In recent years, some Southern California cities have tried a new approach to softening the blow of large rent hikes. When landlords raised rents beyond what tenants could afford, cities required them to give those tenants thousands of dollars in relocation assistance.
But that strategy had one major problem. According to recent court decisions, it was illegal.
Following legal victories by landlord groups, the cities of L.A. and Pasadena have deleted guidance about those relocation payments from their websites and officials are no longer enforcing the requirement.
Whitney Prout, who works on legal affairs for the California Apartment Association, said the landlord advocacy group successfully argued that Pasadena’s requirement illegally imposed heavy costs on landlords who raised rents to levels allowed by state law…