(Amended by Ord. No. 188,131, Eff. 3/8/24.)
No Landlord shall evict or endeavor to evict, in each case upon the grounds of non-payment of rent, any tenant who meets each of the following four criteria: (1) between September 19, 2023 and October 31, 2023 (2023 ULA ERAP), an application for residential rental assistance from the City of Los Angeles United to House Los Angeles Emergency Renters Assistance Program (“ULA ERAP”) was filed with the Department; (2) the tenant has rental arrears accumulated between October 1, 2021 and January 31, 2023; (3) on or prior to May 31, 2024, the tenant is approved by the Los Angeles Housing Department for residential rental assistance from ULA ERAP and the rental assistance payment has not been disbursed to the Landlord yet; and (4) the eviction or default is based on solely nonpayment of rent. Nothing in this section prohibits any eviction, effort to evict, or notice of eviction on any grounds other than nonpayment of rent, all of which grounds are permitted, including those grounds specified in Section 151.09 A.2. through 14., or Section 165.03 B. through N. of this Code. Notwithstanding Section 165.04(A), the protections of this section shall apply to tenants of rental units subject to the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (“RSO”) and to tenants of rental units not subject to the RSO.
In any action by a Landlord to recover possession of residential real property, the Tenant may raise as an affirmative defense the provisions of, or the failure of the Landlord to comply with, this section. The protections of this section shall be retroactive and to the extent permitted by applicable law a tenant may assert a Landlord’s failure to comply with this section as a defense in any action to recover possession of real residential property filed before February 7, 2024, as well as in any such action filed on or after said date. The Los Angeles Housing Department shall encumber and approve release of all rental assistance payments due under the 2023 ULA ERAP on or before June 1, 2024, whereupon the provisions of this Section 165.11 shall terminate and be of no further force or effect.