LAHD's Enforced SCEP Program and Tenants Rights

If you are a tenant in an apartment building with more then two units, in the City of Los Angeles, you will sooner or later have to deal with the inspectors of the LAHD (Los Angeles Housing Department), if you want to or not.

Before I'll get into what SCEP (Systematic Code Enforcement Program) is according to the Los Angeles Housing Department, this is how it will effect you as a tenant, no matter where you reside, how nice and luxuries your building is, or how much rent you pay. Even if no complains from tenants were ever filed and you live in a highly maintained building.

At some point you will be "ordered to provide entry" to your apartment at any date or time the LAHD feels fit, for a "thorough inspection" of every room in your apartment.

Of course they schedule this "inspection" during business or work hours. If you can't take a day off (like most of us) to be present during this "inspection" you will just have to trust a complete stranger going through every room in your apartment. If you do not comply with the "orders" of the LAHD who are apparently authorized ("the LAHD is authorized to enter to conduct such an inspection") to invade your privacy, with no probable cause what so ever, you will be exposed to threats and harassment by the inspectors and the City.

Here are some of the reasons most tenants, in geographic areas with no substandard living conditions, have a problem with the LAHD's SCEP program.

1. If the SPEC program was adapted by the Commissioners of Affordable Housing with the specific mission..... "To identify and facilitate the abatement of physical conditions and characteristics of substandard and unsanitary residential buildings and dwelling units which render them unfit or unsafe for human occupancy and habitation, and which conditions and characteristics are such as to be detrimental to or jeopardize the health, safety and welfare of their occupants and of the public"....... why is the LAHD wasting their own resources and our tax dollars, to "inspect" luxury rental units in Sherman Oaks?

(Members of the City Counsel and the LAHD please feel free to answer any of these question)

2. Most tenants who can afford to reside in Sherman Oaks, especially South of the freeway, or South of the Boulevard, and other upscale neighborhoods in the city, have full time jobs. The LAHD will give you two options. One, you take a day off work to be present during the thorough inspection of your apartment, two, you allow a complete stranger in your apartment and hope for the best. Well, I guess the word "allow" is not appropriate since apparently the LAHD is "authorized" to enter your apartment. You might be paying the rent but the LAHD can enter whenever they please if you believe their threats.

3. Would it not be much easier to inspect a unit prior to the unit is occupied? Some people have a lot of furniture and clutter. How can you even conduct a proper inspection in a fully furnished apartment. Also, I have been living in my current apartment for the last six years and never had an inspection. I guess LAHD doesn't really care if, for example, you lived in a substandard dwelling for six years, with no hot water, full of roaches, surrounded by toxic paint and mold. Wouldn't you think if an LAHD inspector find any deficiencies that these are much easier to correct prior to a tenant moving in? Why bother tenants, why invade their privacy, why force tenants of an entire complex to take a day off? If you really have to inspect every rental unit in the City, do it before the units are rented and occupied. Show some consideration. Believe it or not, tenants of a rental unit have the same right to privacy as any other person residing in Los Angeles.

4. You might think.... What in the hell are these inspectors looking for in an area and in buildings you will not find substandard living condition? Maybe they are checking the pH and Chlorine levels in our all-year-around heated junior Olympic size swimming pool, just to make sure that our health is not jeopardized. Or maybe they just want to make sure that our Internet Access is running fast enough, or more important, that our TV cable will actually deliver high definition images, after all we just spend six grand replacing all our televisions to HDTV flat screens. Or maybe they just want to make sure that the Italian marble in the kitchen and bathrooms is actually Italian as advertised in the rental brochure. We have all kinds of important issues. Here is a list of what the Los Angeles Housing Department's Systematic Code Enforcement Program considers deficiencies and what the LAHD's inspectors are looking for;

• Lack of proper maintenance or unsanitary conditions in a building or on its premises, including any infestation of termites, roaches, rodent or other such nuisance conditions. (News flash.... if we as tenants, in our class of building, even see one ant walking around, we are on the phone with the building manager, or building owner and it is taken care of ASAP. This might chock the LAHD but our living standards are of such that we don't enjoy living with roaches or rodents.)


• Deteriorated or defective interior walls, ceilings, floors or floor covering. (Probably another chocker to the LAHD, but we actually look around at apartments prior to signing a rental agreement. I think we are capable to asses holes in the walls, water damage, or dirty carpets. And guess what, we have a choice, and when I see and talk to people in my building they are really not interested living in a shithole.)


