On January 24, 2023, the LA County Board of Supervisors voted to extend the COVID eviction moratorium by another two months, until March 31, 2023. This two month LA county eviction moratorium extension will also apply to residential rental properties in the city of Los Angeles, even though the city of LA’s eviction moratorium is ending at the end of January. The county also discussed rent relief for landlords.
LA County Eviction Moratorium Extended Again
Using COVID as an excuse, the LA County Board of Supervisors voted on January 24, 2023, to extend the COVID eviction moratorium through March 2023. Originally, the Supervisors who authored the motion to extend the eviction moratorium had (outrageously) wanted an extension through June 2023, but that was whittled down to two months during the meeting of the Supervisors on January 24, 2023. This comes after several prior extensions to the LA county eviction moratorium over the course of the past three years.
Since the eviction moratorium in the city of Los Angeles is ending on January 31, 2023, the county moratorium will take over and will apply in the city of LA as well as other parts of LA county.
The LA county eviction moratorium will apply to residential rental properties throughout the county, including residential units in the city of Los Angeles.
The two month extension of the eviction moratorium applies to non-payment of rent cases when the tenant self-certifies 1) that they are at or below 80% of the Area Median Income and 2) that the reason they cannot pay the rent is due to a financial impact related to COVID. The tenant is supposed to self-certify within seven days of the rent becoming due. In addition to the AMI threshold, tenants and space renters must have experienced a substantial loss of monthly household income of at least 10% and/or have increased, unreimbursed household costs of more than 7.5% to be protected.
In addition to these LA county tenant protections relating to non-payment of rent cases, most no-fault evictions are not allowed, and protections for unauthorized occupants or pets has also been extended for two additional months.
To be clear, all evictions are not banned. What the LA county eviction moratorium does is place extreme limits on the ability to evict a tenant in the county of LA and creates an affirmative defense that tenants can use to dispute an eviction.
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Rent Relief for Landlords
The county has approved the establishment of a $45 million relief fund for small landlords who have been unable to collect rent from tenants. It appears that property owners who receive the relief funds must agree not to evict tenants for non-payment of rent. More details to come in the future.
New Permanent LA County Protections?
Even if the COVID tenant protections indeed end on March 31, 2023 (and that’s a big “if”), landlords can expect that LA county may create new, permanent tenant eviction protections that likely will apply, at a minimum, in the unincorporated areas of the county.
In all, these tenant protections really hurt both landlords and tenants in the long run.
Additional Information
- Landlords: Schedule a paid telephone informational session to discuss your LA county residential eviction matter.
- Additional blog article on the extension of the LA county eviction moratorium.
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- Learn about our eviction law practice.
- LA County Eviction Moratorium Website
- LA Times Article
* It is important for landlords to understand what jurisdiction the rental property is located in, and whether or not there are any special tenant protections or rent control applicable to the property.
Disclaimer
The information in this article and blog are not meant to be legal advice and is intended for educational purposes only. The laws change frequently and this article may not be updated to reflect current rules. Do not rely on this article when making legal decisions.
