The City of Glendale has enacted a Just Cause and Retaliatory Eviction Ordinance, which requires just cause to evict a tenant and payment of relocation benefits to certain displaced tenants. Here is a summary of the eviction protection and relocation assistance provisions of the Ordinance.

Covered Properties

The City’s Ordinance applies to almost all properties with three or more units. The following properties are exempt:

• Properties with two or fewer units
• Rooms or accommodations in hotels, boarding houses, or lodging houses which are rented to transient guests for a period of less than thirty consecutive days.
• Rooms or accommodations in a hospital, convent, monastery, church, religious facility, extended care facility, asylum, or non­profit home for the elderly.
• Dormitories owned and operated by an institution of higher education, high school, or elementary school.
• Units within a common interest development, except when the rental unit’s landlord owns 50% or more of the units in the common interest development.
• Units owned or operated by any government agency or whose rent is subsidized under programs such as Section 8.
• Units that require intake, case management, or counseling as part of the occupation.
• Units that are subject to an agreement for density bonus housing, inclusionary housing, or affordable housing, restricting the rental rate that may be charged for that unit. 

Just-Cause Reasons For Eviction

A landlord must have a just-cause reason to terminate a tenancy involving a covered property. The allowable reasons for eviction are as follows:

• The tenant has failed to pay the rent.
• The tenant has violated the lease or rental agreement after having been given notice of a violation by the landlord.
• The tenant has permitted or committed a nuisance, damaged the unit or the property, or interfered with the comfort, safety, or enjoyment of the other residences within a 1,000 foot radius of the boundary line of the property.
• The tenant is using the unit for any illegal purpose, or has carried out an illegal act within a 1,000 feet radius of the boundary line of the property.
• The person in possession of the rental unit at the end of a lease term is a subtenant not approved by the landlord.
• The tenant has refused the landlord reasonable access to the unit.

• The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the unit to demolish it or the building, or plans to perform work on the building or unit that will render the unit uninhabitable for at least thirty days, and the work costs at least eight times the amount of the monthly rent multiplied by the number of rental units being worked on.
• The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the property for their own occupancy, for the landlord’s spouse, children, grandchildren, parents or grandparents occupancy, or for the occupancy of a resident manager.
• The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the property for the occupancy of tenants who require case management or counseling as part of their tenancy.
• The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession to remove the rental unit permanently from rental housing use pursuant to state law.
• The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the rental unit to comply with a governmental agency’s order to vacate.
• To comply with a contractual agreement relating to the qualifications of the tenancy with a government entity, where the tenant is no longer qualified.
• The tenant continues to smoke in a non-smoking unit or in common areas where smoking is prohibited.

Requirements for Owner/Relative Move-In

Owner/relative move-in evictions require the owner to be a natural person. A resident manager move-in eviction is allowed only when no vacant units are available for occupancy. If a resident manager already lives at the property, a landlord will not be able to perform a resident manager move-in eviction on any other unit and can only evict the existing resident manager to replace him or her with a new one.

Relocation Assistance

Most tenants who live in a building with at least three units who are evicted for a no-fault reason or who have been served a rent increase of 7% or more are eligible for relocation assistance. Some tenants are exempt from receiving relocation assistance after a no-fault eviction.  The exempt properties are:

• Properties with two or fewer units.
• Accessory dwelling units.
• Units where, prior to entering into the tenancy, the landlord provided the tenant with written notice that the landlord applied with the city or has been approved by the city to subdivide the property and convert the unit into condominiums, a stock cooperative, or community apartment, and that the tenant would need to relocate as a result.
• Resident managers who are evicted so that a new resident manager may move into the unit.
• When a government agency’s order requires the tenant to vacate due to hazardous conditions caused by a natural disaster or act of God.
• When the tenant has already received relocation assistance from a government agency due to the eviction that is the same or greater than that provided by the ordinance.

For no-fault evictions, tenants are entitled to a relocation payment of two times the fair market rent as established by HUD for a comparable unit in Los Angeles County, plus an additional $1,000. Relocation payments are per unit, not per tenant.  If there is more than one tenant in the unit, each tenant will be entitled to a pro-rata share of the payment. 

Please contact Lynx Legal with any questions regarding the above, and for all your eviction needs.  We can be reached at 888-441-2355 or info@lynxlegal.com.  You can also schedule a telephonic consultation on our website.  Our experienced professionals are standing by to answer any questions or complete the intake if you are ready to start a case.