LA Sued Over COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium and Rent Freeze

A landlord association sued the city of Los Angeles on Thursday over its moratorium on evictions and rent increases amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, saying the two ordinances are overbroad and violate landlords' constitutional rights. 

The association has over 10,000 members owning or managing over 150,000 rental housing units in Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino counties. They are claiming the Los Angeles moratorium ordinance doesn't require tenants to provide notice or documentation of their inability to pay rent and gives them a full year after the emergency period is lifted to pay their back rent.

Daniel Yukelson, the association's executive director, told Law360 in an emailed statement Thursday that the eviction moratorium is in effect making landlords "private welfare providers to the city's renters."

The group says the ordinance violates their members' due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, their members' property rights under the Tenth Amendment, the Takings Clause under the Fifth Amendment, and the contract clauses under both the California and U.S. constitutions.

Read more.