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LA High-Rise Tenants File Lawsuit To Challenge Mass Eviction
The Barrington Plaza apartments during a January 2020 fire.
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David Wagner
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LAist
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Topline:
Tenants of the Barrington Plaza high-rise apartment complex on L.A.’s Westside filed a lawsuit Monday to stop their landlord from carrying out one of L.A.’s largest-ever mass evictions. The property management company says those evictions are necessary to carry out construction required by the city.
The details: The Barrington Plaza Tenant Association is asking an L.A. County judge to block Santa Monica-based landlord Douglas Emmett from evicting them under California’s Ellis Act. That law gives property owners a path to exit the rental business. But the company has said it plans to continue renting the property after outfitting it with fire sprinklers.
Why it matters: The tenants say their multibillion-dollar landlord can afford to install fire sprinklers without evicting hundreds of renters in the middle of a housing crisis. The landlord gave 577 households eviction notices last month. Housing advocates say many long-term, rent controlled tenants will not be able to find similarly priced apartments anywhere nearby.
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The history: Two major fires have broken out at Barrington Plaza in the last decade. An international student died as a result of the most recent fire in 2020. Douglas Emmett has publicly said it could take several years and $300 million to install sprinklers. High-rise apartment buildings in L.A. were not required to have fire sprinklers until 1974.
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