Tag Archives: Common Interest Development

Landlord & Tenant Law

What is the Ellis Act?

The Ellis Act is a California law that allows landlords to get out of the rental business by taking their rental units off the market. The Ellis Act prohibits local governments from requiring a landlord to continue to rent apartment units, although local governments could enact regulations to control how landlords do so. Generally, the Ellis Act is invoked when a rental property will be sold as individual condominiums (condo conversions) or if the rental property will be destroyed and built into a new development.

It is important to note that a landlord who invokes the Ellis Act to evict tenants must do so genuinely. A landlord would be subject to civil liability, including punitive damages, if he attempts to evict low paying tenants under the Ellis Act and then rerent the property.

The City of Los Angeles provides a framework for landlords and developers to invoke the Ellis Act in order to evict tenants. It is a long process that can take longer than one year to complete. Landlords and developers interested in starting an eviction under the Ellis Act must do so as early as possible.

The process begins by filing a Notice of Intent to Withdraw Units from Rental Housing with the Los Angeles Housing Department. Then, a landlord must file with the County Recorder a document summarizing the non-confidential provisions of the Notice of Intent. Within five days of filing the Notice of Intent, a landlord must serve all tenants the Notice of Pending Withdrawal. 

Tenants are entitled a 120 Day Notice from the date the Notice of Intent was filed with the Los Angeles Housing Department. However, senior citizen tenants (age 62+) and disabled tenants are allowed to remain in a unit under the same terms for up to one year.

This summary provides a very brief introduction to the Ellis Act within the City of Los Angeles as the procedures can sometimes be a little more complicated and time consuming.

The City of Los Angeles Housing Department has a bulletin that provides information regarding Ellis Act evictions that can be found here, Procedures for Withdrawing Occupied Units from the Rental Housing Market.

Please contact Attorney Anthony Marinaccio if you have questions regarding an eviction under the Ellis Act or if you are interested in pursuing such an eviction at (818) 839-5220.

Real Estate

Commercial and Industrial Common Interest Developments Treated Differently From Residential Developments

Recently, the California Legislature enacted SB 752, entitled “Commercial and Industrial Common Interest Developments.” Effective January 1, 2014, commercial and industrial common interest developments are treated differently from residential CIDs. Prior to 2014, commercial and industrial CIDs were treated the same as residential CIDs under the Davis-Stirling Act. Although many of the provisions in the Commercial and Industrial Common Interest Development Act (Civil Code Section 6580, et seq.) are similar to those found in the Davis-Stirling Act, there are some significant changes that are tailored to commercial and industrial developments.

Who Does it Apply to? 

The Commercial and Industrial Common Interest Development Act (the “Act”) applies to a common interest development that is limited to commercial and/or industrial uses by law or recorded CC&Rs. If a common interest development includes both commercial and residential uses, the Davis-Stirling Act would still apply. It would apply to commercial or industrial common interest developments going forward even if they were formed prior to 2014.

What are Some of the Changes? 

Under the Act, many of the disclosures required under the Davis-Stirling Act have been removed. For example, there is no requirement for a commercial common interest development to provide disclosures of a budget or financial documents to members or prospective purchasers of a unit.

Further, owners within a commercial common interest development do not have the statutory right to request alternative dispute resolution if a dispute arises under the common interest development’s governing documents.

The law addressing amendments to the CC&Rs has also changed. A commercial or industrial common interest development cannot seek a court order allowing a majority of voters to approve an issue when a super majority is required, although it would be allowed to do so if it were a residential common interest development. However, most of the provisions regarding amending the governing documents are similar to those found in the Davis-Stirling Act.

Commercial or industrial common interest developments are also not required to follow the Open Meeting Act (Civil Code Section 1363.05) although an open meeting is still required to make amendments to the governing documents.  Further, certain provisions of the Corporations Code still apply to meetings held by a commercial or industrial common interest development.

Liability insurance requirements have also grown. A development with 100 or fewer units must maintain at least 2 million dollars in liability insurance, while a development with over 100 units must maintain at least 3 million dollars in liability insurance.

What About Old Governing Documents or Prior Acts? 

Commercial or industrial common interest developments would still be regulated by their governing documents; however, many governing documents will contain language that would be required under the new Act. The Act does not invalidate any developments’ actions taken prior to 2014. In order to update governing documents to applicable law by referencing new statutes, a common interest development is allowed to revise its CC&Rs to make correct references to the Act and public law without approval by members.

For commercial or industrial common interest developments, it may be wise to review governing documents to determine if any revisions are necessary under the Act. Because the Act is less demanding than the Davis-Stirling Act, a commercial or industrial common interest development may also want to remove certain provisions in their CC&Rs that would not be required under the Act.