Santa Barbara Council Hears Chorus of Renoviction Blues

Several tenants at the 52-unit apartment complex at 215 Bath Street took their fears about an imminent renoviction by the property’s new owner, the Koto Group, to the City Council this Tuesday, asking, begging, demanding, and pleading for the council to take action. Specifically, they asked the council to pass an ordinance making it illegal for landlords to harass and intimidate tenants by barraging them with incomplete and misleading notices regarding the expiration of their leases. 

Koto managers have mailed out six such notices to tenants whose leases have expired, informing tenants they had 30 days to move out. The notices conspicuously failed to include key language required by the city’s Just Cause Eviction ordinance. For example, tenants being evicted through no fault of their own must be given two months’ notice, not 30 days. In addition, an eviction notice must also include the information that the tenants being evicted are eligible for relocation assistance from the landlords equal to two months’ rent. And lastly, the Koto notices failed to include any of the four possible explanations for the eviction deemed legally acceptable by the city’s ordinance. 

According to Councilmember Michael Jordan, who knocked on doors at the apartment complex this past weekend, passing out flyers in English and Spanish notifying the occupants of their rights and resources available to them, the City Attorney’s office put Koto on notice that their eviction notices do not pass legal muster. According to Jordan, Koto agreed to withdraw the notifications. Koto’s James Knapp recalled the sequence of events differently. “We proactively reached out to the City Attorney, and prior to any discussions, we withdrew our notices to five tenants.” Knapp added, “There was never a threat, instead a very cordial cooperative conversation and email.” 

Knapp and Koto took possession of the property — built around 1930 — on September 1, having purchased the property for $16 million. Based on the company’s online advertising, Koto intends to transform the property into offsite student housing. In prior communications, Knapp noted that the company was required by its insurer to replace the existing — and ancient — electrical system. Tenants on Tuesday said they were notified that major plumbing work would also be required. Councilmembers were asked to pass an ordinance giving tenants displaced by such renovation work the right of first refusal whether to return and to limit rent increases they could be charged upon resuming their residency to no more than 10 percent, the maximum annual increase allowed currently under state law. Because the discussion took place during the council’s public comment period for un-agendized matters, councilmembers have been instructed not to respond to commenters.