The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance that expands rent control to apartments built to replace demolished units.

The provision exempts so-called “mom and pop” owners of apartment buildings with four or less units.

If signed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the ordinance will become part of the city’s rent control law, which now applies only to buildings constructed prior to 1979.

“I think we’re on the right track,” said Councilman Eric Garcetti, who introduced the measure. “This is a small piece, but a very important piece, to close a legal loophole.”

The ordinance will allow building owners to set the initial rents at market rate for the new units, probably making rents far higher than in the buildings they replace. Future increases would be subject to the city’s rent control law, which limits how much rents can be raised each year.

The proposal is widely opposed by building owners and the real estate community, which say that it would discourage housing construction.

State law gives landlords the right to go out of business by taking their units off the rental housing market. However, city officials say some owners are demolishing their older buildings and then constructing rent control-free apartments.

Information from: www.knbc.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 5:35 pm and is filed under Apartments. Tags: AIG Antonio Villaraigosa Community Los Angeles Real Estate real estate community rent control law state law The Buildings . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.