The Brief

Thousands of homes have been lost in the Los Angeles fires. More have been damaged or coated in soot and ash.

Many of those who lost homes — temporarily, or permanently — are renters. What comes next for those tenant households has generated a lot of confusion. Other L.A. renters outside the burn areas are also worried about new rent increases or pressure to move out.

“We were already in a shortage of units, and now that shortage has just gotten even greater,” said Matthew Calcanas, an attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. “There's a lot of tenants who are concerned.”

LAist reporters spoke with housing rights experts to produce this guide for tenants and landlords about the legal protections, responsibilities and next steps involved in recovering from the fires.

We are not lawyers, and this guide will inevitably miss some of the specific problems you may be encountering. If you need further help, tenant rights experts recommend you reach out to StayHousedLA.org, a publicly funded coalition of local legal aid organizations.

Rent and deposits

If I paid January rent, will I get it back? 

This will depend on the extent of the damage to your unit.

If your home was destroyed, California law says your lease is canceled. Your landlord can keep the portion of rent you paid for the days you were able to live in your unit. But the landlord must give back the rest of this month’s payment. The same applies if your unit was damaged to the point of uninhabitability, and you choose to terminate your lease rather than wait for repairs.

However, if your home suffered minor damage, you still owe rent. The L.A. County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs says you should push your landlord to make necessary repairs. But as long as the unit is livable, your obligation to pay rent stands.

Will I get back my security deposit? 

If your rental unit was destroyed in the fires, the rental contract is no longer valid and your landlord must give back your deposit.

“ Within 21 days of a tenant moving out, the landlord has to get the security deposit back to you,” said Abid Aziz, a tenants' rights attorney with the Aziz Yellin law firm. A landlord cannot reduce your deposit if the unit was destroyed, he added.

Aziz said if the landlord refuses to give back your deposit, you can sue them in small claims court.

Damage and relocation costs

Can I get help with relocation costs? 

This depends on many factors, such as your insurance coverage, your eligibility for federal aid, and any potential obligations your landlord may have.

If you have renters insurance, check your policy for what’s covered under loss of use and additional living expenses. Then file a claim to get what you're owed.

If you don’t have renters insurance, you can apply for federal aid through FEMA.

If neither of those options work, it's possible that your landlord may be required to cover your relocation expenses, but only in certain circumstances.

If your unit was completely destroyed, your landlord does not need to pay relocation assistance, according to the county Department of Consumer and Business Affairs.

If your unit was damaged, but able to be occupied after necessary repairs, your landlord may be on the hook for your temporary relocation costs.

Part of this depends on where you live. The city of L.A.’s rent control program exempts landlords from the obligation to pay relocation assistance in the event of a natural disaster.

Alisa Randel, an attorney with Public Counsel who works on housing issues, said it’s possible that in other areas, such as Pasadena and Altadena, landlords of certain properties may be legally obligated to cover a tenant’s relocation expenses while repairs are carried out.

“It's complicated,” Randell said. “All of these jurisdictions have similar, but different wording in important ways.”

Whatever situation you fall into, tenant attorneys say you should be keeping receipts for any temporary lodging and other additional expenses you incur as a result of being displaced.

What about damage?

If my home was damaged, who is responsible for repairs?  

Your landlord owns the property and is responsible for fixing damage to that property.

If your possessions — like your furniture, clothing, artwork or other personal items — were damaged, you’ll have to deal with those losses yourself. But damage to the building, and any issues from the fires that affect the home’s habitability, are up to the landlord to fix.

“Landlords are required to maintain their rental properties in habitable conditions,” said Amy Tannenbaum, an attorney with Public Counsel. “One of the requirements of the law is that the building grounds have to be kept clean, sanitary, free from accumulations of debris, filth, etc. We read that to cover things like ash and soot.”

If your landlord is telling you they don’t want to file a claim with their insurance company to fix smoke damage in your unit or clean up common areas full of soot — maybe because they’re afraid of their policy getting dropped in the future — that does not absolve them of their responsibility to maintain a clean, livable home in exchange for your rent.

“Insurance or pay out of pocket, that's on them,” Randell said. “That's a you problem for the landlord.”

Evictions

Are eviction cases on hold because of the wildfires?

No. The L.A. City Council has delayed voting on a proposed eviction moratorium connected to the fires. That proposal now faces an uncertain future at City Hall.

