Santa Monica Extends Rent Eviction Moratorium For Residents

SANTA MONICA, CA — Santa Monica city officials announced Tuesday that the city's eviction moratoriums are extended to Jan. 31 amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The city's twenty-ninth supplement comes as additional restrictions are implemented in response to the rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise across Los Angeles County, including temporary closure of outdoor dining.

“As we head into this winter season, we remain committed to supporting our residents and local businesses in every way that we can,” Interim City Manager and Director of Emergency Services Lane Dilg said in a news release. “This extension of our eviction moratoriums will keep Santa Monicans safe in their homes and provide small businesses needed assurance to make it through the last months of the pandemic, as we look to vaccination and recovery, now clearly visible on the horizon in 2021.”

To continue to protect residents from losing their housing due to the effects of a COVID-19 impact and assist small businesses, many of whose operations are subject to increased limitations due to the recent surge in COVID-19, the twenty-ninth supplement does the following:

• Extends to January 31, 2021, the moratorium on evictions of residential tenants for reasons other than nonpayment of rent.
• Extends to January 31, 2021, the moratorium on evictions of commercial tenant 1s (as defined in the Fifth Revised First Supplement, and explained in this press release) for nonpayment of rent. For rent due after September 30, 2020, the moratorium on eviction generally will apply only if the commercial tenant 1 pays 50% of the rent. There are, however, two exceptions to this payment requirement:
  1. For periods in which the County’s Safer at Home Order requires a commercial tenant 1’s business to remain closed; and
  2. For restaurants and retailers, for periods in which the County’s Safer at Home Order restricts them solely to curbside pickup and delivery.

During periods when either of these exceptions applies, commercial tenant 1s are not required to pay any rent to remain subject to the moratorium on eviction.

• Extends to January 31, 2021, the authorization for expanded temporary curbside pickup zones.

Additionally, the twenty-ninth supplement suspends late payment penalties through March 31, 2021, for unpaid or delinquent Transient Occupancy Taxes collected by hotels and others for periods beginning on or after November 1, 2020. An earlier suspension of such penalties expired as of June 30, 2020. The supplement also authorizes the Housing Commission to meet to review and make recommendations regarding updates to the City’s Housing Element.