An appeals court has upheld the legality of a 2007 City of Los Angeles ordinance, which to the chagrin of the Apartment Association of Los Angeles County enforces rent-control regulations on multi-family units constructed on land where the demolition of a rent-controlled building had occurred within the preceding five years. The apartment association argued that the new ordinance “impliedly repealed” a 1995 law called the Costa-Hawkins Act, which exempted newly constructed buildings from local rent control ordinances. The court said the two laws were not in conflict because Costa-Hawkins expressly spells out the fact that it does not eliminate the right of localities or other legally empowered entities to regulate or monitor the reasons for evictions, while the more-recently enacted law was written to prevent evictions motivated solely by the desire of apartment owners to rid themselves of rent-controlled units. Thom Senzee
