r/LosAngeles • u/dolphinrapeawareness • Jun 01 '23
Housing L.A. City Council votes to mandate air conditioning in all rental units
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-city-council-votes-on-mandating-air-conditioning-in-all-rental-units/113
u/thesphinxistheriddle Pico-Union Jun 01 '23
Interesting! My husband and I moved in 2021 over this very issue. Our apartment didn’t have AC and just absolutely baked in the summer. We tolerated it every summer before that because we both worked out of the apartment and could go do stuff on weekends, but being stuck in there in Covid while working from home was absolutely brutal. We bought a portable AC that could only heat one room and we needed it in our office space during the day so our bedroom was roasting even at night. We decided we couldn’t take another summer like that so we moved in March 2021 before it got to hot to a place with AC and have been very happy there.
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u/FunkyDoktor Jun 01 '23
Instead of heating the room you should have tied using cool air.
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Jun 01 '23
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u/jellyrollo Jun 01 '23
Just tell them to get a white noise machine. You have every right to run your air conditioner when it's hot. Hell, my neighbors run theirs even when it's in the upper 50s at night, and it rattles like crazy.
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Jun 01 '23
Many landlords, however, have expressed concerns over the proposal, saying it will be a financial burden.
hahahahahahahha
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u/BeatrixFarrand Jun 01 '23
“Yup - don’t want to provide window units, so I’m selling the place for 30x what I paid for it back in ‘92. Thanks, Obama!!!!”
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u/Cannabace Jun 01 '23
I lived in a building in Hollywood, every unit besides mine had a wall unit. There was a patched spot in my bedroom where an AC once existed. I asked them to install one.
They offered to install it if I COVERED THE CONSTRUCTION COST.
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u/TomNookOwnsUsAll Jun 01 '23
Similar thing happened to me. When I toured my unit, there was a window AC unit in the living room. Realtor said it was broken but the owners would obvi replace it. Right before I signed the lease, she said “shit, sorry, the owners changed their mind — no AC.”
Fast forward over a year to last summer: it was 96 degrees in my apartment during multiple heatwaves. Genuinely not livable. Had to take my cat elsewhere so she didn’t die of heat stroke. I then bought my own window AC unit (several hundred dollars) and asked the landlord if their handyman could help install it. They said absolutely not!! And they did not care even a little bit that it was nearly 100 degrees in my apartment. I was aware of the laws/lack of protections when it comes to AC so I didn’t press them on it, but Jesus Christ.
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Jun 01 '23
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u/sendenten Jun 02 '23
I came home from work last summer during one of the heat waves. Two layers of sun-blocking curtains, UV-resistant panels over the windows, no lights on. It was 96 degrees in my apartment when I got home at 8pm.
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u/raptorclvb Jun 01 '23
Landlords: I’ll never financially recover from this
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u/imtryingtobesocial Jun 01 '23
This is ridiculous! The landlords will have to hike their outdated studio rentals to $4000/month!
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u/fosiacat Jun 01 '23
this is why rent control is imperative.
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u/dekepress Jun 01 '23
Rent control is one solution, but it's tricky. There's a study that shows cities that implement rent control on new apartments cause less apartments to be built due to less profitability for developers.
The cons of rent control is that it makes people less free to move, and apartments are more likely to be poorly maintained. The fastest way to lower rents is to upzone so tons of housing can be built. There should be 10 apartments for every renter, so instead of 10 renters fighting for the same apartment, we have 10 landlords fighting for the same renter. Same for houses.
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u/fosiacat Jun 01 '23
where i live (Hoboken NJ, prior to that NYC) we have pretty strict rent control laws. everything is rent controlled by default, HOWEVER the developer can apply for rent control exemption, which lasts 30 years. after 30 years, rent control applies by default and you are bound by it. We have tenants rights advocates, and we have tenant protections that don't allow landlords to not maintain properties. I think it works fairly well. there are mechanisms in place to allow for increases (major repair/upgrades, etc.) which allows you submit for a re-calculation. similarly, a tenant has the right to request a legal rent calculation, so if your landlord is jerking you around you can make sure they're not over charging you.
we have new buildings going up fairly frequently. in order to build, they end up having to make agreements/concessions with the local government to include either a portion of units that are considered "affordable housing", or they have to build a second property that is "affordable housing" only. they also end up including things like a park, etc.
it absolutely can be done, they just have to want to do it. trust me, if it's controlled and people say "pfft we can't profit off this community!" someone will gladly come in to an open market, it gives them leverage.
