Are You A Small Landlord Seeking To Recover Unpaid Rent? Here’s How To Apply For Help In LA

The city of L.A.’s new $18.4-million relief program for tenants with unpaid rent from earlier phases of the COVID-19 pandemic is now accepting applications from small landlords.

The city began taking landlord applications Monday morning, and will close the portal Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. The city previously allowed tenants to apply during an application window that closed Oct. 2.

In a statement, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said, “We must continue to do all that we can to prevent Angelenos from falling into homelessness and that includes supporting small landlords and housing providers.”

The program will pay up to six months of back rent, prioritizing applicants with unpaid rent from April 2020 through September 2021. As the city has peeled away COVID-19 renter protections, tenants with unpaid rent from those months are now vulnerable to eviction.

Who can apply

In order to apply, landlords must own 12 rental housing units or fewer. Larger scale landlords can still qualify for assistance under the program, but only if their renters initiated an application before the tenant application window closed.

Landlords of any size will only receive rent relief funding if their tenants meet the program’s qualifications. Tenants cannot earn more than 80% of the area’s median income, which comes out to $70,650 for a one-person household or $100,900 for a family of four.

If landlords don’t apply, they can still receive funding if their tenants applied and qualified for funding during the earlier application window. Landlords will have to complete some paperwork with the city, including providing ID, a completed W-9 tax form, proof of the tenant’s current and past-due rent, as well as proof that they own the rental property in question.

Where to apply or ask questions

The city has an online application portal, and lists a number of locations where landlords can apply in person.

Landlords with questions about the program can call the city’s application hotline at (888) 379-3150. Flyers are available for landlords in Spanish and Korean.

Where the funding comes from 

The city will deliver the rent relief funding directly to landlords in order to make up for their tenants’ debts. L.A. Housing Department officials have said the program will be able to assist about 3,000 households before this round of funding runs out. During the earlier application window, about 24,000 tenant households applied for relief.

The program is funded by Measure ULA, which levies a new voter-approved tax on Los Angeles property sales of $5 million or more.

Measure ULA revenue has so far been lower than proponents expected, with top-dollar property sales proving sluggish since the tax took effect on April 1. By mid-September the measure had raised about $55 million. When voters approved the measure last November, they were told it could raise as much as $1.1 billion annually.

Despite the lackluster tax collection, L.A. city council members have allocated $150 million in ULA funding so far to purposes such as affordable housing development, legal aid for tenants facing eviction and rental subsidies for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.