Question: What is the Combined Bill?

Question: What is Rent Registration?

Answer: The Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO), Chapter XV of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, was enacted by City Council in 1978 and requires all property owners with qualifying residential rental units to register their units every year with the City of Los Angeles. The RSO restricts how much an owner can increase the rent each year (e.g., 5% through June 30, 2008 and 3% effective July 1, 2008), lists the 12 legal reasons for eviction, and establishes other laws relative to the renting of residential units.

Answer: The Systematic Code Enforcement Program (SCEP) was established by the City Council in 1998 to ensure that all residential rental properties with two (2) or more units on parcels within the City are safe and habitable. Inspectors from the Los Angeles Housing Department conduct thorough inspections once every three years, cite owners for any deficiencies of City and State codes, and conduct re-inspections to verify that corrective work has been done. For additional information regarding SCEP, please click here.

Question: What rental units are subject to Rent Registration?

Answer: All residential rental units in the City of Los Angeles, except for one-family dwellings that are the sole dwelling on a lot and units that qualify for any of the RENT exemptions in the following table. Units subject to Rent Registration include apartments, duplexes, and properties with multiple one-family dwellings; condominiums and town houses; mobile homes and mobile home pads; and rooms in a hotel, motel, rooming house, or boarding house occupied by the same tenant as a primary residence for more than 30 days.

Listed below is a list of the different types of unit exemptions or adjustments, the required documentation needed to substantiate these exemptions, and a list of exemptions that apply to RENT and/or SCEP. 

Question: What rental units are subject to the Systematic Code Enforcement Program (SCEP)?

Answer: All residential units in the City of Los Angeles, except for one-family dwellings that are the sole dwelling on a lot and units that qualify for any of the SCEP exemptions in the preceeding table. Units subject to SCEP include apartments, duplexes, dwelling groups, and residential hotels.

Question: Are guest rooms in hotels and rooming houses subject to Rent Registration and SCEP?

Answer: Guest rooms in both hotels and rooming houses that have been occupied continuously for more than 30 days by the same person as a primary residence are subject to Rent Registration. All guest rooms in rooming houses and in residential hotels are subject to SCEP. Residential hotels are those hotels where the majority of guest rooms are used or intended for use as the primary residence of their occupants.

Question: Why is it important to pay the Rent Registration and Systematic Code Enforcement Program (SCEP) fees?

Answer: Unless specifically exempted from Rent Registration, an owner cannot legally collect rent from a tenant unless the owner has paid the annual rent registration fee and served one copy of the Rent Registration Certificate on the tenant of the rental unit. Tenants can raise the non-payment of Rent Registration and/or SCEP fees by the owner as an affirmative defense againt eviction of the tenant.

Question: When can I expect my Rent Registration Certificate?

Answer: Certificates will be issued beginning in January of each year as units are registered and are valid through April 30th of the following year.

Question: How much is the Rent Registration fee, and how much is the SCEP fee?

Answer: The Rent Registration fee is $18.71 per unit and the SCEP fee is $35.52 per unit per year effective January 1, 2006. (Note: In 2005, the Rent Registration fee was $14.00 per unit per year and the SCEP fee was $27.24 per unit per year).

Question: When is the bill due?

Answer: The 2008 Annual Bill is due February 29, 2008. Payments made after February 29, 2008 are subject to “Late Fees”, and payments made after April 1, 2008 are subject to “Delinquent Fees.”

Question: How much are the “Late Fees” and “Delinquent Fees”?

Answer: Rent registration fees not paid by February 29, 2008 are considered late and are subject to a $14 Late Fee. Rent registration fees not paid by April 1, 2008 are considered delinquent and subject to a an additional $14 Delinquent Fee. For example, if an owner owes $18.71 regular rent registration but pays after April 1, 2008, after receiving a Delinquent Bill, he would need to pay $46.71 or $18.71 regular registration fee + $14 late fee + $14 delinquent fee in order to be current. SCEP fees not paid by February 29, 2008 are late and are subject to a 50% Late Fee. SCEP fees not paid by April 1, 2008 are delinquent and subject to a 100% Delinquent Fee. For example, if an owner owes $35.52 regular SCEP fee but pays after April 1, 2008 after receiving a Delinquent Bill, he would need to pay $88.80 or $35.52 regular SCEP + $17.76 late fee + $35.52 delinquent fee in order to be current.

The first Amount Due box on the bill is for regular fees only. The second Amount Due (after February 29, 2008) box is for regular fees plus late fees. The third Amount Due (after April 1, 2008) box is for regular plus late plus delinquent fees.

Question: What will happen if I do not pay the amount due?

Answer: Failure to pay the amount due may result in additional collection efforts, including referral to a private collection agency that reports to credit bureaus and/or the filing of a legal action against you by the City.

Question: Is the "Amount Due" on the bill the total amount that I owe the Housing Department?

