LA tried to stop landlords from harassing tenants. Now it’s planning to ramp up enforcement

The city of Los Angeles passed a law in 2021 giving tenants new rights against harassment by their landlords. But since then, tenant advocates say few landlords have faced consequences.

City records show it’s not due to a lack of reported problems.

The L.A. Housing Department has received 10,450 harassment complaints from tenants since the law took effect, a department spokesperson told LAist. The department has referred 24 of those cases to the city attorney’s office, which declined to comment on whether any of those cases have been prosecuted.

“There's no public enforcement going on,” said Sean Bigley, an attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of L.A. who focuses on harassment cases. “The city attorney has not prioritized it in any way whatsoever.”

On Wednesday, the city council voted on a plan to step up enforcement. They voted 13-0 to pass a motion instructing the L.A. Housing Department to begin looking for legal aid organizations that can provide representation to tenants experiencing harassment.

The efforts are part of a new anti-harassment program with an initial $3 million in funding from Measure ULA, the voter-approved tax on properties selling for $5 million or more. ULA revenue has been far less than projected, but small rounds of funding have already been allocated to eviction defense and COVID-19 rent relief.

Tenant advocates say harassment is widespread

Tenant advocates say they often see cases of landlords harassing long-term tenants into leaving rent-stabilized apartments, with the apparent goal of bringing in higher-paying tenants. Under the city’s rent control rules, landlords can charge whatever the market will bear on vacant units, but they can only increase rents on existing tenants by a set percentage each year.

“Harassment has always existed,” said Edna Monroy, director of the tenant rights protection team at Strategic Actions for a Just Economy. “[The pandemic] further aggravated it, because unfortunately, a lot of tenants were not able to pay their rent due to COVID-19.”

Forms of harassment include landlords entering apartments without notice, shutting off utilities, refusing to make repairs, taking away amenities like parking spots, and verbal or physical abuse, Monroy said.

In one dramatic example, the Los Angeles Times reported that landlord Arthur Aslanian was convicted of hiring someone to set fire to bungalow apartments he owned in North Hollywood where long-term tenants say they were being harassed into leaving. Aslanian was also convicted of hiring an undercover federal agent to kill a business opponent.

Landlord groups say harassment claims are often vague or overblown. Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles executive director Daniel Yukelson said in some cases, landlords are being harassed by tenants.

“Very often these harassment allegations are a tactic used by tenants to obfuscate the fact a tenant is not in compliance with their lease agreement,” Yukelson said, such as failing to pay rent.

Tenant rights groups pushed for the passage of the city’s Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance in 2021, but have been disappointed to see little enforcement from the city so far.

“We really need the city attorney to start prosecuting landlords,” Monroy said. “We really need them to investigate these cases.”

What has the city done so far?

The two dozen cases referred to the city attorney’s office may not have resulted in prosecution. But the city’s law allows tenants to proactively sue their landlords on their own. A small number of tenants have succeeded in bringing harassment cases against their landlords in small claims court.

But Bigley, the Legal Aid Foundation of L.A. attorney, said lawyers are generally wary of pursuing harassment cases because the city’s ordinance does not require landlords to pay tenants’ attorneys fees if they’re found to have engaged in harassment.

“It's death,” Bigley said. Other cities such as Santa Monica have anti-harassment laws that do require landlords to pay attorney fees, and L.A. should follow suit, he said. “Plaintiff’s firms can't make it their business to do this sort of thing without a mandatory attorneys fees provision in the statute.”

With new funding, could more tenants win in court?

Still, tenants have seen some victories in court.

Though the case never went to trial, the real estate investment group K3 Holdings LLC recently settled a lawsuit including allegations that the company harassed long-term Latino families living in rent-stabilized apartments in Koreatown and Highland Park.

In another recent case, the L.A. Tenants Union said a landlord who unsuccessfully filed for eviction was found by a jury to have harassed two tenants by retaliating against them for organizing with the union.

Tenant advocates say outcomes like these could become a lot more common once the city’s $3 million ULA Protections from Tenant Harassment Program is up and running.

Legal aid organizations have lately focused primarily on eviction defense work, especially as eviction filings rise in the wake of local COVID-19 protections falling away. But Monroy said her organization sees plenty of renters showing up at monthly tenant harassment clinics hoping to get referrals to to legal aid organizations.

“At the end of the day, what we want is for tenants to be respected, to be at peace in their home and not be displaced,” Monroy said.