Supervisors Advance Protections to Prevent Small Businesses from Displacement in Unincorporated LA County

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LOS ANGELES —Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Sept. 1 approved a motion by Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell and Supervisor and Board Chair Hilda L. Solis to initiate the process for the county’s first Commercial Rental Property License for landlords in unincorporated Los Angeles County. The motion directs county departments to report back with a commercial licensing and reporting framework that would give the county, for the first time, a clearer picture of commercial rental conditions—including rents, vacancies and lease durations—while creating new tools to connect small businesses with assistance and hold commercial landlords accountable when violations occur.

The motion also directs county departments to develop additional protections for commercial tenants, including:

Relocation assistance for businesses displaced because of landlord violations of the county’s Commercial Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance;

A county commercial rent study to establish fair-market commercial rents by region and better understand the causes of small business displacement,

And greater transparency in the redevelopment process, including exploring notification requirements for affected commercial tenants.

Commercial property owners, small business owners and advocates helped inform the motion with their lived experiences.

Supervisor Mitchell emphasized during the Sept. 1 board meeting that the motion does not cap commercial rents, require landlords to provide copies of leases, or block redevelopment projects. Instead, it seeks to close gaps in existing state protections, improve the County’s ability to identify and assist vulnerable businesses, and create accountability when landlords violate existing tenant protections.

The County’s Commercial Rent Study is expected to be completed by December, this will inform the ordinance for the Commercial Rental Property License which is slated to be voted on by the Board in the beginning of 2027.