Roasting in your apartment? LA County could soon require landlords to help keep rental units cool

Los Angeles County could soon see first of its kind heat regulations for rental units.

The Board of Supervisors is considering an ordinance requiring landlords to outfit homes so they can stay at or below 82 degrees. After a years-long process, it goes to a vote next month.

Property owners are already required by state law to provide heating equipment to help tenants stay warm, but no such rules exist around cooling. If the supervisors approve the ordinance, cooling protections will go into effect in September, and apply to units in unincorporated L.A. County and cities that adopt the county's code.

Lawmakers and advocates have increased attention on heat safety for tenants as summers get hotter and heatwaves get longer. Extreme heat is the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S.

" Indoor heat is deadly," said Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who introduced a motion with Supervisor Hilda Solis to develop a temperature threshold last year. " There have been many older adults who have been particularly vulnerable and at risk who have repeatedly reached out to their property owners to get protection. And without this kind of mandate, they don't necessarily have the legal protection that they need."

It's not an AC requirement

The temperature threshold ordinance would not require landlords to provide air conditioning for tenants. Property owners can also use methods like heat pumps, cool roofs, insulation and shade, so long as they meet the temperature threshold, according to a report by the county Department of Public Health.

This differs from stricter ordinances in places such as Palm Springs, where landlords are required to provide air conditioning equipment that can keep rental unit temperatures at or below 80 degrees.

The ordinance would also prohibit landlords from stopping a tenant from installing air conditioning or other devices to cool their apartment. A recent report by Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, or SAJE, found that some tenants in Los Angeles feared retaliation for installing AC, or were told they couldn't have it.

Chelsea Kirk, who wrote the report on AC and renters for SAJE, said she supported the temperature threshold, but questioned whether it was enough to implement real change for renters.

" It has no enforcement teeth," she said. "This policy isn't really gonna work for our members."

Local landlord groups, meanwhile, have opposed the idea of implementing requirements to keep apartments cool, citing high costs.

How and when will this be enforced?

If passed, enforcement of the ordinance won't begin until 2027 at the earliest to give landlords time to comply with the new requirements.

Once enforcement begins, it will be based on tenant complaints. Renters will be assigned investigators in the health department's new Rental Housing Habitability Program, which inspects rental units in unincorporated L.A. County every four years.

In an interview with LAist, Horvath acknowledged the challenges of enforcing a heat threshold and said community efforts to enforce the ordinance would be critical.

"Obviously, we don't have public health officials in every building at every moment of any day, so that's a challenge," she said. "Establishing an ordinance like this also starts to change the expectations and empowers residents to safely speak up and know that it is their right."

The county has launched a website, www.CoolHealthyHomes.org, for affected tenants and landlords.