O2383City Council Meeting: December 13, 2011 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2383 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA MONICA AMENDING CHAPTERS 4.36 AND 4.56 OF THE SANTA MONICA
MUNICIPAL CODE TO INCREASE PERMANENT RELOCATION BENEFITS;
CHANGE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR RELOCATION ENHANCEMENTS;
EXTEND TENANT HARASSMENT PROTECTIONS TO ALL TENANTS COVERED BY
JUST CAUSE EVICTION RULES; AND CORRECT CERTAIN CODE SECTION
REFERENCES
WHEREAS, Santa Monica has not increased its permanent relocation benefit
amounts (other than for cost of living increases) since 2007, during which time rent
levels in the City have increased and vacancies have decreased; and
WHEREAS, Council wishes to extend additional permanent relocation benefits to
households with seniors, disabled, and children tenants regardless of their date of
occupancy because these households are particularly vulnerable; and
WHEREAS, certain code section references in the permanent relocation
ordinance are outdated and inaccurate; and
WHEREAS, Measure RR has extended just cause eviction protections to most
residential tenants in the City regardless of rent control status; and
WHEREAS, certain non -rent controlled tenants are therefore newly subject to
potential unlawful harassment for the purpose of forcing them to vacate their units; and
WHEREAS, Council wishes to extend tenant harassment protections to all
tenants in the City who have just cause eviction protections, regardless of their rent
control status.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Municipal Code Section 4.36.020 is amended to read as follows:
4.36.020 When relocation fee required.
(a) A relocation fee shall be paid in accordance with the
provisions of this Chapter by any landlord who terminates or causes the
termination of a tenancy for any of the following reasons:
(1) The landlord seeks to withdraw all rental housing units from
the rental housing market as provided in Government Code Sections 7060
et seq.
(2) The landlord seeks to recover possession of a rental housing
unit pursuant to Sections 1806(a)(8), 1806(a)(9), 2304(a)(8), or 2304(a)(9)
of the City Charter.
(3) The landlord seeks to recover possession to demolish or
otherwise withdraw a rental housing unit from residential rental housing
use, including units that were illegally converted to residential use, after
having obtained all proper permits from the City, if any such permits are
required.
(b) A relocation fee shall be paid in accordance with the provisions
of this Chapter to a displaced tenant who serves a landlord with a notice to
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terminate tenancy after having received written notice from either the
landlord or the Santa Monica Rent Control Board that the landlord has
filed a Notice of Intent to Withdraw Residential Rental Units pursuant to
Government Code Section 7060.4 and Santa Monica Rent Control Board
Regulation 16002(a) or an Application for Removal Permit pursuant to
Santa Monica Charter Section 1803(t).
(c) The fee required by this Chapter shall be due and payable to a
displaced tenant whether or not the landlord actually utilizes the rental
housing unit for the purposes stated in the notice of eviction.
SECTION 2. Municipal Code Section 4.36.040 is amended to read as follows:
4.36.040 Amount of relocation fee.
The amount of the permanent relocation fee payable pursuant to
the provisions of this Chapter shall be established in accordance with the
following formula: 2011 relocation fee adjusted for inflation by the
percentage change in the rent of primary residence component of the CPI -
W Index for the Los Angeles /Riverside /Orange County area, as published
by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
between November 2011 and the July 1st preceding the date of vacancy
rounded to the nearest fifty dollars. This amount shall be updated annually
commencing on July 1, 2012 and on July 1st of each year thereafter.
(a) The 2011 relocation fee established pursuant to Ordinance
2383CCS and determined according to the size of the retail housing unit,
was as follows:
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AlaggMaLaim
2011 relocation amount
2011 augmented amount
Single or studio
7 800
8 MOP
One bedroom
$12,050
111850
Two or more bedrooms
$16.300
$18,750
(b) If a tenant is evicted from more than one rental housing unit on
a property, the tenant shall not be entitled to receive separate relocation
fees for each rental housing unit. The tenant shall receive a single
relocation fee based on the combined total number of bedrooms in the
rental housing units from which the tenant is being evicted. If one of the
rental housing units is a bachelor or single unit, it shall be counted as a
one bedroom unit for purposes of determining the amount of the relocation
fee (e.g., a tenant who is evicted from a bachelor rental housing unit and a
one bedroom rental housing unit would receive relocation benefits for a
two bedroom unit).