For now, if a landlord files an eviction lawsuit against you, including for unpaid rent during the wildfires, and you fail to respond to the filing or show up for hearings, your landlord could win the eviction by default.

“If there is an eviction case that a tenant is currently part of, they still do need to go to court,” Kaimi Wenger, an attorney with the Inner City Law Center, said. “If a tenant has been subject to an evacuation order, they could petition the court for a continuance.”

Tenant advocates say an online resource called the Tenant Power Toolkit can help you draft a response to any eviction filed against you.

Can I be evicted if I let new people and pets into my home?

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Friday to temporarily prohibit L.A. County landlords from filing evictions against renters who take in new roommates who were displaced by the fires, even if their leases would normally ban those additional occupants. Newsom’s order will remain in effect until March 8, 2025. 

 The L.A. City Council also voted this week to draft a new ordinance that would enact new protections against eviction for renters who take in unauthorized roommates and pets who were displaced by the fires.

 Even with those protections, Wenger said, some landlords could try to serve you with a notice, which is why it’s critical to know your rights.

“ There are definitely unscrupulous landlords who have dollar signs in their eyes and who are thinking, 'If I can evict my existing tenant for any particular reason that I can find, then I can jack up the rent and rent to one of these new displaced people for a larger amount of money,'” Wenger said.

Can my landlord evict me to rent to someone willing to pay more? 

No, they cannot. Under various state and local tenant protections, landlords need “just cause” to evict you, Aziz said.

“ They can't just evict you just because somebody's willing to pay more,” he said. “That's not a just cause.”

Landlords can always begin eviction proceedings against you if you do not pay rent, violate your lease agreement or use the unit for illegal activity.

Can my landlord evict me to bring in someone displaced by the fires? 

This is one possibility that tenant rights attorneys are anticipating. Landlords generally have the ability to evict existing tenants when they intend to move into a unit themselves, or to move in a relative. If the landlord, or one of their family members, was displaced by the fires and now wants to occupy your unit, this does generally constitute a “just cause” for eviction.

However, your landlord most likely cannot demand that you leave immediately. Local tenant protection laws, and the state’s Tenant Protection Act, provide timelines for owner move-ins. Under the state law, tenants who have lived in their units for at least one year must be given at least 60 days’ notice of any owner move-in.

In this situation, your landlord will also likely owe you some amount of relocation assistance. Under the state law, you’re entitled to one month’s rent. Under local rent control laws, that amount can be much higher — as high as $25,700 in the city of L.A.

Be sure to get the name of the person your landlord plans to give your unit. If the landlord or their relative doesn’t move into your unit within 90 days of you leaving, and stay there for at least one year, the eviction is illegal under the state law and you are entitled to return at your previous rent.

Rental rates and rights

Can my landlord raise my rent because of the fires?

The short answer is no — your landlord cannot massively jack up your rent because of the fires. Under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency declaration, any rent increase of more than 10% from pre-disaster levels constitutes illegal price gouging.

However, your landlord can still raise your rent by smaller amounts, as they normally would be allowed to do in any given year — at least for now (more on that below).

How much your landlord can raise your rent depends on whether you’re covered by local rent control, a state tenant protection law or other legal limits. Read LAist’s guide to local rent hikes to find out what rules apply in your home.

The L.A. City Council recently delayed voting on a proposal to freeze rent increases for the next year because of the impacts of the fires. It is possible, but by no means guaranteed, that in the near future, state or local lawmakers could pass further restrictions on rent increases.

What are my rights as I look for new housing? 

There’s no way to sugar coat this: Your search for new housing will likely be difficult.

Landlords are allowed to ask for market rate rents on vacant units under the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. If you haven’t had to search for a new rental home in a long time, those market rates may appear shockingly high.

Then there’s the issue of rampant spikes in asking rents — well above typical market rates — despite the ban on price gouging that was triggered by Newsom’s declaration of a state of emergency around the Palisades Fire.

To be clear, it is illegal for landlords to be demanding double-digit increases from the rents they were asking before the fires. Under the governor’s emergency declaration, any price increase of more than 10% compared to pre-disaster prices is illegal price gouging.

Tenant rights advocates have been collecting hundreds of examples of listings with massive post-fire jumps in asking rent.

