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If the former tenant was paying $500 a month, but was evicted for nuisance , then YOUR rent should not be more than $504, even if you signed a rental agreement to pay $1500 per month. You would be entitled to reduce your current rent to that lower level and recover TRIPLE the amounts over that lower amount which you actually have been charged, under Section 151.10. As to the "voluntary" moving by a tenant, it is not "voluntary" if the landlord drives the tenant out by creating "an unreasonable interference with the tenant’s comfort, safety, or enjoyment of the rental unit" [LAMC 151.06(C)(2)]. This can be loud and obnoxious construction, trespassing into the tenant's unit without proper notice, permission, or emergency, failure to attend to uninhabitable conditions, bullying the tenant, or any number of common acts. If you see this is how your landlord operates, that may be the reason that your predecessor tenant in your unit left, and if so, you are probably paying far too much rent. Unregistered Unit
The landlord is required to register each unit. If there are 7 legal units and one illegal unit, the landlord still has to register all eight units. The enforcement device in the rent control law is that if the landlord does not register, he can't collect rents and you legally have the right to refuse payment [LAMC 151.09(F)]. Once the unit is re-registered, you must pay the rent demanded. If you are being evicted for nonpayment of rent, and you just don't have the money, this may be your only valid defense.
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