LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced today the launch of the Rental Housing Habitability Program (RHHP). Starting in November, inspections will begin to all rental housing properties with two or more rental housing units, and tenant-occupied single-family homes in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.
The goal of RHHP is to ensure that rental housing properties and units in the unincorporated areas of the County are meeting state and county safety codes so that occupants can be safe.
The RHHP will work with tenants and landlords to inspect each rental housing unit once every four years. For these routine inspections, a 30-day notice is sent to the rental property owner/landlord informing them that the property and units will be inspected on a specific day or range of dates, depending on the number of rental units on the property. The landlord is required to post these notices in conspicuous places on the property, so tenants are aware of the upcoming inspection date.
Within 24-hours of a scheduled routine inspection, the landlord is required to provide each tenant a written notice reminding them of the scheduled routine inspection and the need for the inspector to enter the rental housing unit to complete the inspection. RHHP will also respond to complaints about rental housing units.
Public Health will prioritize the inspection of rental properties that have a history of repeated habitability violations. The 30-day notices of inspection for the prioritized properties will be sent in October.
To learn more about rental housing and tenant protections, visit DCBA’s website: https://dcba.lacounty.gov/.
To operate the RHHP, the landlord will be charged an annual program fee of $86 per rental housing unit that will be billed as part of the rental housing property’s annual property tax. The RHHP permits the landlord to pass through 50% of this fee ($3.58 per month) to the tenant.
Details: ph.lacounty.gov/rhhp