The state attorney general says he is preparing cases against landlords who are allegedly breaking the law. If you see instances of suspected rent gouging in your search for a new home, read this LAist story to learn how to report it to prosecutors.

Housing vouchers and rent control

What if I’ve been using a housing voucher? 

Programs like the federal Housing Choice Voucher program (also known as Section 8) help low-income tenants cover the cost of housing they otherwise could not afford. If you’re a voucher holder and your rental home just burned down, the good news is that you should be able to use that voucher to pay for another unit elsewhere.

“They're what we call portable,” said Tannenbaum, the Public Counsel attorney. “You can take them to different landlords.”

However, finding a landlord who will take your voucher could be a drawn-out process. Because many landlords are hesitant to rent to voucher holders, tenants can search for months without success.

But you should know that discrimination against voucher holders is illegal in California. If landlords ever turn you away because of your voucher, or tell you they do not take Section 8, tenant rights advocates say you can file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department.

What if my home was rent controlled? 

Under various local rent control ordinances, specific protections against evictions and large rent increases apply to the unit — not to the tenant.

“Unfortunately, yes, if that unit is lost then you're also losing those protections that you had in that particular residence,” said Calcanas, the attorney from Legal Aid Foundation of L.A..

Housing policy experts in L.A. say tenants who lived in their units for many years, paying below market rates, are likely to struggle paying for the going rents in other units today.

“They may be looking at a possibly over $1,000 difference in the amount they're paying in rent now versus the amount they'll need to pay in the future,” Calcanas said.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Game day visitors to Inglewood could soon look to churches for help with parking.

The Inglewood Planning Commission voted earlier this month to recommend a change to the city code to allow properties with large lots near the city’s stadiums to sell parking spaces to visitors. The code amendment will go before the City Council for a vote, though no date has been announced.

Since 2021, the city has allowed some non-residential properties on major arterial roads to charge visitors for parking during major events at the city’s large venues.

The updated code would expand the permit zone to allow the same right to houses of worship and commercial businesses within 1,500 feet, or about a quarter mile, of any venue with more than 6,000 seats.

Bernard McCrumby Jr., the city’s development services director, said the tweak opens a financial opportunity to a new crop of businesses and churches, while ideally reducing the number of visiting cars that park in Inglewood’s neighborhoods during major events.

“These parking lots are sitting empty and underutilized,” McCrumby said during the March 4 meeting.

Planning Commissioner Cheryl Shaw-Williams said she hopes the newly opened lots charge a reasonable amount. She said game day visitors have told her in the past that they’ve chosen to “bite the bullet” and park in residential areas because it can be cheaper to pay a parking ticket than pay for stadium parking.

Inglewood issues an average of about 41 parking tickets during each major event, according to meeting documents.

The city has received inquiries from several houses of worship and businesses that want to sell parking spots and are located near, but not within, permitted zones.

Churches and businesses with lots in the newly expanded zone would still be required to apply for permits and meet some basic standards.

Lots must have more than 25 spaces to start, can only rent out excess spaces and can’t be rented out within an hour of a property’s regular business hours. Permit applicants will be required to commission a parking utilization study.

Planning Commissioner Aidé Trejo said during the March 4 meeting that she is concerned, in spite of the restrictions, that churches will ask Sunday service-goers to park on the streets in order to make a profit off of their lots.

“I’ve seen it happen,” she said.

McCrumby replied that some churches may alter their service times to get parishioners in and out before game day traffic and to take advantage of the new parking code.

I’ve lived in Mar Vista on and off for 13 years, and I knew we’d hit the mainstream when a character in I love LA goes off to stay with her girlfriend for the weekend.

“You didn’t tell me it was in Mar Vista!” someone moans, implying that it’s just too far from their East side bubble.

Yes, it was dissed, but the fact that it was even mentioned in a hip sitcom tells you about its current incarnation. Once a quiet family neighborhood adjacent to Venice, over the years it’s individuated and become a destination in its own right, with plenty of restaurants, a lively farmers market and great views from its hilly contours. (There’s one spot where you can see both the ocean and the Hollywood sign if you turn your head from side to side… I mean, c'mon L.A., it doesn’t get better than that!)

As for those restaurants, there’s a whole range of options to choose from. Here’s three of my favorites.

Breakfast: Alana’s Coffee Roasters

Alana's Coffee Roasters with neighboring colorful murals.

