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# Eviction notice: Tenants receive bump in benefits
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/eviction-notice-tenants-receive-bump-in-benefits/
- Published: 2004-07-19T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:44:41.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Real Estate & Housing, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*New law increases level of benefits and makes them available to more tenants*

CITY HALL — Any renters sent packing so their landlords can turn apartments into condominiums must be paid thousands of dollars for the inconvenience, according to recent changes in local rent law.

Relocation money, as it’s called, had been limited to low-income renters since 1993\. It also had been kept between $3,000 and $5,500, depending on apartment size. Under the recent changes, $4,400 to $8,050 is now available to all tenants, regardless of earnings.

An additional $1,000 is available to senior citizens, disabled people and those with minor children in residence, if they’ve lived in their units since 1999.

The changes were made to help evicted tenants find housing in an increasingly expensive market-place. They also are expected to ease workloads at City Hall, where lawyers were given the time-consuming task of determining who fell under the low-income umbrella.

City Hall most recently put the following upper limits on the low-income designation: $33,000 for a one-person household; $38,100 for a two-person household; $42,850 for a three-person household; and $47,600 for a four-person household, said Tracy Condon, a spokeswoman for City Hall’s Rent Control Board.

The City Council first voted in June to make the benefits available to all renters, regardless of income. Council members affirmed that vote at a second reading last week. This sets up the law to become effective in the middle of August.

> “Such disputes are often legally complex and fact-intensive,”

> “Removing the low-income requirement would eliminate the issue of tenants’ income and thereby allow staff to spend more time on other housing and consumer issues.” — reads a June report prepared by staffers at City Hall

Higher relocation amounts, on the other hand, already are in place. Because they are governed by resolution, and not law, they were increased immediately after the June vote, Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky said. Radinsky heads a special consumer protection unit at City Hall and frequently prosecutes landlords under the city’s tenant harassment ordinance.

Local landlord attorney Rosario Perry, often at odds with City Hall, accused elected leaders of being unfair by raising rates dramatically.

“They claim they’ve increased the relocation fees based on CPI (the Consumer Price Index),” Perry said. “However, in the same comparable period of time, the rent board has only increased rent by about one-tenth of the amount. Clearly, their relocation fees are meant to be punitive and, more importantly, they’re meant to discourage owners from attempting to use their property.”

As to extending relocation money to all tenants, regardless of income, Perry said it will be used to benefit rich tenants who use their units as second homes.

“What financial (help) does a millionaire need who’s leaving an apartment that he probably spends no more than two or three months in a year anyway?” Perry asked. “Probably, the owner who wants to move in is being financially harmed greater than the tenant. But, like everything the city does related to rent control, it’s done regardless of financial need and rather done simply to encourage their political support.”

Landlords can evict tenants in order to turn their apartment buildings into condominiums under a 1986 law called the Ellis Act. Relocation money originally was available to all renters, but City Hall changed that law in response to a 1992 California Court of Appeals ruling that said only low-income tenants were entitled to the benefits. In January of 2004, the state broadened the law to apply once again to all renters.

Though initially there was an influx of Ellis applications after the law was passed, officials said those filings have fallen off sharply. Many of the initial filings were related to landlords moving into their buildings, while most current applications have to do with tear-downs, officials added.

So far this year, 70 apartments have been taken off the housing market under the Ellis Act, Condon said. That’s compared to 75 units in 2003, 92 units in 2002, 114 units in 2001, 210 units in 2000 and 126 units in 1999.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 19, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071904.pdf?ref=smdp.com)