Pasadena Rental Board Proposes Anti-Harassment Regulations To Protect Tenants

The Pasadena Rental Housing Board is poised to adopt comprehensive regulations that would strengthen protections for tenants against harassment and retaliation by landlords, following voter approval of rent stabilization measures more than two years ago.

The proposed Chapter 11 regulations will be presented by Helen Morales, Executive Director of the Rent Stabilization Department when the Pasadena Rental Housing Board meets on Thursday. They would implement provisions of the Fair and Equitable Housing City Charter Amendment that Pasadena voters approved in November 2022.

The regulations explicitly prohibit landlords from retaliating against tenants who exercise their rights under the City Charter amendment, including organizing with other tenants or filing complaints about unsafe living conditions.

“No Landlord may threaten to bring, or bring, an action to recover possession, cause the Tenant to quit the Rental Unit involuntarily, serve any Written Notice to Cease or notice of termination of tenancy, decrease any services, interfere with the Tenant’s quiet enjoyment of the Rental Unit and common areas, or increase the Rent where the Landlord’s dominant motive is retaliation against the Tenant for the Tenant’s assertion or exercise of rights under Article XVIII,” the proposed regulations said.

The rules would create a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if a landlord takes adverse action against a tenant within 12 months after the tenant has exercised protected rights under the City Charter amendment.

Protected tenant activities would include requesting repairs, filing complaints about housing code violations, organizing with other tenants, and requesting reasonable accommodations as authorized by federal or state law.

The anti-harassment provisions would prohibit landlords from violating tenants’ right to quiet enjoyment, failing to perform necessary repairs, abusing the right of access to rental units, or violating tenants’ right to privacy.

For example, landlords would be barred from photographing portions of rental units beyond the scope of lawful inspections or misrepresenting information about tenant protections to coerce tenants to vacate.

The regulations would also prohibit discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, and other protected characteristics, as well as interference with tenants’ rights to organize and form tenant unions.

Remedies would include treating retaliation or harassment as a complete defense against eviction actions and setting civil penalties of at least three times actual damages or minimum damages of $1,000, whichever is greater, the proposed regulations said.

Additional damages of up to $5,000 could be imposed for violations committed against tenants who are disabled, elderly, or terminally ill, according to the proposed regulations.

The Pasadena City Council adopted a resolution certifying the results of the November 2022 election on Dec. 12, 2022, and the City Charter Amendment took effect on Dec. 22 that year.

The Board received information regarding federal and state law protections against harassment and retaliation last December, when they also considered a first draft of the regulations and received public comment.

The Rent Stabilization Department would be required to update its tenant rights notice to include information about the new protections if the Board adopts the regulations as recommended.

Claims of harassment or retaliation would be brought to court rather than addressed administratively, but the regulations would provide clear guidelines for courts evaluating such claims.

The regulations specify that any provision in a rental agreement that purports to waive a tenant’s right to these protections “shall be deemed to be against public policy and shall be void.”

If adopted, the regulations would go into effect immediately upon approval by the Pasadena Rental Housing Board.