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Alana’s takes coffee seriously, roasting coffee beans from around the globe on the premises, (with labels designed by local artists), while also allowing for a little fun (orange creamsicle cloud latte anyone?)

Some of Alana's plentiful coffee beans, roasted on the premises.

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But it also takes community seriously, seeing itself as a local gathering place, with a wall of flapping flyers, and polaroids of customers’ pooches. Sometimes there’s an impatient line for coffee in the mornings, sometimes it’s chill, but either way, you get to admire a gamut of croissant and croissant-adjacent pastries (we see you chorizo hand pie) as you wait.

Alana's community spirit extends to polaroids of pooches.

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Out front there’s benches on the wide sidewalk for a catch up with a friend, and a delightful back area with a charming old airstream-like trailer (also painted by a local artist), which doubles as a stage for its popular open mic nights. I’ve found that breakfast can easily morph into an all-morning stay, so be warned.

Choose your morning baked good while waiting in line for your coffee.

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Lunch: Bluey's

Bluey’s opened just a few years ago and it’s been full ever since. The space itself is delightfully airy, with white walls and off-beat art, a spacious back patio and sidewalk tables and umbrellas in the front. The food is excellent, a tight menu of sandwiches, tartines and bowls, and some great tea and coffee. I recently became addicted to their Valentine’s day Strawberry Matcha with a yummy foam, only to be told at the beginning of March that it was no longer being served. I howled.

One of my favorites is the Whirley Bowl, "chimichurri dressed cauliflower rice, market fish, avocado, arugula, fermented cabbage, yogurt tartar, and hand chopped pineapple salsa", according to the menu, but you don't have to make it that complex — there's also the Basic Bitch Brekkie, two eggs, bacon and country toast, sold all day.

(That gives a sense of the owner's background — the place is named after Blueys Beach in Australia, where Dave Harper surfed as a kid.)

There’s no WiFi, which only adds to the charm… people are actually talking to each other. It's all part of the relaxed vibe, with families, friends and colleagues happily hanging out.

Dinner: Electric Bleu

Electric Bleu's very chic International Klein Blue "fin."

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I remember driving last year up Centinela Avenue and noticing an eye-catching exterior painted a very specific, kinda groovy, blue. Turns out it was a famous shade, "International Klein Blue“, created by French artist Yves Klein in the 50’s, which was a nice calling card for the about-to-be opened restaurant, Electric Bleu. (French spelling noted).

The name also comes from the 80's Icehouse song "Electric Blue," a favorite of co-owners veteran chef Craig Hopson (a down to earth Australian who’s cooked at top places like L.A.’s Shirley Brasserie and N.Y.’s Le Cirque), and his wife, creative director Mai Sakai, (an Emmy nominated art director).

From left, Benjamin Phan, General Manager, and Chef Craig Hopson.

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Wanting to hang out their own shingle, they’ve used their top-notch skills to create a relaxed eaterie that just happens to serve excellent food. (Note: my daughter works at the restaurant, which is why I initially hesitated to recommend this place, but the food is genuinely so good I didn’t want to withhold the chance at dining at this gem).

It’s a French restaurant, but not in the way you might imagine — less white tablecloth snooty and more casual neighborhood bistro. The stand out and main stay is the roast chicken. Despite having had roast chicken in many many places, this is honestly some of the best I’ve had. What alchemy is this, Chef Craig? The hidden bonus is the potatoes snuggled underneath the chicken… full of schmaltzy flavor, I’d say come for the chicken, stay for the potatoes. Don’t let the price give you sticker shock — you get so much you’ll happily have the leftovers for lunch for days.

(And make sure to order the Electric Fries, topped with "chicken salt" an Australian seasoning which is seriously addictive.)

The star of the show: roast chicken.

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There are lovely touches, like a warm baguette, placed directly on your table in a paper bag with a small dish of French butter. The menu changes regularly, depending on which vegetables are in season at the farmers' market, with duck, steak and fresh seafood often making an appearance. The desserts are delicious, with the chocolate mousse particularly to die for.

