• 0
  • Home
  • About Us
  • What We Do

Shopping Cart

GPAM
  • Home
  • About Us
  • What We Do

LA to double sewer fees, which most landlords can’t pass on to tenants

Landlords in Los Angeles are about to get whacked with double sewer fees.

The City Council has voted 11-4 to double the fees over the next four years, despite the objections of business groups who say landlords will be disproportionately affected, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Councilmembers Monica Rodriguez, Kevin de León, Imelda Padilla and Heather Hutt voted against the rate hike.

“This sounds like a jam job,” De León said of the rate hike process.

The increase was trumpeted by the Bureau of Sanitation to fund the rising cost of construction and materials. The bureau said that labor costs will rise 24 percent over five years because of worker pay raises backed by Mayor Karen Bass and the council.

Bass’ proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 depended on the rate hikes. Rodriguez told the council that the higher fees were “baked into the budget,” and called for an independent analysis from the city’s Office of Public Accountability.

Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, chair of the Energy and Environment Committee, urged the council to support the increase — the first since 2020, when the council sidelined discussion of higher fees because of the pandemic.

“Unfortunately, this is one of those situations where we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place,” said Yaroslavsky, who called the fee raise “not insignificant.”

The city will notify 850,000 parcel owners about the rate increase: if most object, the hike fails because they’re considered a property use fee under Prop. 218, according to officials.

Under the increase, the bimonthly sewer charge for a typical single-family home will increase to $92.04 in October, from $75.40, according to sanitation officials. By July 2028, the rate would rise to $155.48, more than double the current rate.

For apartment buildings with four units or less, the typical charge will rise to $177 in October, from $145, and $299 in July 2028.

For buildings with five units or more, typical rates would go up to $1,047.84 in October, from $858.40, and to $1,770.08 by July 2028.

Landlords whose units are rent-controlled, meaning most of the city’s apartments, generally can’t pass on water costs, which are linked to sewer costs, to their tenants, according to city officials.

Before the council vote, business groups accused the city of failing to properly explain the need for the fee increases.

Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, also called the fee hikes “rushed.” He accused officials of failing to do enough public outreach.

“This is the wrong way to do something that increases rates so drastically,” Waldman told the Times.

Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, said landlords were barred from raising rents for several years because of the pandemic, while facing other rising costs.

“Such an increase on this massive scale will prove to be yet another straw that breaks the back of the city’s rental housing providers,” Yukelson told the Times. “There’s no end in sight for such a mismanaged city with its bloated salary and overall cost structure, wasted resources and insatiable appetite to seek new and higher taxes and impose significantly higher fees on ratepayers.”

— Dana Bartholomew

Read more

Los Angeles


Not just Sun Belt syndicators: LA apartment owners feel debt pain
Not just Sun Belt syndicators: LA apartment owners feel debt pain

Los Angeles


City of LA to study who qualifies as mom-and-pop landlords
City of LA to study who qualifies as mom-and-pop landlords

Los Angeles


LA landlords white-knuckle rent freeze on controlled units
LA landlords white-knuckle rent freeze on controlled units

The post LA to double sewer fees, which most landlords can’t pass on to tenants appeared first on The Real Deal.

Powered by WPeMatico

  • 19 May 2024
  • The Real Deal
  • Uncategorized
  •  Like
Vitruvian eyes 27 apartments in Hollywood to replace commercial building →← LA County property value poised to reach record $2T
  • Recent Posts

    • Hoteliers sound the alarm on looming distress  May 24, 2025
    • Growth markets see retail boom even with tariff uncertainty May 24, 2025
    • Westchester resi project gets city OK after union drops objection May 23, 2025
    • WATCH: ‘Father of CMBS’ Ethan Penner to run for governor of California May 23, 2025
    • Fashion Island office fetches $756 psf May 23, 2025
  • Recent Comments

    • Archives

      • May 2025
      • April 2025
      • March 2025
      • February 2025
      • January 2025
      • December 2024
      • November 2024
      • October 2024
      • September 2024
      • August 2024
      • July 2024
      • June 2024
      • May 2024
      • April 2024
      • March 2024
      • February 2024
      • January 2024
      • December 2023
      • February 2023
      • January 2023
      • December 2022
      • November 2022
      • October 2022
      • September 2022
      • August 2022
      • July 2022
      • June 2022
      • May 2022
      • April 2022
      • March 2022
      • February 2022
      • January 2022
      • December 2021
      • November 2021
      • October 2021
      • September 2021
      • August 2021
      • July 2021
      • June 2021
      • May 2021
      • April 2021
      • March 2021
      • February 2021
      • January 2021
      • December 2020
      • November 2020
      • October 2020
      • September 2020
      • August 2020
      • July 2020
      • June 2020
      • May 2020
      • April 2020
      • March 2020
      • February 2020
      • January 2020
      • December 2019
      • November 2019
      • October 2019
      • September 2019
      • August 2019
      • July 2019
      • June 2019
      • May 2019
      • April 2019
      • March 2019
      • February 2019
      • January 2019
      • December 2018
      • November 2018
      • October 2018
      • September 2018
      • August 2018
      • July 2018
      • June 2018
      • May 2018
      • April 2018
      • March 2018
      • February 2018
      • January 2018
      • December 2017
    • Global Property and Asset Mangement, Inc.
      137 North Larchmont
      Los Angeles, California 90010
      +1 213-427-1127

    © 2025 GPAM