NO MORE EQ PASS-THROUGHS FOR YOU When the Northridge earthquake rumbled through Santa Monica in January 1994, it had a sobering effect on the Rent Board and for a short time they acted like a reasonable government agency instead of a radical tenant organization. However, that policy did not last long, as this Story explains below. Immediately following the earthquake, the Rent Board adopted Regulation 4113 to permit "short form" rent increase petitions called "Q-Petitions." These "Q-Petitions" permitted property owners to seek rent increases to repair earthquake damage to comply with retrofitting requirements for "soft story" buildings which the City adopted within a few months following the earthquake. Regulation 4113 also permitted consideration of financing costs and interest payments incurred to make the capital improvements. Unfortunately, this era of good feelings and reasonable government came to an end on June 30, 1995, which was approximately a year and one-half after the earthquake. The second era of earthquake rent increase petitions began on August 1, 1995 when the Board adopted Regulation 4113B. This Regulation only permitted consideration of retrofitting costs that were mandated by the City in Ordinances 1748 and 1771; no repairs were allowed. This new rent increase process had the following features: First, the owner/petitioner could only claim HALF the expenses that were incurred. Second, the expenses were amortized over 20 years. Third, no financing costs were allowed. Finally, the Board required a that owners pay a "filing fee" of $100 to $200 depending upon the size of the building. Those of you who have reviewed the Rent Control Law might have noticed that there are no provisions for the Board to charge any type of "filing fee." Rent Control Law Section 1803 (f)(15) authorizes the Board to, "Charge and collect registration fees, including penalties for late payments." Additionally, Rent Control Law, Section 1803 (n) permits the Board to borrow money. It states, "The Board is also empowered to request and receive funding when and if necessary from any available source for its reasonable and necessary expenses." The Board's Staff cited Rent Control Law Section 1803 (n) when it borrowed money from the and City to certify rent levels under the Petris Act in 1987. However, the Board's Legal Staff decided to misinterpret that Section of the Law to justify charging property owners rent increase petition filing fees, although those "fees" are definitely a "charge" not a " request." In any event, the Board adopted "petition filing fees" after the Board's Senior Attorney informed the Board that Section 1803 (n) authorized the Board to create and collect those fees. Of course, the Board's Senior Attorney was lying when she said that Section 1803 (n) authorized petition filing fees, so I will let you in on a secret which will enable you to tell if the Board's Senior Attorney is lying or not; her lips are moving when she tells a lie. Returning to the subject of City mandated earthquake retrofitting requirements, on June 15, 1999; the City adopted Ordinance No. CCS 1945, which are the most comprehensive and expensive earthquake requirements yet devised. You may not have noticed this because the requirements don't arise unless the City Building Officer determines that it applies to your building or your building is "structurally altered or otherwise remodeled." When you become one of those lucky property owners, you will end up spending thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to comply with those codes. To add further insult to your injury the City Council added Ordinance Section 4.36.100 which requires that you pay for Santa Monica Hotel/Motel rooms for your tenants and, "The landlord shall pay the full cost of this accommodation and also provide the tenant with vouchers for food, laundry and pet accommodations." And once you pay the cost of complying with the latest and most expensive building codes, you will soon find that the Rent Control Board will not accept an earthquake petition based upon Ordinance No. 1945 CCS. It never updated its Regulations and it will not permit a rent increase petition to be based upon those later and more expensive requirements. I found out about the Board's new policy when Dr. Devenis paid his $200 filing fee and filed Petition S-0059 on January 22, 2001. The Board's administrator decided that no rent increases could be granted because the work was based upon the new Ordinance requirements and the Board upheld her determinations at the Rent Board meeting of June 7, 2001. (Although the Rent Control Law requires that the Board render final decisions within 120 days of the date a rent increase petition is filed, it took those idiots more than 4 months just to dismiss the petition.) Then to add further insult to injury, they wouldn't even return Dr. DV's $200 filing fee. They are truly a bunch of crooks and/or jerks (even when their lips aren't moving). And if you don't believe it, go to the Rent Board and read Rent Board Story S-0059. Or, if you remain a Santa Monica landlord long enough, they will come and prove it to you. 
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