Calabasas residents call for rent control

Some say landlords also
overcharged on utilities
By Michael Picarella
pic@theacorn.com

Amid concerns about the increasingly high cost of living, Calabasas is contemplating rent control.

Local apartment tenants support the action, and say landlords are now trying to charge them higher water bills to compensate.

Over the summer, the Calabasas City Council adopted an ordinance requiring registration for all rental properties in the city. Staff personnel will examine all statistics gathered during the registration process, including rent costs, and determine if tenants are paying too much and if the increases in their rents are unfair.

Rent controls might be put into place, officials said.

The city has more than 1,300 apartments.

At the city council meeting last week, several renters from the Malibu Canyon Apartments at 5758 North Las Virgenes Road protested that they were being over-charged for water. They also said they felt uncomfortable sending their bills to a third-party company in Florida to pay for the utility.

Some residents reportedly had to pay flat rates even though their consumption was low.

"I can leave town for two weeks and come back and my water bill is the same as it was if I was there 30 days," said Margaret Moore, an apartment resident.

According to Tara Bannister, executive director of California Apartment Association in Los Angeles, the water billing procedure is common and is based on the number of tenants and number of bedrooms per unit.

Calabasas City Councilmember James Bozajian said he hopes apartment landlords aren’t using the billing as a response to the city’s rental registration program.

Malibu Canyon resident Anthony Pecoraro formed a Calabasas advocacy group to fight for tenants’ rights.

"... That a tenant receives a 13 percent increase in rent in the

past 12 months, yet has to endure a leaky roof in this torrential rain is simply unacceptable," Pecoraro said in an e-mail to The Acorn.

Pecoraro said he received assurances from Terry Considine, CEO and chairman of the board of Malibu Canyon Apartments, that these and other matters would be matters would be resolved immediately.

During discussion of the rental registration ordinance last summer, Mayor Pro Tem Barry Groveman said he wanted to make sure that both renters and landlords are treated equally.

"It’s got to be a fair process," Groveman said.

Local renters might soon expect to see a renters’ bill of rights, according to Groveman. In addition to such a document, Los Angeles also has rent control.