Landlords

Although most landlords in Glendale will be much more likely to firebomb their own properties than submit to any kind of mandatory rent control, there are some fairly painless ways to increase the amount of Section 8 stock in the city. Many people think the reason why landlords refuse to accept HUD is because it doesn't pay much. This is not the case. The actual reasons are a little more complicated, but easy to remedy. In order to receive a Section 8 subsidy, landlords are required to grant three things to a prospective tenant: relocation assistance, if necessary; something called "just-cause" eviction; and regular on-site property inspections performed by an outside agency.

Joshua Pelzer The fate of the city's just-cause eviction ordinance enters its next stage Thursday when a subcommittee, set up to fix the law protecting tenants from retaliatory evictions, delivers its recommendations to the full group. The four-member subcommittee, made up equally of landlord and tenant advocates and working under the Rental Housing Issues Working Committee, could not agree whether the ordinance should be repealed, but it if is not, it will add one new proposal to its list of recommendations to improve the law. It is sending several issues back to the full body for further discussion because the subcommittee members could not agree.

Karen S. Kim A proposed rent-control charter amendment that supporters want to put to Glendale voters could be in violation of a state law that allows landlords to raise rents after a tenant moves out. The Costa-Hawkins bill, pushed aggressively by landlords and signed into law in 1995, requires cities operating under rent control in California allow rents of rent-controlled apartments to be raised to market levels...

Gretchen Hoffman If amendments to the city's just-cause eviction ordinance are approved as proposed, the city's landlords could find themselves footing the bill for some tenants' relocations. The suggested changes would also give property owners an out -- rental units would be exempt from the ordinance as long as landlords offered in good faith a lease of at least a year to prospective tenants. The amended ordinance was presented at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

I just can't believe Roberta Gutierrez. Every letter she writes is so full of hate and spite toward landlords and other readers. Obviously, she stands to lose a great deal if this rent-control measure fails. She must have once been paying really low rent. I have my own views on some of the propaganda she has been pouring out. First of all, she should really learn to discern the difference between monopolistic or oligopolistic commodities like power and gasoline.

Tenant/landlord disputes can be resolved amicably I have been watching and waiting to see the next step in the ongoing tenant battle with landlords that has been "percolating" under the watchful prodding of Councilman Yousefian. Now we have finally arrived at the crux of the matter. Failing to coerce landlords into falling into line over rent control, we have a new plan fostered by an accomplice named Ken Carlson, landlord-tenant attorney, in conjunction with another group, the Glendale Housing Crisis Forum.

Glendale needs rent control Today, we are living in a recession — everyone tries to cut their expenses as much as possible. However, they cannot do anything about their major monthly expense — the rent. Rent control is a law practiced in some cities. It limits the increase of rents and protects tenants from eviction. Some cities in California, such as Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills have rent control, but, unfortunately in Glendale, there is no rent control.

A writer to the News-Press recently called for "compromise" between tenants and landlords. As an FYI to that writer, years of compromise have, to date, favored the landlord contingent. That road has been littered with broken promises and excessive increases during hard economic times. Tenants are tired of being treated like second-class citizens. Tenants are tired of committees whose members are inevitably weighted in favor of landlords due to meeting times/locations that inherently conflict with the majority of tenants' work schedules.

CITY HALL — City staff announced Monday that they plan to meet with property management companies this summer after they received complaints about landlords who rented parking spaces to non-tenants and about the lack of parking in the city. They will set up forums with property management companies to discuss the pros and cons of parking in Glendale, said Alan Loomis, the city’s principal urban designer. “Essentially, the issue in multifamily zones has to do with a sort of separation between how the parking spaces are rented relative to the [total]

Alex Coolman CITY HALL --The city has released its latest list of property owners who are so delinquent in their utility payments they may soon face service cutoffs. The five-name list features landlords who owe between $400 and $6,000 on master meter accounts with the city. Master meters are single utility meters that record energy use for several units, and their bills are typically paid by a landlord. Since 1998, Glendale officials have taken what city spokesman Ritch Wells called a "get-tough" approach when those bills are left unpaid.