SR-8-C (7)
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CI ty Council !leetinq 10-17-32
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OCT 1 2 1982
Santa Honlca, Californla
Si:'AFF REPOR':'
TO :
Mayor and Clty CouncIl
FRml :
City Attorney
SUBJEC7:
OrdInance Prohlbitlng Disruption of Housing
SerVices By Landlords
At 1 ts I"lee t lnC] on '1arch 16, 1982, the C1 ty Council ihrectea
the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance prohibIting the
disruption of utility services by a landlord.
In response to
thiS (Hrection,
the aCCOMpanYing ordInance has heen prepared
aochnq Section 4810 to the t1unicipal Code. ':'he new section "lOuld
prohibit a variety of conduct by landlords disrupting serVIces to
a tenant.
SubdiViSIon (a) would prohibit conduct such as termInatIon
or InterruptIon of utilities, re~oval of doors, lockouts, and
reMoval of tenant property. SuhdivISIon (a) would apply to all
landlords.
SubdIviSIon (b) would apply only to controlled rental unIts
and would prohibit actiVIty In furtherance of the eVIctIon of a
tenant that was not In accordance with the Rent Control Law.
City Charter Section 1306 currently prohibits a landlord frOM
bringIng an Unla\lful detaIner actIon or recoverinq posseSSIon of
a controlled rental unIt if good cause does not exist. In
addition to restating this prohibition, subdiViSion (b) would
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OCT 1 .::: 1982
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prohlbit other action such as serving an eVlction notice wlthout
good cause.
~he re~ainlng subdiVlSlons contain various definlt10nal
prOVISIons.
RF. COHrlEPDA':' I on
It 1S respectfully recoMnended that the acco~panying
ordinance be introduced for first readlng.
PREPARED BY:
Robert H. l1yers, ci ty Attorney
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City CouncIl Meeting 10-12-82
Santa i1onlca, CalIfornia
ORDInAnCE tJmmER
(CIty Council SerIes)
AU ORDIHAHCF. OF ':'HE CI':'Y COUnCIL
OF ':'HE CI~Y OF SAII':'A r~mlICA ADDInG
SEC':'IOU 4810 TO ':'HF. SAnTA rtOlHCA
rIUnI~IPAL CODE PROHIBI':::'IlJG DISRUP':':'IOiJ
OF VARIOUS HOGSInG SERVICES
':'HF. CI':'Y counCIL ('IF' .....HF:; CI':Y OF SArl':'A HOlHCA DOES ORDAIlJ AS
FOLLOCf, :
SEC'rI0l1 1.
SectIon 4810 IS aoden to the Santa rIonica
MuniCIpal Code to read as follows:
SectIon
4310.
DIsruption
of
Housing ServIces.
(a) IJo
lanolorc'l
shall,
\1 i th
respect to property us en as a resIdential
rental unit under any rental hOUSIng
agreement or other tenancy or estate at
VIII, however created, do any of the
following:
(1) Interrupt or ter~lnate
any utility serVIce furnlshed to the
rental
unit by any ~eans whatsoever
including,
but
not l1witen to, the
cut tlng of \nres, the reT'loval of fuses,
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the switch~ng of breakers, and the
non-payment of ut~l~ty b~lls.
(2) Prevent the tenant froM
ga~n~ng reasonable access to the rental
un~t by chanq~ng the locks or using a
bootlock or by any other siMilar Method
or dev~ce.
(3) Re~ove outs~de doors or
\Hndo\ls of the rental unIt.
(4) ReMove frOM the rental
un~t personal property, the furn~shinqs,
or any other ~teMs qithout the pr~or
written consent of the tenant, except
when done pursuant to the procedure set
forth In Chapter S (coMmenc~ng with
Section 1980) of ~Itle 5 of Part 4 of
DiviSIon 3 of the CIVIl Code.
(b) no lanCllord shall, \,rith
respect to property used as a controlleCl
rental unit unCler any rental hOUSIng
agreeMent do any of the follow~ng:
(1) Br~nq any jud~cial
act~on to recover possess~on of a
controlled rental un~t or recover
possession of a controlled rental unIt
unless authorIzed by and In accordance
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wlth Clty Charter Sectlon 1006 and the
regulatlons promulgated thereunder.
(2) ~ake any other action to
recover posseSSlon of a controlled rental
unit unless authorized by and ln
accordance with Clty Charter Sectlon 1806
and tbe regulatlons pro~ulgated
thereunder. For purposes of th is
suhdivlsion, other actlon lncludes, hut
is not li~lted to, the serVlce or
dellvery of urltten notices or denands
and the cOMrUnicatlon of oral notlces or
denands.
(c) ilothing in thIS section shall
be construed as to prevent the lawful
evictlon of a tenant hy appropriate legal
neans, nor shall anythinq in thIS
subd1vis1on apply to occupanC1es def1ned
by subdivlsion (b) of Clvil Code Sectlon
1940.
(d) For purposes of this sectlon,
the terflS landlord, tenant, rent, rental
housing agreement, rental unit, and
controlled rental unlt shall be defined
as set forth in Article XVIII of the C1ty
Charter.
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(e) For purposes of th1S sect1on,
ut1lity service 1ncludes, but 1S not
llI"lited to, .later, heat, liqht,
electrlclty, qas, telephone, garbaqe
collect1on, sewaqe,
refrigeratIon.
Sr.C':'IOrl 2. Any provision of the Santa l10nica !1uniclpal
Code or appendices thereto InconsIstent w1th the provIsions of
tblS ordInance, to the extent of such Incons1stencies and no
further, are hereby repealed or modIfIed to that extent necessary
to affect the provlslons of this ordInance.
SEC7Irnl 3. If any sectIon, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this ordInance IS for any reason held to be InvalId
or unconstitutlonal by a decIsIon of any court of any competent
juriSdIction, such decIsion shall not affect the validity of the
remainlng portlons of the ordinance. ':'he C1ty CouncIl hereby
declares that it would have passed thIs ordinance and each and
elevator,
or
every section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase not
declared Invalid or unconstitutIonal vlthout regard to whether
any portIon of the ordinance \lould be subsequently declared
InvalId or unconstitutIonal.
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SEC~Ion 4. ~he Mayor shall SIgn and the C~ty Clerk shall
attest to the passage of th~s ord~nance. ~his C~ty Clerk shall
cause the same to be publ1shea once 1n the off1c1al nellspaper
u1th1n IS days after its adoptIon.
~he ordinance shall become
effectIve after 30 days fro~ Its adopt1on.
APPROVED AS ':'0 FORB:
~ M-;'-tr-
Rohe rt r,. r!ye rs "'II'
CIty Attorney
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