Beverly Hills’ Rent Stabilization Commission Conducts Preliminary Discussion on Establishing Local H

At this Wednesday’s Beverly Hills Rent Stabilization Commission meeting, the Commission received a staff presentation on the City’s habitability standards, instituting proactive inspections and establishment of a mediation board to address violations. City Staff also provided background on the facilitated sessions that were conducted in 2018 and the feedback received at that time from City rental housing providers and renters. Currently, the City’s habitability standards are based on the State’s regulations and inspections are conducted through a complaint-based process.

Prior to the meeting, the Association submitted a letter to the Commission expressing our concerns and recommendations. Establishing a proactive inspection process would necessitate an expanded bureaucracy, allocation of City resources and costs for the hiring of hearing examiners, instituting an appeal process and related program administration, costs which would ultimately be borne by the City’s rental housing providers and renters. We urged the Commission to consider a more cost-effective targeted approach that builds upon the City’s current complaint-based structure by requiring buildings identified as having a history of violations to be subject to proactive inspections and imposition of penalties for repeated violations. To read the Association’s letter, please click on the button below:

During the meeting, Commissioners provided some initial thoughts and requested that staff provide additional information including the types and number of habitability complaints received. As this was a preliminary discussion on this issue, the Commission will continue deliberations at the December 1, 2021 meeting.