Compiled By Dawn Anastasi, RPA Board Member

Los Angeles, CA -- Delinquent tenants in the greater Los Angeles market owe an estimated $1 billion in unpaid back rent as the city enforces new renter protections. Los Angeles extended a prohibition on evicting tenants for having unauthorized pets or occupants in their apartments. In addition, it renewed a rent freeze on rent-controlled apartments until next year. Landlords are no longer allowed to evict tenants in any rental property, including single-family homes, unless there was unpaid rent, documented lease violations, owner move-ins or other specific reasons. The provision starts after six months or when a lease expires, whichever comes first.

California landlords, who have sued local governments over eviction laws, say there is no longer any pandemic justification for many renter protections, according to the Journal. In some cases, landlords say, tenants have taken advantage of the laws as an excuse to not pay, straining small operators who may own only one or a handful of units.

Read the full article here.

Detroit, MI -- A proposed ordinance seeks to end the ability for an owner end a tenancy when they want to sell the property or plan a major renovation. “Selling the property or doing a major renovation, those are not just cause in the sense a tenant has done anything wrong,” said Julia Belian, law professor at University of Detroit Mercy.

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DeKalb County, GA -- A U.S. Army officer says a squatter moved into her DeKalb County home while she was serving on active duty, and now she can’t have him evicted. 

“He’s not a tenant. He’s a squatter,” Lt. Colonel Dahlia Daure said. She was renting out her metro Atlanta home, but after a $35,000 renovation, she put it up for sale. “I got a cash offer. It was under contract,” she said. That’s when Daure says Vincent Simon apparently moved in.

This week she served Simon with eviction papers, but he has a right to respond and have the case heard by a judge. Channel 2 Action News learned that Simon has a long criminal history, including convictions for guns, drugs and theft charges. Daure saw him moving giant safes into the house. Gray went to the home multiple times to try to talk to Simon. He never answered the door.

Read the full article here.

Jacksonville, FL -- Co-owners Patti Peeples and Dawn Tiura said they believe the squatting began in March, a short time after a tenant moved out. According to the police report, one of the women said they found the property on Zillow and signed a rental lease. On Tuesday morning the squatters were finally evicted from the home.

Now the owners are filing criminal charges. ″This has been a 40-plus day process that we have been unable to take repossession of a home that we own by squatters who broke in and inhabited our home and then destroyed it,” Peeples said.

Peeples and Tiura said they estimate about $15,000 to $20,000 worth of damages, from holes in the walls, ripped-out cabinets, dish-washing machine damage and even a stolen washer and dryer.

Read the full article here.