El Monte Municipal Code Ch. 8.79 Tenant Relocation Assistance

The City Council finds and determines that:

A. Some rental units in the city have severe building code violations which are so extensive and extreme that they threaten the health and safety of tenants and require the units or rooms to be vacated to allow for repairs to take place.

B. Such building code violations are often caused by deferred maintenance and may breach the landlord's implied warranty of habitability and sometimes constitute constructive eviction of the tenant household from its residence.

C. Health and Safety Code Section 17975 requires property owners or designated agent to pay certain relocation expenses when the need to relocate arises from violations which are so extensive and of such a nature that the immediate health and safety of the tenants is endangered.

D. Financial hardship often arises because relocating generally requires large sum of moneys, including first and last month's rent, deposits, moving expenses and utility deposits for a new residence. Low-income tenants are typically unable to obtain such sums and, as a result, are at great risk of becoming homeless.

E. Health and Safety Code Sections 17975.1 and 17975.2 specify the timing and level of payments the property owner must provide. If a tenant is entitled to relocation benefits, the Building Official or designee must provide either telephonic or written notice to the tenant of his or her entitlement to the benefits. Written notice may be satisfied by posting notice on the premises stating that tenants may be entitled to relocation benefits.

F. The delayed payment of relocation benefits by the property owner, or designated agent, may impose extreme hardship upon tenants who then must themselves obtain the large sums of money necessary to relocate. Delayed payment may also require the city to expend general funds to provide tenants with financial assistance for relocation. Any requirement to pay relocation benefits should contain disincentives for delayed payment in the form of appropriate penalties.

G. Health and Safety Code Section 17975.5 authorizes the city to adopt an ordinance that allows the city at its sole discretion, to advance relocation payments to tenants where the property owner, or designated agent, fails, neglects, or refuses to pay displaced tenants and to subsequently collect from the property owner any amount paid to displaced tenants, along with an additional penalty amount, which shall not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00.)

H. This chapter is adopted pursuant to Health and Safety Code Sections 17975 et seq.

(Ord. No. 2921, § 3, 8-1-2017)

For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions apply:

"Displaced tenant" means a tenant that is ordered to move out of a residential unit or structure by an order to vacate issued by the city or another enforcement agency.

"Order to vacate" means the first notice sent by an authorized city official to the property owner and posted on the affected property declaring that, due to a failure to repair or maintain, the unit or structure must be vacated.

"Property owner" means the owner of the property at the time the order to vacate is issued, as shown on the last equalized assessment roll, and any successor in interest.

"Residential unit or structure" means any dwelling, apartment, room or place which is the place of permanent or customary and usual abode of any person or household. Residential unit or structure shall include mobile homes located in mobilehome parks, provided that the city has assumed enforcement authority over such parks from the State Department of Housing and Community Development.

"Tenant" means any resident of the affected property who is a tenant as that term is used in California Civil Code Sections 1940 et seq.

"Vacation date" means the date by which a tenant is required to vacate a unit or structure, pursuant to an order by an authorized city official.

(Ord. No. 2921, § 3, 8-1-2017)

A. A tenant shall be eligible for relocation assistance and payments pursuant to this chapter and Health and Safety Code Sections 17975 et seq. when the city determines that the condition of a building or portion thereof is such that a residential unit cannot be safely occupied by that tenant while the building or portion thereof is being brought into code compliance.

B. Exceptions: A tenant shall not be eligible for relocation assistance and payments under the following conditions:

1. Within twenty-nine (29) days from the vacation date, the tenant is offered the right to return to the rehabilitated unit upon clearance by the appropriate code enforcement official. The tenant may still assert his/her rights and remedies under the law to recover its losses and damages for the period in which it was required to vacate the premises;

2. The property owner provides a replacement dwelling of comparable size and appurtenances to the tenant;

3. The tenant has caused or substantially contributed to the condition giving rise to the order to vacate or unreasonably prevented the property owner or designated agent from undertaking maintenance or repairs that would have prevented or rectified the code violation. Nor shall any relocation benefits be payable to a tenant if any guest or invitee of the tenant has caused or substantially contributed to the condition giving rise to the order to vacate, as determined by the Building Official or designee. The Building Official or designee shall make the determination whether a tenant, tenant's guest, or invitee caused or substantially contributed to the condition, giving rise to the order to vacate;

4. If the residential unit or structure becomes unsafe or hazardous as a result of a natural disaster or act of God;

5. If the residential unit or structure is operated as an emergency or temporary shelter for homeless persons (whether such persons have assigned rooms or beds, and regardless of duration of stay by any occupant) by a nonprofit organization or public agency owning, leasing, or managing such dwelling unit; or

6. The tenant is in default in payment of rent, unless rent is being lawfully withheld by the tenant.

C. The Building Official shall have sole discretion to determine the amount, type and duration of the relocation benefits pursuant to this chapter and Health and Safety Code Sections 17975 et seq. The property owner or designated agent and any displaced tenant or his or her representative shall be entitled to meet with the Building Official to present facts demonstrating that relocation benefits should or should not be paid. The Building Official or designee shall make a determination based on the provisions of this chapter, the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter, and the factual information submitted by the parties or otherwise readily available and shall communicate his or her determination in writing to the tenant and the property owner or designated agent. When notice to the property owner of the Building Official's relocation benefits determination is not reasonably possible because immediate vacation is necessary, the property owner shall have only the appeal right set forth in Section 8.79.050.

