LA housing officials now say landlords must clean up ash, contradicting earlier guidance

Los Angeles housing officials have clarified that under the law, landlords — not tenants — are responsible for cleaning up the potentially toxic ash that spewed into rental homes after last month’s fires.

The new guidance contradicts earlier statements from the city’s code enforcement director, who had said tenants were on the hook for decontaminating areas inside their own units.

Housing rights attorneys said they were glad to see city officials reverse course.

“We feel that it's always been clear in the law that a landlord has to provide a safe and habitable home to a tenant,” said Sarah Rogozen, an attorney with Public Counsel. “We were surprised at the initial position that it should be the tenant’s responsibility to do this enormously expensive, toxic cleanup inside their rental home.”

Uncertainty has left tenants feeling stranded

For weeks, LAist has asked local officials to delineate tenant rights and landlord responsibilities around the issue of post-fire cleaning in rental homes. Some landlords have refused to arrange for professional ash removal. Renters have been told to clean units themselves.

Some have been told by their landlords that their leases are now terminated.

The uncertainty has left many renters unable to return to homes that were left standing, but coated in soot and debris that public health officials have said is likely to contain lead, asbestos and other substances harmful to human health.

Now, the L.A. Housing Department has confirmed that the city will hold landlords legally responsible for removing ash.

"Landlords must remediate hazardous ash debris in rental units," said department spokesperson Sharon Sandow in a statement. "Landlords must maintain rental units that are safe and habitable, free of hazardous materials and debris, including ash.”

Sandow said the department based the statement on a provision in state law that says rental housing is considered substandard if it contains any condition that “endangers the life, limb, health, property, safety, or welfare of the occupants of the building.”

Under state law, landlords must keep their properties habitable in order to collect rent from tenants. Though state law makes no specific mention of ash from wildfires, city housing officials say landlords who refuse to remove toxic debris are breaching that requirement.

What city housing officials said previously

The department’s updated position stands in contrast to statements by Robert Galardi, the L.A. Housing Department’s director of enforcement operations. He joined a Feb. 7 online meeting hosted by the Pacific Palisades Community Council to answer questions from residents whose properties were left standing after the Palisades Fire.

City Councilmember Traci Park represents the neighborhood and steered discussion in the online meeting. Asking Galardi about rental properties that survived the fire, she said, “Who is responsible for cleaning and remediating the individual units, the hallways and common areas?”

Galardi responded: “For the cleaning and the decontamination inside the rental unit, it’s going to be the resident’s or renter’s responsibility. For the common area, hallways, exterior and the grounds of the property, we’re going to hold the property owner or landlord responsible.”

LAist reached out to Galardi to ask if his previous statement was mistaken, and if his interpretation of the law had changed. We did not receive a response.

Fred Sutton, a spokesperson for the California Apartment Association, a landlord advocacy group, declined to comment on the city’s updated guidance.

Are changes in state law needed?

Housing officials in Pasadena told tenants near burn areas that local codes do not mention ash, and the city cannot force landlords to address the issue. Lisa Derderian, the city’s spokesperson, did not respond to questions from LAist about why local housing officials for the two cities are interpreting state law differently.

Rogozen, the Public Counsel attorney, said the lack of clear standards on post-fire cleaning shows that state lawmakers should consider spelling out the requirements more explicitly.

“That is confusing, when landlords and tenants don't know who's responsible for what,” she said. “It is very important that everybody knows where they stand, especially for something as big as this.”

Rogozen said if landlords are refusing to clean up fire-related contamination, L.A. tenants can file complaints with local agencies that respond to health, building and safety violations.