A group of apartment owners wants to put an end to the moratorium on evictions and the freeze on rents in Los Angeles.
The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles is asking a federal court to issue an injunction preventing the city from enforcing the moratorium and rent freeze.
“For many owners, after seven months of not collecting rent under the City of Los Angeles’s emergency ordinances, many rental property owners and our members have been suffering the severe financial consequences of the City’s eviction ban and rent increase freeze,” the association’s executive director, Daniel Yukelson, told the Southern Calfornia Record in a statement.
Many tenants are not paying rent and others are abandoning their leases, Yukelson said.
“Under the City’s moratorium, renters have the right to move as many and whomever they wish into their units, and as many pets as they desire without consequence,” he said. "So today, in addition to non-payment of rent, owners are dealing with squatters at their properties and no recourse to deal with these situations.”
Owners of rental properties are hurting financially, Yukelson added.
“Rental housing providers in the City of Los Angeles are in major crisis now and not only struggle to maintain and operate their properties, but also struggle to meet personal obligations such as housing and medical care, and to pay for groceries,” he said. “ Like renters, many owners have lost full time jobs or have been inflicted by the coronavirus, and many who are retirees struggle on fixed incomes while at the same time cannot collect the rent they depend upon to survive. “
Landlords have lost millions of dollars from the moratorium and will eventually be seeking financial damages, Yukelson said.
“But, for now, we are seeking immediate relief and to have the court overturn these ill-conceived and unconstitutional moratoriums,” he said.
The city has said it will fight the injunction.