L.A. “renovictions” are done — at least for now.
On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council voted 12 to 0 to temporarily block landlords from evicting tenants in order to remodel their properties.
The interim ordinance, which lasts until Aug. 1, was designed as a stopgap while the city explores permanent legislation for renters to keep their tenancies when landlords implement substantial remodels.
Under previous rules, substantial remodels — including structural, mechanical or plumbing work — were a “just cause” for evicting a tenant.
The ordinance also applies retroactively, barring renovation-based evictions that were pending before the vote took place.
It’s a win for tenant advocates, who argued Friday that the substantial-renovation clause is a loophole that allows landlords to kick out long-term renters to raise rents under the guise of property improvements.
“There are tenants here today who will be evicted if this does not pass as amended,” Chelsea Kirk, policy director at the nonprofit Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, said on Friday.
It’s a blow for landlords and developers, who claim the ordinance ties the hands of homeowners and prohibits them from upgrading the city’s aging housing stock.
“This ordinance is a result of a witch hunt by extremists that want to force mom-and-pop owners out of business,” David Kaishchyan, of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, said at the meeting on Friday.
The ban was put into motion after a unanimous City Council vote in October 2024, when the council ordered the Housing Department and city attorney to draft recommendations to remove substantial remodels as a just cause for eviction.
