Home Page
  • Home
  • Get A Quote
    • Bonds
    • Business & Commercial
    • Commercial Auto Insurance
    • Workers Compensation
  • Blog
  • Make a Payment
  • Resources
    • Secure File Area
    • Refer a Friend
    • Important Links
    • Free Reports
    • Insurance Glossary
  • About Us
    • About Bridge Business Insurance Solution
    • Our Locations
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
postheader postheader postheader postheader postheader postheader
Home > Blog > LA renters and apartment owners responsible for earthquake upgrades
MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016

LA renters and apartment owners responsible for earthquake upgrades

Some Los Angeles apartment owners and renters will see their expenses rise in the coming years.

Confronted with a possible catastrophic loss of life following a Southern California earthquake, Los Angeles City Hall backed a law Wednesday requiring building owners and tenants to equally split the cost of seismic upgrades to thousands of residential units.

The sweeping law calls for a cap on rent hikes of $38 a month while the improvements are done over a 10-year period for an estimated 13,700 soft-story buildings. It can cost $3,000 to $10,000 to seismically retrofit an apartment unit, building experts say.

The ordinance applies to all pre-1978 wood-frame residential buildings with four or more units. Lawmakers want the retrofits completed within the next decade.

With Los Angeles at risk for a massive earthquake in the next 30 years, officials contend the law is urgently needed.

The City Council action comes 22 years after the Northridge earthquake, which destroyed about 200 soft-story apartment buildings. Sixteen people died at the Northridge Meadows apartment complex in the quake, the biggest concentration of deaths in the city.

 

Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo said the ordinance ensures the city’s low-rent housing stock, typically older buildings, are safe.

“One temblor could wipe out our affordable housing stock,” Cedillo said.

Several California cities already require retrofitting of wooden soft-story buildings, defined as structures that have an open parking or commercial space on the bottom.

“Dingbat” buildings, an architectural style seen in the San Fernando Valley and other parts of the city, are considered soft-story structures. The buildings are vulnerable because the wooden poles can topple during an earthquake.

City lawmakers last year ordered seismic upgrades to soft-story buildings, but Wednesday’s law clarifies who pays for the retrofit costs, an issue that’s divided tenants and building owners.

Neither side expressed satisfaction at Wednesday’s outcome.

While the law caps renters from paying more than $38 a month extra for the upgrades, Larry Gross, executive director for the Coalition for Economic Survival, said the increase will still hurt renters.

“Tenants may get a safer unit but will be saddled with a rent hike they can’t afford,” he said.

 

Property owners must apply for permits and then have 31/2 years to complete the upgrades.

Jim Clarke, executive vice president of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, questioned whether Southern California has enough qualified certified engineers to do the necessary work.

He also worried about price gouging by contractors or engineers.

The U.S. Geological Society last year stated California has a 7 percent chance of experiencing an 8.0-magnitude earthquake or greater. Previously, the risk was 4.7 percent.

 

The largest number of soft-story apartment buildings are in the Valley, Gross said. He also said that 99 percent of the apartment units affected by the new law are rent-controlled.

by

Reach the author at dakota.smith@dailynews.com or follow Dakota on Twitter: @dakotacdsmith.


Posted 10:59 PM

Share |


No Comments


Post a Comment
Required
Required (Not Displayed)
Required


All comments are moderated and stripped of HTML.

NOTICE: This blog and website are made available by the publisher for educational and informational purposes only. It is not be used as a substitute for competent insurance, legal, or tax advice from a licensed professional in your state. By using this blog site you understand that there is no broker client relationship between you and the blog and website publisher.
Blog Archive
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015

  • bbis inc(52)
  • work comp(50)
  • xmod(35)
  • workers' compensation(29)
  • bridge business insurance solutions(28)
  • rate(24)
  • shin simon yang(23)
  • wcirb(22)
  • experience modifications(20)
  • workers compensation(19)
  • experience modification(15)
  • bridge business insurance solution(13)
  • certified advisor(9)
  • work comp certified adviser(9)
  • classification(9)
  • covid(8)
  • work safety(7)
  • bbis corporation(6)
  • 19(6)
  • lower(5)
  • shin yang(4)
  • bbis corp(4)
  • california(3)
  • fraud(3)
  • claim(3)
  • bond(3)
  • corona(3)
  • osha(3)
  • contractor bond(3)
  • covid-19(2)
  • sb1159(2)
  • exclusion(2)
  • independent contractor(2)
  • sb 1159(2)
  • reporting(2)
  • auto repair(2)
  • sub contractor(2)
  • handyman(2)
  • contractor's bond(2)
  • bridge buisiness insurance solutions(2)
  • class code(2)
  • prevention(2)
  • subcontractor(2)
  • bbis(2)
  • dir(2)
  • advisor(1)
  • document(1)
  • meal delivery(1)
  • adviser(1)
  • protection(1)

View Mobile Version
 
  • Employers
  • Amtrust
  • State Compensation Insurance Fund
  • Guard Insurance Companies
  • Hartford
  • Allstate
 

HOME PAGE ABOUT US GET A QUOTE REFER A FRIEND CONTACT US

Mailing Address | 24307 Magic Mountain Pkwy. Suite 534 | Valencia, CA. 91355 | 213.605.1348

Logo

 
Powered by Insurance Website Builder