PRESS RELEASE

A new City of Long Beach Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance took effect today, August 1, 2019. The ordinance, which was adopted by the City Council in June, will require landlords of multi-family rental units to provide relocation assistance payments of up to $4,500 to tenants displaced through no fault of their own.

Under the ordinance, landlords who own multi-family residential rental housing in buildings containing at least four units are required to pay relocation assistance to tenants if any of the following occur:

• A tenant receives notice of rent increases totaling 10 percent or more in any 12-month period.

• A tenant receives notice to vacate due to the landlord rehabilitating tenant’s unit.

• A tenant in “good standing” receives notice to vacate for any reason. “Good standing” means that the tenant has resided in the unit for one year or more, is current in payment of rent and not in violation of lease, and has not damaged the unit, interfered with other tenants or used the property for an unlawful purpose.

The ordinance specifies that landlords are exempt from relocation assistance requirements in the following cases:

• A landlord owns only one building of exactly four units in the City of Long Beach.

• A landlord occupies a unit in the building as their primary residence in a multi-family building of any size that is subject to the ordinance.

• A landlord issues a notice to vacate for a landlord, or an immediate family member of the landlord, to occupy the unit, to occupy a unit in a multi-family building of any size that is subject to the ordinance.

• A landlord is recovering possession to comply with a government order to vacate due to a natural disaster.

• The unit to be vacated is an affordable housing unit restricted by deed or covenant to be affordable to lower-income households.

• The unit was built after February 1, 1995.

As detailed in the ordinance, the relocation payments are required to be equal to two times the citywide average small-area, fair-market rents established by the Housing Authority of the City of Long Beach, up to a maximum of $4,500.

If a relocation payment is triggered by a tenant leaving due to a 10 percent or greater increase in rent, then the tenant must notify the landlord of their intent to stay in the unit at the increased rent within 14 days. If they do not, they must vacate the unit and the landlord must pay the first half of the relocation assistance with 24 days of the receipt of the initial notice by the tenant, and the remaining half within five days of the tenant moving out.

If the relocation payment is required due to rehabilitation of the tenant’s unit, or in the case of a tenant in good standing being given a notice or non-renewal or notice to vacate by the landlord, then the landlord must pay the first half of the required relocation assistance within 10 days of the notice and the remaining half within five days of the tenant moving out.

Information regarding the Ordinance has been previously made available to the general public, tenants and landlords through the Department of Development Services website, notices, mailers and email blasts. For more information, including the full ordinance and required forms, visit: www.longbeach.gov/lbds/hn/tenant-assistance-policies.

Media inquiries can be directed to Rick de la Torre, Long Beach Development Services, 562.570.7174 or Richard.delaTorre@longbeach.gov.