Substandard Housing or REAP
Where the landlord has been cited by LA Code Enforcement inspectors for uninhabitable conditions and those conditions remain uncorrected, the City can file a "notice of non-compliance" with the California Franchise Tax Board [RTC 17299], which not only affects the deductibility of expenses for State income tax purposes, but also prevents the landlord from raising rents until the conditions are corrected. [Reg. 940.07] For the really bad landlords, the City uses the REAP program, which is a sort of receivership, where the City temporarily becomes your landlord, cuts your monthly rent in half, and uses the other half to make the repairs which the landlord refused to make. During that time, the landlord cannot demand any money from you, because he is not entitled to it. [LAMC 155.05(A)] Rent increases are also not permitted for property taken into the REAP program [LAMC 151.06(C)(7)]. Rent increases are also not permitted for the landlord who has been convicted of slumlording upon prosecution by the City, until those repairs are completed. [LAMC 151.06(C)(8)] Continued Surcharges
The landlord may have illegally continued to increase your rent, and not reduced it, based upon temporary surcharges, long after they should have been removed.
|
