No Hearing Set For Hearing on Measure H Injunction – Yet

A spokesperson for the California Apartment Association told Pasadena Now on Monday that as of now there is no scheduled court date on a lawsuit filed last week against a local rent control measure.

Last week the CAA filed a lawsuit claiming that Measure H is invalid. According to the CAA, the initiative is invalid because it nearly doubles the length of the charter and effectively restructures the city government with the creation of an independent rent board. 

“In so doing, the measure fundamentally changes the city charter and effects a so-called “charter revision,” the lawsuit claims. 

Charter amendments may be proposed by citizens’ initiatives like Measure H – but under the state constitution, charter revisions can only be put forward by the City Council or a charter review commission. 

“There is no hearing date as of yet,” said Mike Nemeth with the CAA. 

The lawsuit claims that several provisions of the new law are illegal, including relocation assistance.

Under the measure, owners of rent-control-exempt units would need to pay relocation assistance to tenants who choose to vacate after receiving a rent increase more than 5% above the limit for rent-controlled units.

 Measure H limits annual increases for qualifying units to 75% of CPI. 

According to a statement by the CAA, the relocation assistance requirement will almost exclusively affect owners of units protected from local

 rent control under the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. 

The lawsuit claims the relocation assistance requirement penalizes owners who exercise their rights under Costa-Hawkins, creating an invalid restriction on those rights.

A Measure H organizer would not comment on Monday and referred back to a Friday statement.

“I am not surprised that the CAA and individual landlords have filed a suit against the measure. They were our main opponents during the election, and have a business interest in avoiding any type of regulation,” said Jane Panangaden. “They also have a great deal of money – collected in the form of outrageously high rents from their tenants – to spend on lawsuits. The suit consists of several unrelated points. It seems to me like they are taking the approach of throwing everything at the wall and seeing if anything sticks. “

Panangaden said her main concern is whether an injunction will be granted, which, depending on its scope, could delay the rent rollback or eviction protections and possibly put tenants at risk. 

“Landlords may try to evict tenants in order to avoid the rent regulations. If this happens, we will likely call on the city council to implement some temporary protections similar to what they did in the fall of 2019 to prevent an eviction wave in the months preceding the effective date of AB1482,” she said.  

Voters approved initiatives aimed at protecting tenants in Santa Monica and Richmond, Ca. and Portland, Maine. Voters in Orange County, Florida also passed a rent stabilization measure, but a court ruling has stalled its implementation.

Opponents of rent control initiatives say rent control initiatives force increased costs on mom-and-pop landlords.