O1725
F:\Atty\MUNI\MEMOS\BAR\EVICT.ORD
City council Meeting 1-25-94
Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 1 7 2 5 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA ESTABLISHING
A MORATORIUM ON TENANT EVICTION FROM
RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES
POSTED WITH A NO ENTRY NOTICE OR LIMITED
ENTRY NOTICE RESULTING FROM A LOCAL EMERGENCY,
LIMITING ABANDONMENT OF TENANCIES, AND
DECLARING THE PRESENCE OF AN EMERGENCY
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Findinqs and Purpose. The City Council finds
and declares:
(a) The City of Santa Monica has been severely impacted by
the January 17, ,1994 Northridge earthquake and its aftershocks
with numerous commercial and residential buildings suffering
substantial damage. The City Council, together with the state
and federal governments, has already declared an emergency as a
result of this disaster.
(b) Numerous commercial and residential structures have
been posted by City building inspectors with a no entry notice
("Red-Tagged") or limited entry notice ("Yellow-Tagged") as being
unsafe for entry or only safe for limited entry. These notices
have resulted in the displacement of tenants from hundreds of
rental units while additional assessments of the structures'
condition are undertaken.
(c) The substantial hardship of displacement resulting from
the Northridge earthquake will only be exacerbated if eviction
proceedings are undertaken against displaced tenants of these
properties during this crisis or if these tenants are considered
to have abandoned their tenancies.
(d) For the reasons set forth above, protection of the
public health, safety, and welfare requires that a moratorium on
tenant eviction from properties that have been red-tagged and
yellow tagged be imposed and that tenants not be considered to
have abandoned their premises unless the tenants expressly inform
their landlord in writing of this intent.
SECTION 2. Moratorium.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of the Santa Monica
City Charter and the Santa Monica Municipal Code to the contrary,
whenever the City council has declared a local state of
emergency, no landlord shall take action to terminate the tenancy
of any tenant who has been displaced from commercial or
residential property due to the posting of the property by City
building inspectors with a no entry or limited entry notice as
being unsafe for entry or safe for limited entry until the tenant
has been restored to actual physical possession of his/her/its
premises for a period of thirty (30) days.
(b) Actions to terminate a tenancy include, but are not
limited to, service of any notice to quit or other eviction
notice or bringing any action to recover possession or being
granted recovery of possession.
(c) This ordinance is not intended to preclude a landlord
from proceeding to terminate any tenancy when the landlord had
already formally initiated actions to terminate the tenancy prior
to the declaration of a state of emergency by the City Council.
SECTION 3. Abandonment. During any state of local
emergency, no tenant shall be considered to have abandoned
possession of his, her, or its tenancy if the tenant has vacated
the tenant's premises because the premises has been posted with a
no entry or limited entry notice, unless the tenant has notified
the landlord in writing of the tenant's intention to surrender
possession of the premises to the landlord.
SECTION 4. This ordinance is declared to be an urgency
measure adopted pursuant to the provisions of Section 615 of the
Santa Monica city Charter. The city Council finds pursuant to
City Charter section 615 that a state of local emergency exists
with the City of Santa Monica as a result of the earthquake which
occurred on January 17, 1994. This Ordinance is necessary for
preserving the public peace, health, and safety, and the urgency
for its adoption is set forth in the findings above.
SECTION 5. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code
or appendices thereto, inconsistent with the provisions of this
Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no further,
are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to
effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 6. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or
phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or
unconstitutional by a decision of any court of any competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each and
every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 7. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption. This ordinance shall be
effective upon its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Adopted and approved this 25th day of January, 1994.
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Mayor
I hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 1725 (CCS) was duly and regularly
introduced at a meeting of the City Council on the 25th day of January, 1994; that the said
Ordinance was thereafter duly adopted at a meeting of the City Council on the 25th day of
January, 1994 by the following Council vote:
Ayes:
Councilmembers:
Abdo, Genser, Greenberg, Holbrook, Olsen, Rosenstein,
Vazquez
Noes:
Councilmembers:
None
Abstain: Councilmembers: None
Absent: Councilmembers: None
ATTEST:
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City Clerk