In less than a year, the place has already been included in various "Best of L.A." lists. General Manager Benjamin Phan will effusively welcome you, speaking English a mile a minute with his extravagant French accent, making you feel you really are in Paris, rather than a humble spot on a residential road with local Mar Vistans savoring simple, really good food.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

The Los Angeles Police Department plans to install 18 cameras along Western Avenue between Olympic and Santa Monica boulevards by the end of the year, part of a broader effort to address human trafficking activity — but which sex worker advocates fear will lead to increased surveillance and pushing them into dangerous situations.

The plan comes on the heels of officials launching a citywide task force earlier this year to disrupt sex trafficking of women and minors along the corridor. Police say they will target traffickers and not adult sex workers, but it’s unclear how officers will access the footage and how it will be used in the law enforcement operation.

At the March 9 meeting of the Wilshire Center-Koreatown Neighborhood Council, LAPD Officer Lucy Bermudez said the department is working toward deploying the cameras before year’s end.

“The goal is for someone to monitor these cameras at any given time,” Bermudez said, “and get plates and make arrests of individuals taking advantage of these women.”

The planned camera network would cover a stretch of Western Avenue that runs through LAPD’s Olympic and Hollywood divisions, an area police say has seen ongoing sex trafficking activity, including near schools and residential neighborhoods.

LAPD Cpt. Rachel Rodriguez, who oversees the Olympic Division, declined to answer questions about the system, including the vendor, cost or how the cameras would operate.

But she was clear that the cameras won’t be Flock cameras, and that any data collected would remain within LAPD and wouldn’t be broadly shared. The company Flock Safety operate license plate readers, surveillance cameras and gunfire locator systems for law enforcement agencies across the country.

The LAPD’s cameras along Western Avenue would be “something entirely different,” Rodriguez said, and part of a pilot program. But the department will not release any additional information until the contracts are finalized.

Some local residents and advocates say the added surveillance could have unintended consequences for vulnerable women.

Soma Snakeoil, co-founder and executive director of The Sidewalk Project, a street-based harm reduction organization, said that targeting traffickers through surveillance also means adult sex workers are being looked at by police.

“This creates less safety for sex workers, especially migrant sex workers,” she said. “We are very much against that surveillance apparatus. They really want to make certain bodies hypervisible to the state. We’re concerned about this on a deeper systemic level than personal privacy.” 

Snakeoil added efforts like this often push sex workers out of one area into another without addressing the underlying issues, like housing instability.

During a community meeting last month, city officials said the police crackdown on human trafficking along the Figueroa Street corridor in South L.A. may have pushed activity into nearby neighborhoods.

“Displacement of sex workers is part of preparing for the [Olympic] Games,” she said. “If we really cared about people, we would increase housing, we would increase basic income. Instead, we’re creating expensive task forces and expensive cameras that are about surveilling people.”

LAPD officials say the cameras are part of a broader strategy to address concerns raised by residents and to prevent human trafficking.

Rodriguez said locals have expressed concern over sex workers being active near homes and schools. 

She described the cameras as a tool to support officers in the field, particularly as resources are stretched. 

“Given that we do have a lack of resources, technology, in any form or fashion, is something that we would like to enhance our ability to assist our officers out in the field,” Rodriguez said.

The cameras are not meant to replace officers in the field, Rodriguez said, but could provide insight about the situation on the ground.

“In terms of surveillance, I know that is always a concern too, but realistically speaking, we don’t have the personnel to sit and watch cameras all day,” Rodriguez said. “We are responding to radio calls, we are handling protests, we are investigating these human trafficking incidents that are out there. And so I don’t want folks to think that we are just sitting at a camera all day and monitoring everybody’s interactions throughout their day. That is not our mission. That is not our goal.”

Instead, the cameras would be used in specific cases, particularly those involving suspected trafficking. The ultimate goal, Rodriguez said, is to “get rid of the corridor” and deter human trafficking. 

Rodriguez added that the issue is complex and affects people in different ways.

“What needs to be differentiated is some women voluntarily enter this lifestyle, whereas some other women are being kidnapped and forcibly made to become prostitutes,” she said. “And if we can change and save those women, that is the goal.”

But Jayme Kusyk, a Koreatown resident and member of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, said the timing of the proposal raises concerns.

“The reason for this increased policing both downtown and now Koreatown as well, specifically on Western Avenue Corridor, is motivated by the major world events coming here,” Kusyk said. “They’re trying to gentrify and clean up areas around Wilshire and Western where a lot of folks will be staying for the Olympics.”