(c) If the rental housing unit from which the tenant is being evicted
is furnished, two hundred fifty dollars shall be deducted from the amount
set forth in subsection (a) of this Section. For purposes of this subsection,
a rental housing unit shall be considered to be furnished if the landlord has
provided substantial furnishings in each occupied room of the rental
housing unit.
(d) If one or more of the displaced tenants is a senior citizen or
disabled person, or is a tenant with whom a minor child resides, an
augmented amount shall be paid as set forth in subsection (a) of this
Section. The amount added pursuant to this subsection shall be adjusted
0
annually pursuant to the formula specified above commencing on July 1,
2012, and each July 1st thereafter.
(e) Any tenant still in possession of a rental unit after the
relocation amounts have been updated pursuant to this Section, shall be
entitled to the updated relocation amounts even if the landlord
commenced the termination of the tenancy prior to the update. In the
event that a landlord has already complied with the provisions of Section
4.36.060 based on the relocation amounts previously in effect, but has not
yet received a written request from a tenant for distribution of the fee
pursuant to Section 4.36.070, the landlord shall place in escrow the
additional amount of relocation fee required by this Section within five
working days of the effective date of the updated amount.
SECTION 3. Municipal Code Section 4.56.010 is amended to read as follows:
4.56.010 Definitions.
(a) Fraud. Intentional misrepresentation, deceit or concealment of
a material fact.
(b) Housing Service. Housing services include, but are not limited
to, hot and cold water, heat, electricity, gas, refrigeration, elevator service,
window shades and screens, storage, kitchen, bath and laundry facilities
and privileges, janitor services, refuse removal, furnishings, telephone,
parking, effective waterproofing and, weather protection, painting, and any
other benefit, privilege or facility that has been provided by the landlord to
the tenant with use or occupancy of any rental housing unit. Services to a
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rental housing unit shall include a proportionate part of services provided
to common facilities of the building in which the rental housing unit is
contained.
(c) Landlord. An owner, lessor, sublessor, or any other person
entitled to receive rent for the use and occupancy of any rental housing
unit, or an agent, representative or successor of any of the foregoing.
(d) Malice. An intent to vex, annoy, harass or injure another person.
(e) Rental Housing Agreement. An agreement, oral or written or
implied, between a landlord and tenant for use or occupancy of a rental
housing unit and for housing services.
(f) Rental Housing Unit. A housing unit in the City that constitutes
either a controlled rental unit pursuant to City Charter Section 1800 et seq.
(including a room in a single - family home, hotel or motel, rooming house
or apartment, single - family home, mobile home or mobile home space,
trailer or trailer space); or a rental unit pursuant to City Charter Section
2300 et seq.
(g) Tenant. A tenant, subtenant, lessee, sublessee or any other
person entitled under the terms of a rental housing agreement to the use
or occupancy of any rental housing unit.
SECTION 4. 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, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 5. 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 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 6. 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 become
effective 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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Approved and adopted this 13th day of December, 2011.
Richard Bloom, Mayor
State of California )
County of Los Angeles ) ss.
City of Santa Monica )
I, Denise Anderson - Warren, Acting City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do
hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 2383 (CCS) had its introduction
on December 6, 2011, and was adopted at the Santa Monica City Council
meeting held on December 13, 2011, by the following vote:
Ayes: Council members: Holbrook, McKeown, O'Connor, Shriver
Mayor Pro Tern Davis, Mayor Bloom
Noes: Council members: None
Absent: Council members: O'Day
A summary of Ordinance No. 2383 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to
California Government Code Section 40806.
ATTEST:
Denise Anderson - Warren, Acting City Clerk