Not All Cities’ Rent Control Laws Are Detailed on the Web

Question: I am an attorney and I live in Sherman Oaks. I own several rental properties and intend to buy more in the near future.

I would like to learn more about rent control laws. In particular, I would like to know if there are any Internet resources.

Answer: Most cities do have Web sites; however, not all of them place the texts of their rent laws (or any others) on the Net. For instance, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills have all their municipal codes on the Net but Los Angeles and West Hollywood do not.

One easy way to find the Web sites of cities with rent control is to start at the site of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles https://www.aagla.org. Click on “links” and go from there.

Here are the Web site addresses of these four cities: https://www.ci.santa-monica.ca.us, https://www.ci.beverly-hills.ca.us, https://www.ci.la.ca.us and https://www.ci.west-hollywood.ca.us.

For information about their rent laws by phone, you may call the following phone numbers:

Beverly Hills--(310) 285-1031.

Los Angeles--(213) 367-9099.

Santa Monica--(310) 458-8751.

West Hollywood--(323) 848-6450.

Cleaning Costs Are a Legitimate Deduction

Q: I live in Los Angeles and my landlord is deducting from my security deposit the cost of cleaning the apartment, which includes professional window cleaning, shampooing of the carpet and dry-cleaning of the draperies.

I am moving out now and if I leave the apartment in the same clean condition in which it was delivered to me when I signed the lease, shouldn’t I get my security deposit back in full? Shouldn’t these costs be paid by the landlord as his cost of doing business?

A: If you leave the apartment in the same condition in which it was delivered to you, you should not have any security deposit deductions for cleaning. Even if you don’t get any deductions for cleaning, you still may get deductions for damages or, if there is any, unpaid rent.

The owner probably had the windows professionally cleaned, the carpet shampooed and the drapes dry-cleaned before you moved in. Unless you can do as good of a job as the professionals--most of us can’t--you probably will be charged for these services.

Nothing in any state or local code says that cleaning is a cost of doing business. In fact, the state civil code specifically identifies cleaning costs as a legitimate security deposit deduction.

Rent Control Often Applies to Townhouses

Q: I own a townhouse in Reseda, and your column about the different rent control laws in L.A. County raised some questions for me.

Does a townhouse in Reseda come under the L.A. City rent control law? Are the rent control laws the same for single-family homes as they are for townhouses? Finally, can we increase the rent more than 3% if we spend more than $5,000 to upgrade the place?

A: Because most townhouses are connected and include more than one unit on a lot, yours may be under rent control in L.A. In the city, rental housing generally is controlled if there is more than one rental unit on a lot or if a rental unit is attached to one or more housing units on a lot.

A townhouse may be exempted from the rent control law for a variety of reasons.

For example, if it is defined as new construction (first certificate of occupancy issued after Oct. 1, 1978), rented to federally subsidized Section 8 renters or has rent levels defined as “luxury” rents by the law, it may exempt from rent control.

As for raising the rents more than 3%, the amount of money you spend is not the key issue. The fact that you spent more than $5,000 in and of itself will not get you a rent increase.

You nevertheless may be able to apply for a capital improvement rent increase through the city’s Rent Stabilization Division. Whether you get an increase depends on a variety of factors, the most important being whether the work is defined as capital improvements or merely maintenance.

Call the city’s rent stabilization department at (213) 367-9099 for more information.

Renter Suddenly Acquired Pets

Q: I own a two-bedroom townhouse in Port Hueneme, and I have a question for you. The place was rented to a single woman with no pets. Because she was alone and without pets, we rented it below market. A few weeks ago I went by and was surprised to see three large cats.

She claims that two belong to her brother, who will be by to pick them up, and that the other was given to her as a gift from her mother. What are our options?

A: Unless you are willing to accept the cats, you must act fairly quickly so that you do not waive your rights to any of your many options by accepting the situation for too long and doing nothing about it.

You may get a higher security deposit to protect against pet damages. Just make sure that you don’t exceed the state limit, which is two times the monthly rent for unfurnished apartments and three times for furnished.

If there is a pet prohibition in your lease, you may serve the tenant with a three-day perform or quit notice (get rid of the cats or move out). If there is no pet prohibition in the lease, you may serve the tenant with a 30-day notice of change of terms of tenancy prohibiting pets. Finally, if you just don’t want to deal with the situation, you may serve the renter with a 30-day notice to quit (move out).

*

Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of AAGLA, an apartment owners’ service group, and manager of public affairs for the California Apartment Law Information Foundation, which disseminates information about landlord-tenant law to renters and owners in California. Mail your questions to AAGLA, 12012 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025.

Apartment Trade Fair Set

The Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles will sponsor its fourth annual trade fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 7 at the association’s office, 621 S. Westmoreland Ave., Los Angeles.

The fair, which is open to the public, will feature free seminars of interest to apartment owners and managers plus exhibits of products and services.

For more information, call (213) 384-4131.