There’s no place like home… and we’re committed to making sure you get to stay in yours.
SMRR's prime focus is protecting you in your apartment. State-mandated "vacancy decontrol" eroded your housing security by giving your landlord a tremendous economic incentive to replace you. New tenants pay much higher "market rate" rent.
Your SMRR City Council majority began hearing horror stories from renters harassed in new ways, and with new persistence, to create "voluntary" vacancies. In response, we passed a stronger tenant harassment law in May. Then, as part of June's budget, we hired an additional enforcement attorney for our Consumer Affairs and Fair Housing Division.
Our new law was forged with tremendous help from SMRR's housing committee and invaluable input from our Rent Control Board. It adds protections against malicious actions intended to annoy, harass or vex tenants out of their homes. We strengthened requirements that landlords provide contracted or legally required amenities and services, and gave you the right to demand a written receipt for cash payments of rent.
Working with the City Attorney and Legal Aid lawyers we clarified language to make it easier for tenants to prevail in court, while sheltering you from retaliation. The new law clearly states that judgments are to be made on the "preponderance of evidence," an easier requirement for renters to meet than the "clear and convincing evidence" standard some unsympathetic judges had been demanding.
If you feel you're being harassed, call Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights NOW at (310) 394-0848. You can file a complaint with the City Attorney at (310) 458-8336. Your SMRR Councilmembers and twenty years of SMRR tenant advocacy stand behind you.