06/27/2020
Watch: https://cbsloc.al/2Zeobj3
First let me say that I am both a Landlord and Tenant Attorney in Los Angeles, California. While our representatives may have had good intentions in implementing an eviction moratorium, it has had and will continue to have severe unintended consequences unless the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Mayor Garcetti act to create an exception for Mom and Pop landlords (those who have rented out a home, condominium, town-home or duplex). Without such an exception, many Mom and Pop Landlords will continue to face homelessness themselves, and unimaginable economic loss.
In my office I have encountered innumerable tragedies. A home buyer purchases a home and the seller won't vacate or pay the fair market rent. A tenant at high risk for Covid 19 has a younger roommate who refuses to adhere to any safety precautions. A tenant who hired a cat sitter to watch her apartment while she was on vacation and now wont allow her to her to move back into her apartment. A landlord who rented out a home to a wealthy investment banker to cover the costs of nursing care for a relative and the tenant who has suffered no losses or disruption from Covid 19 is refusing to pay the rent as its an interest free loan with no recourse.
The temporary eviction moratorium was meant to be temporary - one to two months. Without much thought, and with the county essentially completely open, the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has continued to extend it. This has placed the entire economic and social burden of Covid 19 on the backs of landlords. While the larger landlord can absorb the economic loss, the mom and pop landlord cannot.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Mayor Garcetti and Governor Newsom need to open the eviction courts by: (1) temporarily suspending the right to a jury trial and allowing virtual appearances or (2) creating a new law allowing the landlord of a single family residence (home, condo, town home, or duplex) to serve an 30 or 60 day notice of eviction and allowing the sheriff's department to evict the tenant as occurs with lodgers.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Mayor Garcetti also need to create an exception to the eviction moratorium for Mom and Pop landlords.
Three months after the Birrueta's purchased their new home, they still can't move in as the previous tenants refuse to leave until the stay-at-home orders are lifted. The Birrueta's continue to pay the mortgage.
