Renters in Laguna Beach may soon have more protections against abrupt evictions after city council members instituted a measure to see how many notices are being handed out and make sure landlords aren’t evicting residents illegally.
The city joins other Orange County cities, like Costa Mesa and Buena Park that have bolstered renter protections.
[Read: The Year of The Renter: Orange County Tenants Get Some Relief]
Laguna Beach city officials will also start tracking certain eviction notices given out by landlords.
Under the new ordinance, landlords will be required to send a copy of eviction notices to the city. It’s only for no-fault evictions, typically used when a landlord is making substantial renovations that prevent the tenant from staying in the unit during construction.
The action is a result of complaints from Laguna Beach residents who claimed they were evicted for renovation purposes but no actual improvements were made to the unit after they moved out.
“In some cases, renters were given eviction notices for a just cause eviction based on purported substantial remodel of the premises,” reads the staff report. “However, at least in some instances, the landlords did not complete the represented substantial remodel and instead re-rented the units for at least twice what the evicted tenants were paying.”
Some city officials raised concerns about smaller landlords not being made aware of the new ordinance — a concern officials hope to address through an educational outreach campaign.
The city’s freshly minted ordinance is meant to bolster a 2019 state law, which limits no-fault evictions — otherwise known as evictions that aren’t because of a renter’s actions, such as failure to pay rent.
Laguna Beach City Council members voted unanimously on Feb. 29 to pass the ordinance’s first reading. At a second and final reading of the item on March 12, it was also passed unanimously.
Jeremy Frimond, assistant to the city manager, said that tracking these eviction notices will help city officials ensure landlords are following state law and help provide housing resources to residents who are in need.
The ordinance also will create a database on the city’s website where these documents will be stored for public access and review. The database will include copies of no-fault eviction notices from landlords and any tenant documents claiming they wish to re-rent the unit they were evicted from.
“What this will help the city do is track this issue, create a data set that could inform future policy decisions on the council to determine how often unlawful eviction is occurring or no-fault evictions are occurring,” Frimond said.
Cody Engle, the vice chair of Laguna Beach’s Housing and Human Services Committee, said it’s important for officials to make sure they save affordable rental units.
“The only affordable rental housing we have right now in this town are those units occupied by long-term tenants,” Engle told the council at the Feb. 29 meeting. “Unfortunately, if a property owner does a major renovation, he can throw them out.”
The ordinance comes after a recent state law, SB 567, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September that bulks up eviction protections by requiring landlords to obtain renovation permits before they evict renters.
The city’s new ordinance will go into effect April 11, just after the new state law goes into effect on April 1.
Laguna Beach’s ordinance goes beyond this state action and also requires copies of these documents to be sent to the city in addition to the tenant.
Cities like Buena Park and Costa Mesa have taken up similar protections for tenants.
In Buena Park, a landlord is required to provide relocation assistance if the eviction is considered a no-fault. Before providing an eviction notice, the landlord must obtain renovation permits.
[Read: Buena Park Renters to Get Greater Eviction Protections]
Similarly, protections such as relocation assistance exist in Costa Mesa, as well as requiring landlords to submit documentation of the eviction notice including building permits via their online tool, which Laguna Beach plans to follow suit.
[Read: Costa Mesa Examines Strengthening Renter Protections, Following on Heels of Buena Park]
If a landlord fails to file a copy of the eviction notice, it could give the tenant more power to stop the eviction.
Councilmember Alex Rounaghi said he’s concerned about unintended consequences if local landlords aren’t made aware of the new requirements.
“We have a lot of mom-and-pop landlords in town,” Rounaghi said during the Feb. 29 meeting. “There’s a lot of reasons under that law why people do evictions … When you have all these regulations, it’s easy for the big guy to figure it out, but it’s the little guy that sometimes doesn’t.”
The council also directed staff to create an education outreach program to inform tenants of their rights and landlords of the new requirements.
Laguna Beach City Attorney Megan Garibaldi said if a landlord fails to file with the city accidentally, then they will have an opportunity to correct the error.
“If for some reason they miss this requirement but have otherwise complied with the Tenant Protection Act … the landlord will quickly know to comply by filing the notice,” Garibaldi said. “All it does is cause a relatively small delay in that process of the substantial remodel eviction.”
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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