Former tenants of an apartment building at 500 N. Genesee Ave. are suing the building’s owner and Airbnb for illegally evicting them.
The suit, filed yesterday in L.A. Superior Court, contends that the building’s owner evicted them in April under provisions of the Ellis Act and then began renting the vacant apartments to visitors through Airbnb only weeks later. The tenants, whose units were rent-stabilized, are seeking damages for the evictions and the right to return at their former rents
“As hosts on Airbnb, the landlords had available to them all of Airbnb’s support, infrastructure, intervention, investment and participation in undertaking their joint venture into the hotel business,” the suit states.
The building is owned by LSJB Investments LLC and Carol Alsman, both parties to the lawsuit along with Airbnb. None of them could be reached for comment.
The apartment building sits at Genesee near Rosewood Avenue, outside the West Hollywood city limits. However the lawsuit highlights the issue in West Hollywood of landlords removing rent-stabilized apartments from the market to offer more profitable short-term rentals to tourists.
Under the Ellis Act, the owner of a residential building may remove it from the rental market with certain restrictions established by the state and the city of West Hollywood:
• If the building is returned to the market within two years of its removal from the rental market the relocated tenants or the city may sue the landlord for damages of up to six months’ worth of rent. Tenants who asked that they be allowed to return if the building is rented again must be granted that right;
• If the building is returned to the market in less than five years, the apartments must be rented for no more than the maximum allowable rent that existed at the time of removal plus any intervening general adjustments. Tenants that requested right of first refusal must be offered an opportunity to return;
• If the building is returned to the market between five and ten years after it is vacated, tenants that requested right of first refusal must be offered an opportunity to return to the unit, however, there is no restriction on the rent.
West Hollywood has long banned short-term rentals. However the City Council decided in July to make clear that the ban applied to booking agencies such as Airbnb. A study by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), released in March, argued that the “shared economy” business has had a negative impact on the availability of affordable housing and on hotel revenue. The study said West Hollywood is one of the top 10 revenue-generating neighborhoods for Airbnb in greater Los Angeles. The LAANE study also said that while Airbnb markets itself as a way for homeowners and apartment renters to share their homes with tourists, the bulk of its revenue actually comes from rental of “whole units,” which are apartments and houses where the renter or owner is not present. Such “whole unit” rentals accounted for $3.7 million (88 percent) of Airbnb’s $4.2 million in revenue from West Hollywood rentals in 2014 according to the LAANE study.
The tenants protesting their eviction will stage a press conference along with L.A. City Councilmember Paul Koretz in front of 500 Norrh Genesee at 10:30 a.m. today.
@Showbiz Lady…..I only quote what the law says ( renting for a day, a week or a year is still a rental, be it Airbnb or something else)…..To me the above story isn’t about the viability of rent control, it’s about landlords being accused of breaking the law.
I spoke before the West Hollywood City Council back in July about the rampant abuse of AirB&B Woth short term rentals and time shares to corporate housing by private landlords and developers with new propeties and conversion of older apartments when they are refurbished and updated. These rent control buildings are building and rent control tenants are falling victim to little to no information of bring displaced
@manny. My girlfriends suggest that you be careful before giving legal advice. There are apparently loopholes in Los Angeles because Los Angeles has not banned AirBNB rentals. The Ellis act has it’s pro’s and cons. I knew a lady with a tenant from the 70’s in the Norma Triangle paying $400.00 a month for a single family dwelling. The guy was a contractor and was subject to rent control and mean as heck. My friend Ellised him so she could sell the house. That seems fair. Why should she have subsidized a guy that was perfectly capable of paying a… Read more »
air bnb and the ellis act mixed, will be the ruination of rent stabilization.
So Woody, as a quasi journalist, did you compile and/or report information you were knowledgeable of?
So what? It’s happening& it’s spreading. Complacency is support
This brings to mind the same scenario that thrust the cityhood movement & it’s accompanying rent control proposition on the ballot. 31 years later & it’s deja vu all over again. I remember it well. The rents were skyrocketing fast & aggressive landlords wanted in on the gold rush & they did everything they possibly could to make it happen. Long time tenant’s were coldly evicted, amenities were cut off, parking spaces were blocked, they even faked “property improvements” & blocked garages & entryways with work equipment. Someone should have compiled & published the tenant’s horror stories from those days.… Read more »
This is happening in Los Angeles not West Hollywood.
As a Disability Advocate, I see this all the time. Landlords will actually go as far as to cause a “constructive eviction” which means he/she make conditions so bad for Tenants that they move out so the Landlord can use the apartment for AirbandB. It really has become a problem, especially for Disabled people. However, Disabled people have many more housing rights than non-Disabled. A Disablity does not have to be visible as in a wheelchair. There are many Emotional Disablities and even the diagnosis of AIDS is considered a Disabilty in California law. Landlords will do whatever they can… Read more »
Congrats to those tenants who had to assume the financial and emotional burden of suing their landlord. A similar scenario would be possible in WeHo.
This is great!…..and since the building was put back on the rental market before the required 5 years- “the apartments must be rented for NO MORE than the maximum allowable rent that existed at the time of removal”…..so all those short-term folks that paid $400 a night instead of $50 a night should ask for their money back.
According to the story the units in question are in the City of Los Angeles , not the City of West Hollywood. The L.A. City laws are what should be the question. All these examples of how much money is recoverable are in West Hollywood not Los Angeles.
Instead of costing us endless dollars with no offsetting revenue the city should approve short term rentals with restrictions. The shared economy is here to stay, Santa Monica and San Francisco have worked out these issues and receive millions in tax revenue from short term rental companies. It would make more sense to regulate the short term rentals use the tax revenue to offset cost of compliance and fund affordable housing or a place for homeless or transitional housing. If the report above of 4 million in revenue in West Hollywood is true 10% tax would be an additional $400,000… Read more »