Landlord’s Ellis Act eviction plan rejected, but tenant can stay
After more than a year of drawn-out legal battle, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued a tentative ruling in favor of the defendants (who formed the Barrington Plaza Tenants Association) in the largest Ellis Act eviction case in Los Angeles history. Barrington Plaza is a 712-apartment apartment complex in West Los Angeles that recently suffered two fires, one of which killed a tenant.
The landlord, Barrington Pacific, a limited liability company with ties to Douglas Emmett, said he intends to invoke the Ellis Act in May 2023 to make renovations to the building and evict all tenants.
The case has become of major concern to both tenants and landlords because many of the protections renters had during the pandemic have expired, leaving tenants at risk of eviction and rent increases.
On June 13, Judge H. Jay Ford III ruled against Douglas Emmett, a Maryland corporation, and Barrington Pacific LLC, a California-based limited liability company. Judge Ford found that the landlords’ actions did not meet the Ellis Act test, namely that they were “out of business” and had no intention of putting the Barrington Plaza rental units back on the market, and that their plans violated the city’s rent stabilization ordinance.
The ruling stated, “…when Barrington Pacific filed its notice of intent to remove units from the rental market with the City and sent termination notices to the tenants, Barrington Pacific did not intend to permanently remove those apartments from the rental market under the RSO, nor did it intend to go out of business as contemplated by the Ellis Act. Rather, Barrington Pacific intended to temporarily remove the Barrington Plaza apartments from rental with the express intent to re-rent those apartments upon completion of planned renovations to all of the apartments, including the installation of fire and safety measures, sprinklers, and other modernization upgrades. Barrington Pacific planned and expected all of these renovations to take three to five years.”
This means that the 100 tenants still living in the apartments can remain there until the final version of the judgment is issued, which will come into effect after the plaintiffs have been given a period to challenge it.
“We have been fighting this unjust eviction for over a year. Tenants here have faced harassment, intimidation and anxiety with little to no support from the city. This shows that when we come together, we can prevail. I’m so happy,” Barrington Plaza tenant Monique Gomez said in a statement released by the Economic Survival Coalition.
“This is undoubtedly one of the most significant legal victories for tenants’ rights in our state’s history,” said Larry Gross, executive director of the Economic Survival Coalition.
Douglas Emmett and Barrington Pacific told LAist that a decision has yet to be made on whether the landlord will appeal, but work on the building will continue.