As 2021 winds down, residential landlords in Southern California will want to familiarize themselves with new laws and ordinances affecting their properties. If you are a landlord in the City of Los Angeles, you may not have heard of the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance #187109 which became effective August 6, 2021, and which affects all properties and property management in the City of Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance (the “TAHO”) prohibits landlords from “harassing” tenants via certain policies, procedures and actions which are often considered acts of “constructive eviction”. This means a landlord may not employ certain acts or tactics such as eliminating housing services, withholding repairs, or refusing to accept rent payments to push or compel a tenant to leave. TAHO applies to ALL residential units in the City of Los Angeles.
TAHO is intended to prevent unlawful harassment of tenants. TAHO imposes strong penalties on violating landlords, including reasonable attorney fees to the tenant who prevails in the courts.
TAHO defines “Tenant Harassment” as a landlord’s “knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific tenant or tenants that causes detriment and harm, and that serves no lawful purpose, including, but not limited to, the following actions:
-
- Taking away services provided in the lease (such as parking, or other services).
- Failing or refusing to perform necessary repairs.
- Abusing the right to enter a unit or entering the apartment without proper notice.
- Threatening a tenant with physical harm.
- Attempting to coerce the tenant to move-out with offer(s) of payments.
- Misrepresenting to a tenant that he or she is required to vacate the unit.
- Using lies or intimidation intended to make a tenant move out.
- Threatening or serving an eviction notice based on false reasons.
- Intentionally disturbing a tenant’s peace and quiet.
- Refusing to acknowledge receipt of or accept rent payment.
- Inquiring the immigration or citizenship status of a tenant.
- Threatening to disclose immigration/citizenship status information about a tenant.
- Threatening to disclose tenant information to a gov’t agency to influence them to move.
- Engaging in activity prohibited by federal, state, or local housing anti-discrimination laws.
- Threatening/interfering with tenant organizing activities (tenant associations and unions).
- Interfering with a tenant’s right to privacy. “
Los Angeles landlords will want to take this ordinance seriously, as the penalties can be quite severe.
$10,000 Per Violation: Affirmative Defenses, Damages, Civil Right of Action, Penalties
TAHO provides an affirmative defense for tenants in an unlawful detainer action, and can prevent a landlord from evicting.
It also provides tenants a private civil right of action and penalties against the landlord. A tenant may win compensatory damages, rent refunds, their reasonable attorney fees, and the court may impose on the landlord “civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation.”
Further, if a prevailing tenant is older than 65 years or disabled when any of the harassing conduct occurred, the court may impose additional civil penalties up to $5,000 per violation depending upon the severity of the violation.
Tenants may also seek injunctive relief and finally the TAHO provides that these remedies “are not exclusive nor do they preclude any tenant from seeking any other remedies, penalties and punitive damages, as provided by law.”
Los Angeles landlords will need to review and consider their eviction and service procedures and discuss the new ordinance with their staff to make sure they are not overstepping the bounds of this ordinance. Something that previously may not have been illegal, may be illegal now. If you are unsure whether your policies and procedures may be illegal under TAHO, contact Furton Legal, we can help.