Citing concerns that some landlords are not properly filing eviction notices with the city's Housing Department, the Los Angeles City Council Tuesday called for a report to strengthen enforcement of its policies.
The council voted 11-0 in favor of a motion introduced by members Nithya Raman, Eunisses Hernandez and Heather Hutt. The Housing Department and the City Attorney's Office are expected to report on the efficacy of the city's eviction filing requirements, and efforts to inform landlords and tenants about the rules.
The council approved tenant protection legislation last year, which among other things required landlords to file eviction notices with the Housing Department within three business days. Additionally, the LAHD created a dashboard to show the total number of eviction filings in Los Angeles.
"I do want to flag that these filing requirements have not been fully honored by landlords, and that LAHD currently lacks the resources to make sure that the eviction notices that are filed are filed under the letter of the law," Raman said prior to Tuesday's vote.
She said some eviction notices are for undue rent or for unpaid rent for an amount that does not meet the threshold for eviction. Case manager and constituent services officials reported that some tenants are being evicted for less than one month of back rent.
Raman said Housing Department officials are facing challenges in verifying whether reasons for eviction are accurate and legal. According to the motion, this can be problematic due to the short timeline of unlawful detainer cases, which often require a response from the tenant within five court days to avoid losing by default judgment.
"This motion will actually help us do our work better. It is not a new law. It is not a new piece of legislation," Raman said. "It is merely looking back at our existing legislation and ensuring that we are actually collecting the data that we need and doing the checks that we need to ensure that the laws that we do pass are more than just on the books -- that they are actually realized in practice."