Apartment Assn of Los Angeles County, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles

In Apartment Assn of Los Angeles County, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (2006) 136 Cal.App.4th 119, the appellate court overturned a Los Angeles rent control ordinance that preserved certain rent restrictions indefinitely. The ordinance required landlords, following the termination of their "Section 8 housing contract with the City's Housing Authority," to continue charging the restricted "rent under the former contract, without any limitation as to time." (Id. at p. 122.) The Costa-Hawkins Act, on the other hand, provides only a 90-day period during which the tenant may continue paying the prior restricted rent. (Civ. Code, 1954.535.) The appellate court concluded that the ordinance's unlimited rent restriction conflicted with and was preempted by the Costa-Hawkins Act, stating: "The Legislature, in Civil Code section 1954.535, specified the period of time a tenant's rent payment is frozen following termination or nonrenewal of a Section 8 agreement--90 days following receipt of notice of termination or nonrenewal. Because the Legislature has fully occupied the field in this area, Municipal Code section 151.04.B., the 2002 Ordinance, which purports to confer greater protections upon the tenant by freezing the tenant's payment beyond 90 days, and apparently indefinitely, is preempted." (Apartment Assn., at p. 132.)