payment of rent,  whereby a renter could not be evicted if the amount of past due rent owed fell below a set dollar amount. The recommended monetary threshold would be an “amount equal to one month of the fair market rent (FMR) in the Los Angeles Metro area, an annual figure established by HUD, for 0–4-bedroom rental units, depending on the type of rental unit occupied by the tenant.”

Based on this threshold limit in fiscal year 2023, a renter in Los Angeles would have to owe rent in the amount of $1,747 for a one-bedroom unit or $2,222 for a two-bedroom unit before an owner could proceed with an eviction for non-payment of rent.

As if the City’s rental housing providers have not endured enough challenges in collecting rent legally owed to them for the last several years as a result of City mandates, the Council is now contemplating establishing even more permanent roadblocks along the path for housing providers seeking to collect rent owed.

This article originally appeared in the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles. Read the whole thing here.

See further reading from LAist and Los Angeles County Consumer & Business Affairs.

Read the actual ordinance here.

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