> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Landlords say laws restricting rent rates getting out of control - URL: https://www.smdp.com/see-grounded-page-6-landlords-say-laws-restricting-rent-rates-getting-out-of-control/ - Published: 2004-09-15T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T05:03:58.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Real Estate & Housing, Montana, #archive-import *Landlords take action to raise rents* *By GENEVA WHITMARSH Daily Press Staff Writer* MONTANA AVENUE — Many tenants who once relied on rent control are now earning substantially more money and wrongly benefiting from low-cost housing, a group of local landlords told City Council hopefuls. About 50 landlords attended the Action Apartment Association’s candidate forum Monday at Roosevelt Elementary School, many telling the five candidates on hand that they should have the “right to choose” their tenants. The association represents some 1,000 landlords, most of them in Santa Monica. The association is currently suing City Hall to have its 25-year-old rent control law invalidated. Santa Monicans for Renters Rights-backed incumbent Ken Genser argued that residents should have “security in home” and shouldn’t be kicked out of their apartments simply because they’d moved up an income bracket. Genser cited census statistics that show the demographics of the neighborhoods remained the same from 1980 to 1990\. That means that the idea of a person driving a Bentley and living in a low-income area is a myth, he said. Some of the landlords argued that there is no way to know whether rent-control tenants are hiding a portion of their income in order to make it appear as though they’re eligible for lower cost housing. “Rent control is not a perfect system,” candidate and City Councilman Michael Feinstein said. “It does not put need and availability together, but the system before it wasn’t perfect either. It’s a difficult formula to decide who lives where. “The problem is that trying to fix it has so many more problems, such as the government in your bank account.” Candidates also in attendance were incumbent Herb Katz, as well as newcomers Matt Dinolfo and Jonathan Mann. Katz, who has long been in opposition to SMRR, received a warm welcome from several landlords when he arrived at the forum. Dinolfo said he supports renters’ rights. “I may not agree with you, but I’m here to be a part of the process,” he told the audience. Mann said he could relate to both landlords and tenants, as he eventually bought the apartment building he was a renter in for many years. “I lived for 13 years (on Euclid Street),” he said. “I couldn’t afford to buy a house. In my case, the landlord had a choice to rent to me or others, but he chose me because I agreed to make improvements to the place. “The way (the landlord) got around rent control was renting to Section 8 tenants,” Mann continued. “So I was surrounded by pimps, drug dealers and wife-beaters. My next-door neighbor was a child molester who had AIDS.” Mann’s comments drew laughter from the crowd. The Action Apartment Association’s lawsuit to invalidate the current rent control law is based on two recent landlord victories, one for oil companies in Hawaii, the other for landowners at mobile home parks in Cotati, Calif. Both lawsuits were based on landlord claims that rent-control laws violated their constitutional rights. There are some 30,800 rent-controlled units in Santa Monica, according to officials at the Rent Control Board. Despite being targeted in the legislation, leaders of the rent-control movement believe they may benefit from any fallout it causes in the community. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 15, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091504.pdf?ref=smdp.com)