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Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles Legal Fund
621 S Westmoreland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90005

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Apartment Association of Greater L.A. Lawsuits Against the City of Los Angeles

The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA) announced on July 24, 2023, that it filed a third lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles (“City”) seeking to nullify and enjoin the City from enforcing an ordinance prohibiting rental housing providers from increasing rent (“Rent Freeze Ordinance”) as violative of the United States and California Constitutions on the grounds that it deprives the Association’s members of due process by effectively denying property owners from implementing annual rent increases mandated by the Rent Stabilization Ordinance. The lawsuit, which was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, seeks to overturn the City’s Ordinance No. 186607, which is codified in Los Angeles Municipal Code § 151.32. This matter is currently pending.

On March 3, 2023, AAGLA filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles seeking a writ of mandate and declaratory and injunctive relief to prohibit the City’s enforcement of two, recently passed, so-called renter protection ordinances. The lawsuit, which was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, seeks to overturn the City’s (i) Ordinance No. 187763 requiring a financial threshold of past due rent (equal to one month’s fair market rent) be met prior to initiating eviction proceedings, and (ii) Ordinance No. 187764, which forces rental housing providers to pay substantial penalties should a rent increase on housing legally exempt from either local or state rent stabilization rules exceed a specified percentage. This matter is also currently pending.

Joint Litigation Seeking to Overturn City of Los Angeles’ Measure ULA Transfer Tax

On December 22, 2022, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and AAGLA filed a joint lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles seeking to overturn recently passed Measure ULA, which is the city’s new transfer tax on real estate assessed on transactions over $5 million.

The new Measure ULA transfer tax, which is set to take effect on April 1, 2023, is to be levied at the time of sale of a real property at the rate of 4% for properties sold between $5 million and $10 million, and 5.5% for real property sales above $10 million or above. For example, if an owner of real property is selling the property for $10 million, the owner will now be responsible for an additional $555,000 of tax on the sale. The money raised by this measure is designated for the production and acquisition of affordable housing, as well as homelessness prevention measures in the form of rent relief, income support for rent-burdened seniors, and legal counsel for tenants facing eviction.

Litigation Against the City of Los Angeles – Eviction Moratorium

On June 11, 2020, AAGLA filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles on behalf of its members and the City’s housing providers. Then on September 21, 2020, the AAGLA filed a Preliminary Injunction Motion against the City of Los Angeles seeking to overturn the City’s Eviction Ban and Rent Freeze Moratoria. Following the U.S. District Court’s denial of injunctive relief in AAGLA’s Preliminary Injunction Motion against the City of Los Angeles, a Notice of Appeal was filed by AAGLA in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which appeal motion was also denied and then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which ultimately did not take up AAGLA’s Preliminary Injunction Motion. This matter is still pending and AAGLA continues to formulate strategies for potentially continuing with this litigation.

Litigation Against the State of California

On August 5, 2021, the California Rental Housing Association (CalRHA), representing over 19,000 rental housing providers that own or manage nearly 537,000 rental units, filed a lawsuit against the State of California in the federal district court for the Eastern District of California (Sacramento). AAGLA is the largest CalRHA affiliate and has provided substantial funding to pursue the litigation.

Joined by two individual rental housing owners, CalRHA is challenging the constitutionality of Assembly Bill 832, the State’s third extension of the statewide moratorium on evictions for nonpayment of rent. The lawsuit alleges that the statewide eviction moratorium unconstitutionally violates rental housing owners’ basic property rights, and substantially—and retroactively—impairs existing rental agreements and leases, which give owners the contract right to repossess their units for nonpayment of rent. The lawsuit, filed under the federal civil rights act, seeks a declaration that Assembly Bill 832 is unconstitutional and also seeks an injunction prohibiting its enforcement.

Other Litigation Update

During the past few years, we have made significant investment and progress in our litigation efforts.

  • In March 2022, the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA) and the Apartment Owners Association of California, Inc. (AOA) filed a joint lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court for the State of California on behalf of their members and the County’s rental housing providers seeking a Preliminary Injunction against the County of Los Angeles’s residential eviction moratorium. The lawsuit had been filed in response to the County of Los Angeles’s recent extension of the County’s “temporary” COVID-19 related residential eviction protections until June 30, 2023. A hearing on this matter this matter was held in July, 2022 and on October 19th the District Court ruled in our favor by granting our motion for preliminary injunction and giving Los Angeles County until December 1, 2022, to modify its eviction moratorium, and by failing to do so the County would have no longer been able to enforce its eviction moratorium ordinance. While this ruling had come at a time just prior to the expiration date set for the County’s eviction moratorium, it was a victory nonetheless for the following reasons: (i) property owners wishing to continue the matter to seek a final judgement declaring the County’s ordinance unconstitutional until the date in which the County amended the ordinance may attempt to obtain compensatory or other damages from the County for their lost rent; (ii) the ruling made clear that in order to obtain eviction protections due to impacts of the pandemic, tenants are required to prove such impacts existed for each month rent payments were missed or be subject to eviction proceedings; and (iii) the Association and its co-plaintiff are able to recover legal fees and costs.
  • In connection with our Federal lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles seeking to overturn the City’s moratoriums on evictions and rent increases, while the U.S. Supreme Court compelled the City of Los Angeles to respond to our writ of certiorari (a/k/a, “cert filing), the Court ultimately did not hear our matter. Before the U.S. Supreme Court was whether the granting of an emergency injunction was warranted, and while the U.S. Supreme Court did not hear this particular matter, the arguments we have made in our case concerning Constitutional “takings” and violations under the Contracts Clause of the Constitution remain relevant and our lawsuit continues, albeit back at the District Court level. When we succeed by a favorable ruling in this case, it is our intention to seek compensatory damages against the City of Los Angeles and other jurisdictions that have imposed similar moratoriums.
  • We had filed three additional outstanding lawsuits, including one seeking to overturn the City of Los Angeles’ RecycLA trash hauling monopoly, and one each against the City of Los Angeles and City of Beverly Hills seeking to overturn rental registration requirements. Either settlements in these three matters were reached or the matters are no longer being pursued.
  • In addition, we have prepared and filed numerous Amicus briefs in support of litigation filed by third parties seeking to overturn rent regulations on constitutional grounds.

We sincerely hope you will consider continued support to the “cause” by making your voluntary, annual contributions to our PACs and Legal Fund, and consider contributing more throughout the year. Your generosity is needed to help us win our ongoing fight for survival in this rental housing business. PLEASE GIVE TODAY!

Please Help! Consider Contributing Today!

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, rental property owners have struggled financially due to unfair and ill-conceived regulations, such as eviction moratoriums and rent increase freezes. Our politicians, and the tenants’ rights groups that support them, encourage rent strikes and proposals for forced rent forgiveness.

As housing providers, we cannot continue to accept this current situation as our new reality! WE MUST FIGHT BACK, AND THE TIME IS NOW! The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, with the help of outside legal counsel, is constantly exploring legal remedies and litigation options to fight for the rights of rental housing providers. We believe there are multiple causes of action to ENGAGE IN LITIGATION, and if we have the necessary financial resources, we are certain we can prevail.

Contributions to Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles Legal Fund are not charitable contributions and are not deductible for tax purposes. All contributions will be utilized for legal research and litigation costs incurred in retaining outside legal professionals.