Rent Reduction Hearing
The RSB has the authority to reduce your rent if your unit is uninhabitable or there is an overcharge. You file a complaint, and the landlord has to come to a hearing where the reduction is determined. [Reg. 410, 410.05, and 410.06]. This is probably the most underused provision of rent control. Tenants have the ability to actually have their rent reduced, due to the uninhabitable conditions they have suffered, and get a rebate for the past rent. You pay for the Code Enforcement and Rent Control Board, who are there to serve you, not the landlord. The landlord can't bully them, and they can back up their orders with jail time for the landlord, if necessary. Major Rehabilitation Relocation
Where the landlord has to perform major rehabilitation on a unit or portions of the entire building, the tenants can be temporarily relocated [NOT EVICTED], and the 50% cost of the work can be applied to rent increases of up to 10%, as permitted by the Housing Department. Due to the age of many units in Los Angeles, and landlords attempting to remove protected tenants under false pretenses, this problem is increasingly common.
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