D. When the property owner or tenant wishes to contest a determination regarding eligibility or relocation payment amounts made by the Building Official, such party should file a written request for a hearing with the city manager or designee within seven (7) days of the determination. Any property owner requesting an appeal must first deposit with the Building Official the full unpaid amount in dispute, unless the property owner can demonstrate significant hardship or other extraordinary circumstances to The Building Official that would justify a waiver of such deposit. The City Manager or designee shall hold a hearing and shall use reasonable efforts to render his or her decision on any such appeal within thirty (30) days of a timely hearing request. The City Manager's or designee's decision shall be final with no appeal to the City Council.

(Ord. No. 2921, § 3, 8-1-2017)

A. In the event the property owner or designated agent fails, neglects or refuses to pay relocation benefits as required by this chapter to a displaced tenant, the City Council with a recommendation from a committee consisting of the City Manager, City Attorney, Economic Development Director, and the Chief Building Official may at its sole discretion and within budgetary limitations, opt to make payment of such relocation benefits as determines is necessary to assist the displaced tenant to relocate, up to the amount payable by the property owner under this chapter and Health and Safety Code Section 17975.2.

B. The city may recover from the property owner any amount paid to a tenant pursuant to this chapter. As a penalty for failure to make a timely payment to the displaced tenant, the city shall also be entitled to recover from the property owner an additional amount, not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), which is equal to one-half (½) the amount so paid. The city shall also be entitled to recover from property owner its actual costs (including direct and indirect costs) of administering the provision of benefits to the displaced tenant.

C. Any amount paid by the city and any applicable penalties and administrative costs shall be a personal obligation of the property owner and may be recorded as a lien against the property with the county recorder if the property owner fails to pay the city.

D. Nothing contained in this chapter shall require the city to pay any relocation benefits to any tenant, or to assume any obligation, requirement, or duty of the property owner or designated agent pursuant to this chapter.

E. The damages which a displaced tenant may receive from the property owner under Health and Safety Code Section 17975.2 shall be reduced by the amount of any benefits received from the city.

(Ord. No. 2921, § 3, 8-1-2017)

A. Prior to instituting any action to collect relocation payments from the property owner or to record a lien pursuant to this chapter, the Building Official or designee shall send to the property owner by first-class mail, postage prepaid, at the property owner's address as shown on the last equalized assessment roll, an itemized accounting of all benefits paid by the city to the property owner's tenants, and any penalties or costs the city is seeking to recover.

B. If the property owner contends that not all of the benefits are chargeable to the property owner because the recipients were not displaced tenants, or on other grounds, the property owner shall submit a written appeal to the Building Official within twenty (20) days after receipt of the itemized accounting. The Building Official, or designee, shall hold an administrative hearing for the purpose of determining the amount of benefits and any penalties or costs.

C. The Building Official's decision may be appealed to the City Manager within ten (10) calendar days of the date of the service of the Building Official's written decision. The City Manager may appoint a hearing officer in his or her discretion. The City Manager's or hearing officer's decision shall be final and conclusive, and shall be served no later than five (5) calendar days after the decision is signed and be sent first-class mail, postage prepaid to the property owner's address as shown on the last equalized assessment roll. The property owner shall pay the charge that was the subject of the appeal within thirty (30) days after the date an adverse decision is mailed to the property owner. The decision shall be appealed pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.6 and review of the decision shall be in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.5. The decision shall include reference to this section and Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.6.

D. If the property owner fails to obtain a more favorable decision than that set forth in the itemized accounting, the property owner or designated agent shall be liable to the city for the costs of the administrative hearing and appeal, not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000.00). The failure to receive the itemized accounting shall not relieve the property owner of any obligation to the city.

E. Notwithstanding Section 8.79.040(b) of this chapter, if there are fewer than ten (10) days between the first posting and mailing of the order to vacate and the vacation date, and if the city advances relocation benefits to any tenant, no penalty shall be payable by the property owner if reimbursement is made to the city within thirty (30) days after the date an itemized accounting from the city is mailed as set forth in this section.

(Ord. No. 2921, § 3, 8-1-2017)

The remedies hereunder are cumulative and in addition to any other remedies available under law.

(Ord. No. 2921, § 3, 8-1-2017)

The city may establish a relocation benefits expenditure account and provide appropriations through City Council action by resolution. A relocation revenue account will include revenue generated by the program. The Building Official shall make periodic reports to the City Council on the activity and status of these accounts.

(Ord. No. 2921, § 3, 8-1-2017)