LOS ANGELES - In the three years since Los Angeles banned landlords from harassing tenants and made violating the rules a criminal offense, more than 13,000 complaints alleging harassment have been filed with the housing department. About two dozen of those cases were referred by the department to the city attorney’s office. So far, four fines are pending and no cases have been criminally prosecuted.
When it was approved in 2021, Los Angeles’ Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance was touted as a breakthrough for renters’ rights. At a time of rapidly rising housing costs, the rules were meant to protect tenants from being threatened or intimidated by landlords — a tactic advocates say is sometimes used to push people out of rent-controlled homes.
But tenant advocates say harassment has continued largely unchecked in the three years since the law passed, with tenants regularly reporting that their landlords resort to intimidation, illegal eviction notices, threats, lockouts and other actions meant to make their living situations difficult to bear. The thousands of complaints and lack of prosecutions since 2021 are further evidence that the law is weak and needs to be strengthened, advocates say.