The municipality of Torrance has backed a rent limit deal by the landlord of a mobile home park while rejecting a proposed rent stabilization ordinance favored by residents.
The City Council rejected the rent control ordinance in favor of a rent stabilization agreement proposed by the owner of Skyline Mobile Home Park at 2550 Pacific Coast Highway, the Torrance Daily Breeze reported.
Residents of the 265-lot, senior-only mobile home park had urged the council to protect them from skyrocketing rents for more than a year.
The inland park was acquired by Saunders Property, based in Newport Beach, in October 2021. Since then, rents at Skyline have increased 15.9 percent, and will rise another 10 percent in January.
The first rent hike came as a result of a $625,000 increase in property tax to Saunders Property because of a land-value reassessment at the time of purchase, owner John Saunders had told residents.
Further raises, he said, will gradually bring rates up to what he says is market value. The increased rents, however, alarmed the park’s senior residents, who live on fixed incomes.
“I want to stay in Torrance, I love Torrance, but if these increases continue, I won’t be able to afford Torrance,” resident Bernice Rose said. “ I’m 85 years old, blind in one eye and can barely see out of the other. If I had to move somewhere else, I’d be crawling along the floor to find out where I’m going.”
In response to pressure from the City Council, which had considered a potential rent control ordinance since early this year, the landlord proposed a rent stabilization deal in August.
Saunders volunteered to apply the rent increase limits of state AB 1482 to the space rents at Skyline.
The statewide bill applies to rental units, not mobile home parks, and caps annual rent increases at 5 percent, plus the regional rate of inflation, for a total raise not to exceed 10 percent.
In September, the council supported this agreement over a rent control ordinance, saying it was a fair deal. But Councilman Asam Sheikh requested the city reconsider the decision, because of potential confusion over terms.
He proposed a rent stabilization ordinance with a 4 percent annual increase, plus inflation, for a total raise not to exceed 10 percent, including a provision to allow the owner to reset rents to market value with each change in tenancy.
The motion – supported by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi and L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn – failed to receive a second, and died without a council vote.
— Dana Bartholomew
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