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A decision by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week to forgive property tax fines for landlords impacted by the county’s eviction moratorium was invited by the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles yet it could be too little, too late for many property owners.
The apartment association was “extremely supportive” of the decision and any type of other assistance that the county can provide after 2 years of ‘challenging rent collections’ and also financial stress, Executive Director of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles Dan Yukelson informed The Epoch Times in an e-mail.
“It is a shame it took the county more than two years to just realize that when revenue collection is nonexistent or restricted that property owners just might be challenged to pay property taxes, mortgages and a multitude of other necessary expenses,” Yukelson said.
A motion unanimously carried by the County’s Board of Supervisors March 15 cancels real estate tax penalties, interest, costs, and fees for property owners who did not get rent because of the county’s COVID-era eviction moratorium.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger, that co-sponsored the activity with Supervisor Janice Hahn, applauded the board’s approval on Twitter.
“#COVID19 relief shouldn’t be their burden to bear,” Barger wrote on Twitter on March 15.
After listening to lots of property owners repetitively testify regarding the monetary toll of the pandemic panic, Barger said in a statement the county could not “in good conscience” balance COVID-19 relief on the backs of residential or commercial property proprietors.
Hahn additionally claimed on Twitter the eviction halt kept individuals from losing their living situation but property managers were forced to carry the burden.
“While it is not within our authority to waive people’s property taxes, we can waive their late fees,” Hahn wrote on Twitter on March 15.
The motion was submitted responding to the board’s approval in January of an extension of an eviction postponement as well as renter securities through 2023.
Next off, the county will reach out to landlords and share details concerning exactly how to request the tax alleviation.
For some building proprietors, it might be far too late, said Yukelson, the house association’s executive supervisor.
“While finally eliminating penalties is helpful to many housing providers, this is merely a drop in the bucket for those who have lost thousands of dollars or in a worse case have lost their property,” Yukelson said.
Over 2 years right into the pandemic, some smaller landlords have lost thousands of dollars and some have already lost their properties, according to Yukelson.
“What the county should have done to really help would have been to give owners a tax holiday just like the rent holiday it shoved down the throats of its rental property owners,” Yukelson said.
H/T The Epoch Times