Answer: Not necessarily. The 2008 Annual Bill is for current 2008 annual fees only. In order to find out if there are any outstanding fees owed from other years, please call the Billing and Collections Section at (213) 808-8900.

Question: Where can I go to pay my bill in person?

Answer: For those that receive their annual bills, we strongly encourage you to mail your payment along with the payment coupon to the Department's lockbox. However, if you decide to make your payment in person, you can go to any of the following Housing Department offices between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm:

3550 Wilshire Blvd, 15th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90010

6640 Van Nuys Blvd.
Van Nuys, CA 91405

3415 Sepulveda Blvd, Ste. 150
Los Angeles CA 90034

690 Knox Street #125
Los Angeles, CA 90502

2215 N. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90031

Question: Can I pass-through any of the fees to the tenant?

Answer: Yes.

Question: How can I collect the Rent Registration Fee pass-through?

Answer: A landlord may pass through 50% of this fee, of the annual $18.71 RSO Registration fee per rental unit - $9.35 - to the tenant occupying that unit as a lump sum surcharge payable during the month of June, provided the landlord has paid the RSO registration fee and given the tenant a 30-day written notice.

Question: How can I collect the SCEP pass-through?

Answer: A landlord may pass through 100% of the annual $35.52 SCEP fee per rental unit in the form of a monthly surcharge of $2.96 provided the landlord has paid the SCEP fee and given the tenant a thirty-day notice of the increase from the previous monthly surcharge amount.

Question: How do I claim an exemption?

Answer: Complete (front and back) and return the 2008 Annual Bill Coupon to claim an Owner Occupancy, Vacant, or Not Rented exemption. Complete and return an "Application to Claim Conditional Exemptions/Adjustments" to claim other types of exemptions. 

Question: Why must I tell the Housing Department every year that one unit is exempt if I live in that unit, i.e., one unit is Owner Occupied?

Answer: Most exemptions are considered temporary because they are subject to change (e.g., return of an Owner Occupied unit to the rental market, termination of project based assistance, etc.) and must therefore be reaffirmed annually.

Question: Why do I receive a bill every year when I have no rental units because the units are occupied by family members, used for storage, etc. ? (Note. This is a variation of Question C2 above.)

Answer: Please see Answer #C2 above.

Question: If you do not want to apply for an Owner Occupancy or not rented exemption every year or receive a bill every year, what can I do?

Answer: If you live in a unit and/or do not plan to rent out the unit, now or in the future, you can file to permanently remove your unit from the rental market. Please call the Billing and Collections Section at (213) 808-8900 to receive a copy of the memorandum form to withdraw the unit from rent. This form must be recorded with the Los Angeles County Recorder’s Office and submitted to the Los Angeles Housing Department.

Question: What should I do if I do not own the property?

Answer: Write on the payment coupon “Never owned this property” or “No longer own this property”; the name, address, and telephone # of the owner if known; the date the property was sold to the current owner if known; sign your name; and return mail the coupon in order to avoid further billing.

Question: What should I do if I believe the billing information on the bill is incorrect?

Answer: Make the necessary corrections on the payment coupon (front and back) and send the payment amount you believe is correct.

Question: What should I do if I own other rental property(ies) but did not receive a bill?

Answer: Call the Housing Department immediately at (213) 808-8900 to request a bill. Landlords are responsible for paying Rent Registration and SCEP fees on time regardless of whether they have received a bill or not.

Question: What should I do if I believe the Amount Due is zero because I have no rental units?

Answer: Return the amended payment coupon and documentation of your exemption to avoid additional billing.

Question: Why did the Late Fees and Delinquent Fees for SCEP increase but the Late and Delinquent Fees for Rent Registration remain the same?

Answer: By ordinance, the Late and Delinquent Fees for SCEP are based upon a percentage of the regular fees. As a result, when the regular fee for SCEP increased, the Late and Delinquent Fee for SCEP also increased. The Late and Delinquent fee for Rent Registration, however, are set at a flat rate.

Question: Why did I receive a bill for Rent Registration and/or SCEP fees in 2008 but not in prior years even though I have owned this property for several years?

Answer: Every year the Housing Department attempts to send bills to all property owners who own property that may be subject to the Rent Registration and/or SCEP Program. It is not uncommon for the Department to uncover additional properties to bill because of better property information and data analysis.

Question: Can I claim an exemption even if I do not have the required documentation information?

Answer: Although you may claim an exemption without the required information, you should have a good reason for doing so because all regular Rent Registration and SCEP fees owed but not paid by February 29, 2008 are subject to late and/or delinquent feees and all exemption claims are subject to review.

Question: Will I receive a "late bill" for regular fees and late fees?

Answer: No. Owners will not receive a late bill for regular fees and late fees. Owners who do not pay regular Rent Registration and SCEP fees by February 29, 2008 must pay late fees but will not receive a separate bill for these fees. (Owners who do not pay annual fees by April 1, 2008, however, will receive a Delinquent Bill that will include regular, late and delinquent fees.)