LA County Supervisors voted on Tuesday, Sept. 27, to extend eviction protections for commercial tenants in the county and “limited renter protections” for residential tenants through Jan. 31, 2022. The protections apply to properties located in unincorporated Los Angeles County.
In a newsletter to constituents, Third District Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s office wrote that, “in compliance with current state law, LA County does not have the authority to extend non-payment of rent protections to residential tenants. That authority lies with the state government.” Residential tenant protections were to expire on Sept. 30—Kuehl wrote she did not expect the state to extend the deadline past that date, but “residential tenants who fell behind in their rent during the pandemic may be eligible for non-payment of rent protection provided they apply to the state rent relief program.”
However, the Tuesday decision does extend protections for non-payment of rent on commercial properties in unincorporated LA County.
Supervisor Hilda Solis was quoted in the email from Kuehl as a co-sponsor of Kuehl’s motion extending protections.
“While our temporary emergency protections are for only certain matters where we are not preempted by the State of California, this motion will allow us to provide robust harassment protections to keep our families safe and to give them peace of mind,” Solis said. “This pandemic has not affected everyone equally and to that end, I am focused on meeting the needs of our community to stabilize households and mitigate the detrimental effects of disruptive displacements across the county.”