Thousands of complaints, 4 citations: Audit finds LA’s tenant harassment law is rarely enforced

Years after enacting a law against tenant harassment, the city of Los Angeles has done little to stop landlords from trying to illegally push renters out of their apartments.

That’s the upshot of a new audit released Thursday by the office of L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia. The report concludes that the city’s Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance, passed by the City Council in 2021, “was not effectively designed, resourced or implemented.”

The Controller’s Office examined nearly 11,000 complaints to the L.A. Housing Department from tenants who claimed their landlords harassed them. The complaints were submitted by tenants between August 2021 and the end of December 2023.

The audit found just 23 cases were forwarded to the City Attorney’s Office for further enforcement. Among those cases, four resulted in non-criminal citations and administrative fines against landlords.

In an interview with LAist, Mejia said that in a majority-renter city with an entrenched affordable housing crisis, the results of this audit “didn’t show that [the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance] had a lot of teeth.”

Cases closed but harassment continues

The audit found that in 79% of sampled cases, the Housing Department did not complete a full investigation. The report also found the department closed cases after sending landlords a form letter containing basic information about the city’s anti-harassment ordinance, but no specific determinations about the tenant’s complaint.

The Controller’s Office surveyed tenants who submitted complaints and found 72% said their landlords continued harassing them after the city closed their case.

Tenants "were not even sure how their case ended,” said Dinah Manning, a senior advisor in the Controller’s Office who helped oversee the audit. “It seems like little relief is being provided.”

What is tenant harassment?

The ordinance defines tenant harassment in several ways, including threats of physical harm and demands for tenants to vacate their units without a formal eviction process.

Under the law, harassment can also involve landlords refusing to make necessary repairs, taking away a tenant’s parking space, entering the tenant’s unit without advance notice or threatening to disclose their immigration status.

Tenant advocates who have helped renters submit complaints told LAist that harassment is often aimed at long-term tenants paying below-market rents because of the city’s rent control limits. Once units become vacant, landlords are allowed to reset rents at higher market rates.

“It's the landlord looking for a reason — and often inventing one — to evict a tenant because they want to raise the rent,” said Stephano Medina, an attorney with the California Center for Movement Legal Services.

“That's why the tenant anti-harassment policy is so important,” he said. “Because without it, it really undermines the effectiveness of these other policies that we've had for a long time.”

Housing Department’s response

Leonardo Vilchis-Zarate, an organizer with the L.A. Tenants Union, said the audit mirrors the lack of enforcement he has seen among tenants on L.A.’s Eastside.

Vilchis-Zarate said in many cases, “tenants just get fed up and decide to leave and lose a rent-controlled apartment, end up on the street, or end up overcrowded with another family.”

“What we really need from the Housing Department is more penalties and more aggressive enforcement,” he continued.

Housing officials said the audit was “conducted prematurely,” but agreed with most of the report’s 13 recommendations, including:

• Hiring more investigators.
• Training investigators on formal procedures for responding to complaints.
• Allowing the Housing Department to independently issue citations and fines without relying on the City Attorney’s Office for further enforcement. 

In response to the audit, L.A. Housing Department General Manager Tiena Johnson Hall wrote: “LAHD agrees with most of the audit recommendations and is pleased to share that several of the recommendations have already been substantially implemented.”

The audit found the department was given no additional staff or funding when the program first launched in 2021. Since then, 13 employees were assigned to an anti-harassment task force and implementation team, according to housing officials.

They said they plan to use funds from Measure ULA, the voter-approved tax on property sales above $5 million, to expand enforcement.

Local lawmakers try tweaking policy

The L.A. City Council voted last year to update the ordinance, making it easier for tenants to proactively sue landlords accused of violating the law by guaranteeing attorneys fees to lawyers who win cases.

One of the council members who first introduced the policy was Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who is now the council president. In a written statement to LAist, he acknowledged the ordinance could use more work.

“I welcome every opportunity to help protect tenants, including ensuring [the Housing Department] has the necessary training and staff to implement [the ordinance] while exploring potential changes to strengthen the policy,” Harris-Dawson wrote.

In the past, landlord advocates have argued that harassment complaints from tenants often stem from situations in which tenants are not paying rent or complying with the terms of their lease. In some cases, landlords argue, tenants could be accused of harassing landlords.

Tenant attorneys, including Anna Hales with the Legal Aid Foundation of L.A., said the city needs to more thoroughly investigate these complaints to find out what’s really happening in a city where renters make up nearly two-thirds of all households.

“It's clear from this report, and just the number of complaints that were received, this is obviously a massive issue in Los Angeles,” Hales said. “More needs to be done to investigate these claims. Because I think in reality, a lot more of them deserve to be referred to the City Attorney's Office.”

Hales said she continues to encourage her clients to file harassment complaints in order to document the issues they’re facing. But she said she often warns tenants not to expect the city to do much in response to the complaint.