• Broken or missing windows, window screens. (You really have to be kidding now, I'm not even going to respond to that.)


• Lack of quick-release mechanisms on security bars over sleeping room windows. (Security bars? Last time I checked I'm not living in the hood. We have security gates, video cameras, alarm systems, and, or, security guards. The LAHD might want to look in to that, very efficient concept.)


• Defective, missing or improperly installed smoke detectors. (In most of the newer buildings we have residential fire sprinklers and alarm systems. The LAHD inspectors are not qualified to inspect these systems. Older buildings will have the standard smoke detectors and by simple pushing a button on each unit it will signal you if the unit is operational. Yes the LAHD inspectors are qualified to inspect those unit. I have just been pushing buttons on my computer's keyboard, about fifty times a minute, but the LAHD must think that I'm retarded and not able to check a smoke detector. In addition these inspectors must think that I rather listen to irritating loud beeps every 30 seconds, 24 hours a day, instead of simply replacing a little back-up battery on a smoke detector.)


• Lack of required light, ventilation, required minimum floor area, or required ceiling height in a habitable room. (I guess the LAHD does not trust their own building inspectors, are those not items inspected during the design and construction process of a residential building. Maybe not. I have seen a lot of living rooms in my area who are only 5'10" high. Maybe those apartments are especially build for little people. Right!)


• Defective or missing required light fixtures, electrical outlets, switches, etc. or exposed/unsafe electrical wiring. (Outlets, switches, light fixtures.... are these inspectors actually closed interior designers because I do have some lighting questions.)


• Deteriorated, leaking, or missing plumbing items. Lack of required hot water. Lack of required heat. (I know by now you must be thinking that this is all a big joke, and you are right. Does the LAHD really think that any tenant paying $2,000 and more in monthly rent would even remotely accept any problems with plumbing, heat, or hot water? One start wondering what the education requirements are at the LAHD)


• Any unapproved use, unapproved occupancy, an addition, alteration, or improvements made without approval. (You are killing me. Has anybody at the LAHD ever read a lease or rental agreement of apartment units which are rented for more then $400 a month? Unapproved occupancy.... I have a three bedroom unit, if I have guests staying for more then two weeks I have to get approval from the landlord. If I put a nail in the wall, the repairs will be deducted from my deposit. Forget about painting anything. I can't put plants on the wooden floors, I can't hang plants from the ceiling, there is a whole list of what I can't do. I'm not complaining because I accepted the terms set forward in my rental agreement. And you guys are talking about additions and alterations? Give me a break.)

To quote John Wayne.... "This is ri-god-damn-diculous." I'm not trying to make fun of the LAHD because they actually have some great programs. This SCEP program was put in place to make sure that tenants in affordable housing are not living in substandard conditions or being taken advantage of by slum lords.

Slum housing is characterized by overcrowded conditions and substandard living conditions: from peeling lead paint to mold-covered ceilings to cockroach and rat infested bedrooms. The poorest and most vulnerable of our neighbors, live in substandard conditions. African Americans and Latinos disproportionately live in slum housing. Deliberate neglect by slumlords creates these unhealthy environments for their tenants. Disappointedly, tenants generally have little recourse and conversely, slumlords profit by their practice of neglect. Gentrification and weak tenant rights have created an environment for slumlords to spin their buildings into millions of dollars of profit while our children get sicker and are forced to live in the most horrendous housing conditions reflective of the worst barrios in the Third World. Many of the city’s worst neighborhoods and slum housing tracts are within walking distance of the rapidly gentrifying downtown LA neighborhoods. THAT IS WHY THE SCEP PROGRAM WAS PUT IN PLACE.

Mercedes Marquez, General Manager of the LAHD and in charge of the SCEP program and LA counsel members should really reevaluate if just simply inspecting every rental unit in Los Angeles is productive. It almost looks that they have tunnel vision.... we need inspect all rental unit, ..... we need to inspect all rental units,.... we don't care what the reason is,.... we need to inspect all rental units.

Bottom line. We are fortunate enough that we can live wherever we want. I don't need inspectors. Let them assist the tenants in Los Angeles who need their assistance instead of wasting time inspecting high rent apartment units.

ALL COMMENTS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED. FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS BLOG TO YOUR FRIENDS.