Rent Control

For the second time in three years, Californians will vote on a measure to curb powers of eminent domain -- but this time the proposal will include a provision to phase out rent control in the state. The Secretary of State on Wednesday qualified the initiative for the June ballot after certifying that the 1.1 million signatures submitted on petitions met state requirements. The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act would bar state and local agencies from using eminent domain to force the sale of private property, including homes, for use by private developers.

Having toiled in machine shops during World War II and worked for decades in other manual jobs, 84-year-old Mary Kubancik felt entitled to live out her years in a pleasant mobile home park in Sylmar. Instead, the frail Kubancik is preparing to move out after 19 years. Her $919 monthly Social Security check won't cover her essentials and the $702 that her mobile home space will cost when the latest double-digit increase takes effect in April.

Question: I have lived in the upstairs unit of my L.A. duplex for 30 years. It has never been rented. Is there an exemption from rent control for my unit if I decide to lease it out? Answer: The unit will be covered by the rent control ordinance if you lease it out. Since the duplex is 30 years old, it does not qualify for the city's new construction exemption, which covers residential rentals issued their first Certificate of Occupancy after Oct. 1, 1978.

Ballot proposition numbers should be retired like athlete jersey numbers. No. 3 -- Babe Ruth. No. 42 -- Jackie Robinson. Proposition 13 -- property tax relief. Proposition 98 -- school funding guarantees. Hall of Famers all. But lately it has gotten confusing with the ballot props. Because the state Legislature has refused to retire proposition numbers -- the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. tried with No. 13, but Democrats refused -- we now have a new and strange Prop. 98.

Eminent domain has become big business -- for the ballot measure industry. Californians rejected an initiative two years ago that purported to protect property owners from government land grabs, but on closer inspection turned out to be an attempt to sweep away the state's environmental protection and zoning laws.

Prop. 98 on the June 3 ballot asks voters to decide whether the state should restrict government agencies from using powers of eminent domain to force the sale of properties for use in private development, as well as whether to phase out rent control in California. A competing measure on the same ballot, Prop. 99, would prohibit government agencies from using eminent domain to take owner-occupied homes. It does not address rent control.

Question: I recently moved in with my girlfriend in Los Angeles. Her landlord informed her that with me as an additional tenant, the rent will go up 10%. I have lived in L.A. for years and have never heard of this. The apartment manager said it's the law. Is this right? Or is this just the landlord coming up with a way to make a little more money? Answer: Under Los Angeles' rent control ordinance, owners generally are allowed to charge 10% extra for each additional resident.

WITH apologies to David Letterman, the Top Five reasons why landlords hate rent control are: No. 1. As private citizens, they believe they shouldn't be forced to do government's job of providing low-cost housing. No. 2. In few sectors of private enterprise does a city tell a business how much it may charge. No. 3. Rent-control buildings sell for less, even in high-rolling realty days. No. 4.

DON'T let the Hollywood lights blind you: Los Angeles is a city of renters, and without rent control, the workers who keep the city running couldn't afford to live here, tenant advocates insist. Frail but feisty, 79-year-old Doris McKendall could be the poster child for the rent-control cause. She lives on $851 a month from Social Security and pays $653 for a rent-controlled one-bedroom apartment a few blocks west of La Cienega Boulevard. When she moved there in 1984, the rent was around $400.

Question: Can the new owner of a five-unit apartment building under Los Angeles' rent control ordinance raise rents to market after many years of below-market rates? Although both my mother and I are on the deed, she did all the management of the property and didn't raise the rents for years. Now that I am managing the building, I want to get the rents up. She recently passed away. Is that considered a change of ownership?