LONG BEACH — As a housing activist, Maria Lopez worked for years to shut what she believes is a major, if little-known, loophole in eviction law.
Collaboration with the Long Beach Tenants Union, Lopez organized In her hometown, dozens of tenants are facing eviction for “significant renovations.” She has spoken at city council meetings and led protests to boost awareness of the rule that enables landlords to evict tenants who plan to do extensive renovations to their properties.
From Lopez's perspective, the foundations allowed landlords who wanted to boost their rent to evict tenants for minor improvements or remodeling that were never accomplished after the tenant moved out. Her work helped push Long Beach to adopt regulations governing such evictions and influenced a recent change in state law aimed toward tightening restrictions on doing so.
Then, late last 12 months, shortly after a brand new owner purchased the duplex where Lopez has lived since she was six, she received an eviction notice herself. The reason? Extensive renovations.
“My heart sank,” said 32-year-old Lopez concerning the moment she received the message.
Tenant representatives have raised concerns about significant eviction measures because the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 was approved in California to limit rent increases and supply tenants with some protection against eviction without cause. Under this law, a permissible reason for eviction is that if a landlord plans to make a “significant renovation” to a dwelling.
“We got stories from lawyers telling us, 'We have a number of tenants who received these extensive renovation notices, and we were told nothing was ever done, or it was something like new kitchen cabinets.' And those tenants had no recourse,” said Lorraine López, senior attorney on the Western Center on Law & Poverty.
Maria Lopez began working to combat evictions during major renovations when she heard a couple of series of evictions shortly after the 2019 law passed. She met with tenants in apartment complexes across Long Beach who had received eviction notices and started working with them to forestall the evictions.
The issue gained urgency through the pandemic when, based on advocates, it appeared that some landlords were using the regulations to bypass eviction moratoriums.
At a Long Beach City Council meeting in 2021, Lopez asked officials to regulate the law.
“Many tenants are evicted because of small cosmetic repairs like replacing cabinets or tiles, not because of major renovations,” Lopez said. was quoted As he said within the Signal Tribune, “Please, I beg you, I beg you, make sure our families have a roof over their heads.”
This 12 months, town responded to the proponents locked temporarily significant renovation evictions. Later, they began to pursue renovation evictions, increase relocation assistance for displaced tenants and Punish for landlords who violate the law. This 12 months, the state also tightened the foundations and made it clear, amongst other things, that tenants can’t be evicted for minor cosmetic repairs.
Last August, she learned that Dr. Femi Akinnagbe, a general practitioner, had bought the property where she had lived for nearly three a long time.
Lopez moved here along with her family as a toddler and stayed after her mother, father and siblings moved out. In downtown Long Beach, she paid $675 a month until the brand new owners raised the quantity to $734 shortly after purchasing the property. The one-bedroom apartment is decorated with posters and memorabilia from her work as a housing activist – there's a painting by an area artist of her holding a tiny house, a poster that reads “Close Eviction Loopholes Now” and various books on housing and evictions.
Akinnagbe and his wife, Laura, told the Times they see themselves as stewards of the 100-year-old Craftsman houses on the property. They live within the front house with their children and plan to convert the duplex within the back to rent as social housing.
“We know the housing shortage first hand and do not want to contribute to the housing shortage problem in Long Beach,” Femi Akinnagbe told town council earlier this 12 months. “That's why we are renovating our building to create social housing for the neediest and most vulnerable people in our community.”
He said he bought the property in very poor condition and it needed to be repaired. Lopez agrees that repairs must be made, but doesn't consider she ought to be kicked out of the home for doing so.
Akinnagbe said he told Lopez early on that he hoped to boost her rent to a “market target” of $2,500, which he said would make a few of the renovations easier. He asked her to use for rent subsidies and grants to cover the prices, which he said would have been a “win-win for everyone.” Lopez didn’t comply with the rise, which might have been well above state limits. As of August 2023, the utmost allowable annual rent increase under state law was capped at 8.8%. Ultimately, Akinnagbe raised her rent by that quantity.
About two months after purchasing the property, Akinnagbe served Lopez with a 60-day notice to vacate the property and stated that he intended to make major renovations to the property.
An outline of the work included within the notice said the plan was to transform the inside of the house, which would come with “removing and replacing the shower, vanity, toilets, sinks, countertops, cabinets, garbage disposal, electrical fixtures, electrical outlets, flooring, painting, drywall and a new ceiling.”
“No construction measures” can be carried out, the statement continued.
Lopez contacted town and asked if the work was sufficient to constitute a major reconstruction.
According to state and city regulations, a considerable remodeling means “the replacement or substantial alteration of a structural, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical system that requires a permit from a governmental agency, or the removal of hazardous materials such as lead paint, mold, or asbestos, as required by applicable federal, state, and local laws, that cannot reasonably be accomplished in a safe manner while the tenant is still on-site, and that requires the tenant to vacate the residential property for at least 30 days.”
The planned work probably doesn’t meet standards, city officials said.
“Based on the facts you have presented to us and the experience of our construction and safety experts, the city is of the non-binding opinion that your proposed project does not constitute a significant reconstruction,” city officials wrote in a letter to Akinnagbe.
Earlier this 12 months, Lopez received one other notice from the owner detailing additional work, including an entire renovation of the kitchen and toilet, full or partial demolition of interior partitions, creation of a brand new entrance, and asbestos and lead remediation.
This time, town said it could neither confirm nor deny whether the scope of labor complied with the boundaries.
The Akinnagbes say they didn’t make major changes to the unique plans, but they didn’t realize what number of details they would wish to supply to prove that the work was actually a considerable reconstruction.
“We went into this matter even though she knew the law and how to navigate it much better than we did,” said Femi Akinnagbe.
Both sides say the dispute made them feel unsafe on the property.
In May, Lopez again appeared before town council to represent her interests and ask them to right away stop the extensive renovation work.
She can also be fighting the eviction in court, which is predicated on technicalities, but she is unsure of her long-term possibilities so long as evictions for renovations are allowed.
“Unfortunately, until the law is changed, the landlord has the right to evict Maria,” said her lawyer Stephano Medina of the nonprofit law firm Public Counsel.
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