Another Tenant Victory as LA’s Foreclosure Eviction Ordinance is Extended

With a unanimous 13-0 vote the Los Angeles City Council voted to extend the City’s Foreclosure Eviction Ordinance to protect tenants living in rental properties not subject to the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) from eviction on the grounds of foreclosure for another two years. Tenants living in rent controlled units have had these protections.

Multi-family rental units built after 1978 and all single-family home rentals are not subject to the City’s rent control law.

The Ordinance extension approved on December 15, 2015 prohibits lenders from evicting any tenants in the City merely because of foreclosure on their landlords.

The law requires landlords seeking to recover possession of a rental unit from a tenant, must comply with all the RSO requirements and provisions for eviction, including the payment of relocation fees for no-fault evictions. Since the passage of the Ordinance, more than 59,000 properties containing over 79,000 units have been foreclosed on in the City.

The Foreclosure Eviction Ordinance was originally passed on December 17, 2008 and was nation’s first Foreclosure Eviction Moratorium. It has been extended every year since in response to a national crisis that has not subsided.

The Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) advocated for the original law in 2008 and every extension since then.

CES Executive Director Larry Gross stated, “The foreclosure crisis and its impact on hardworking Americans is a national disgrace. It’s especially unjust for the forgotten victims — tenants.

They’ve done nothing wrong. Paid their rent on time. But, without this protection these heartless banks could evict evict them simply because they’re living in foreclosed rental property.

Gross went on to say, “We applaud the Council in providing national leadership by enacting the strongest tenant foreclosure protections in the country. It provides tenants with a little bit of hope and justice. This action is an action needed to help keep these banks accountable. It truly is a tenants’ rights victory.”

The LA Housing and Community Investment Department Foreclosure Registry data for 2015 indicates that the foreclosure crisis continues to affect City residents and neighborhoods. A total of 10,381 properties were registered in the City’s Foreclosure Registry from January through November 8, 2015, comprised of 4,273 first time property registrations and 6,108 re-registered properties (with a notice of default and/or foreclosure from 2014). This reflects a ten percent increase from 2014 registrations, which totaled 9,431.