Housing officials say now that owners have to clean ashes, contradicting previous guidance

Los Angeles housing officials explained that, according to the law, the owners – not the tenants – are responsible for cleaning the potentially toxic ash Fires last month.

The new guidelines contradict the previous statements of the director of application of the city code, who said that the tenants were on the hook for decontamination of the areas of their own units.

Lawyers for housing rights have stated that they are happy to see the city officials a reverse course.

“We feel that it was always clear in the law that an owner must offer a safe and habitable house to a tenant,” said Sarah Rogozen, lawyer with public counselor. “We were surprised by the initial position that it should be the tenant’s responsibility to make this expensive, toxic cleaning inside their rent.”

Uncertainty let the tenants feel trapped

For weeks, the Laist has asked local officials to delimit the rights of the tenants and the owner’s responsibilities around the post-focal cleaning problem in the rental houses. Some owners refused to arrange the professional removal of the ash. The tenants were told to clean up units.

Some were told by their owners that their own Leasing is now completed.

Uncertainty has left many tenants unable to return to the houses that have been standing but covered in soot and debris that Public Health Officials said It is likely to contain lead, asbestos and other harmful substances to human health.

Now, the Department of Housing in LA has confirmed that the city will keep the owners legally responsible for the removal of the ash.

“The owners must remedy dangerous ashes in the rental units,” said the department spokesman Sharon Sandow, in a statement. “The owners must maintain safe and habitable rental units, without dangerous materials and scraps, including ash.”

Sandow said the department based on the statement on A provision in the state of the state This says that rental homes are considered subordinate if it contains any condition that “endangers life, limbs, health, property, safety or well -being of the occupants of the building.”

In accordance with the law of the state, the owners must retain their habitable properties to collect the rent from tenants. Although the law of the state does not make any specific mention about the ash from wild fires, the housing officials say that the owners who refuse to remove the toxic debris violates this requirement.

What did the town officials of the city say

The updated position of the department is in contrast to the statements of Robert Galardi, the director of the operations to apply the department at Housing. It was joined An online meeting of February 7 Hosted by the Pacific Palisades Community Council to answer questions from residents whose properties were left after the Palisades fire.

The Thracian Park of the Municipal Councilor represents the neighborhood and led the discussion in the online meeting. Asking Galardi about the rental properties that survived the fire, she said: “Who is responsible for cleaning and remedying individual units, halls and common areas?”

Galardi replied: “For the cleaning and decontamination inside the rental unit, it will be the responsibility of the resident or the tenant. For the common area, the halls, the exterior and the reasons for the property, we will make the owner of the property responsible. “

Laistor addressed Galardi to ask if his previous statement was wrong and if his interpretation of the law has changed. I have not received an answer.

Fred Sutton, a spokesman for the California apartment association, an owner’s advocacy group, refused to comment on the city’s updated guidance.

Are changes in the state law required?

Pasadena housing officials they told the tenants Near the combustion areas, which local codes do not mention the ash, and the city cannot force the owners to address the problem. Lisa Derderian, the city’s spokesman, did not answer the Laist’s questions about why local housing officials for the two cities interpret the law of the state.

Rogozen, the lawyer of the public counselor, said that the lack of clear standards regarding post-focal cleaning shows that state parliamentarians should consider explaining the requirements more explicitly.

“This is confused, when the owners and tenants do not know who is responsible for what,” she said. “It is very important for everyone to know where they are, especially for something as great as this one.”

Rogozen said that if the owners refuse to clean the contamination related to the fire, the tenants in LA can file complaints with local agents responding to violations of health, construction and safety.