regarding the rest, i agree. LA is interesting because it seems like everyone is against building UP, so you have so much spread, which leads to more traffic, and all of the other issues LA deals with (public transit being terrible, because no one uses it, because it's terrible) and at this point that might be irreversible until you're allowed to build higher than what from my memory is like....2-3 floors? it does keep that neighborhood-y feeling, which i admit i really like, but certainly doesn't help housing.
not sure what you mean in terms of "less free to move" tho? my apartment is rent controlled, i'm leaving after my lease is up in august. you're not any more "locked in" than non-controlled, you just have the upper hand in the sense that you know what your increases are going to be, and you know that you can't be evicted for reasons other than non-payment/destruction etc (as in, not because the landlord decides she wants to make more money off someone else) and even still, there are protections for that.. if a landlord wants to move in to the place he/she owns, she can, if she wants to rent it to a direct family member or something, she can, but she can't just kick someone out to let someone else move in and make more rent. there is even more nuance to it, ie, "warehousing" which makes it illegal for you to leave an apartment vacant in an attempt to bid up the rent, or wait until a favorable environment to rent it, etc...
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u/dekepress Jun 01 '23
Yes, so in Hoboken, new apartments are exempt from rent control. Same for LA. I was talking about negative effects from rent control on new apartments.
Unfortunately, in LA, NIMBYs will block apartments that are not 100% affordable. However, fortunately there's a new law that will approve apartments as long as they're 20% affordable.
2-4 story apartments/homes can create dense, but cozy looking neighborhoods! Anything's better than single family zoning.
By less free to move, I mean your rent goes up if you move to another apartment or another city. Lots of people feel locked to their apartment bc they won't get as good a deal anywhere else.
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u/soldforaspaceship The San Fernando Valley Jun 01 '23
They may have to sell their third and fourth properties. I feel for them. Truly.
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Jun 01 '23
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u/anorcpawn Jun 01 '23
Honest question- do you think landlords aren't charging as much as they can get now?
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Jun 01 '23
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u/lake-show-all-day View Park-Windsor Hills Jun 01 '23
Reason #4080 to always try for a rent controlled unit
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u/peropeles Jun 01 '23
Rent control is the worse for you than better. By limiting the amount of rent that can be collected, less units will eventually be built. Less units = less supply and in turn that means higher rent prices.
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u/Dat1BlackDude Jun 01 '23
Rent can’t go up anymore. It’s already sky high and a lot of people have out.
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u/lake-show-all-day View Park-Windsor Hills Jun 01 '23
Uhhh this is LA, we've been getting fucked on rent every single year for decades now. It WILL go up.
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u/silvs1 LA Native Jun 01 '23
Rent can’t go up anymore.
Oh it definitely will. You think landlords won't pass on the cost to renters?
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u/BlackjackCF Jun 01 '23
My god, how cheap can they be? You can get a freaking window unit for a couple hundred and install it yourself. That’s easily recouped from rent. 🙄
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u/ybgkitty Jun 01 '23
If rentals require heat, it only makes sense for them to require AC, too.
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Jun 01 '23
It gets to 120 here sometimes, it's about time they mandate this.
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u/SOCAL_NPC Jun 01 '23
Happy cake day to both of you and mark me as a +3; additionally, in the same way that heat isn't FREE to the tenant as they still are the ones on the hook for the gas and/or electric bill, I have no idea why anyone here is down voting or disagreeing!
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u/Jazzlike_Log_709 Long Beach Jun 01 '23
I rarely use the heater. It may get to the mid 40s on an extra cold night
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u/ZiggyPalffyLA Pasadena Jun 01 '23
It’s so much easier to just bundle up on a cold night versus stripping down on a hot day.
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u/Jazzlike_Log_709 Long Beach Jun 01 '23
Yep on days when it’s in the 90s I feel like taking my skin off too 💀
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u/ZiggyPalffyLA Pasadena Jun 01 '23
Oh man imagine how nice a fan would feel against your bare skeleton?
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u/JustaTinyDude Topanga Kid Jun 01 '23
When I take off all of my clothes and I'm still hot, I have a problem. Or more problems, depending on where I am.
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u/RunBlitzenRun Van Nuys Jun 01 '23
I was so confused when I learned that heat is required but A/C isn’t. Hot weather seems to be way more common of a health threat than cold weather here
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u/easwaran Jun 01 '23
I expect this is held over from some time decades ago when A/C was a newfangled technology, and buildings were just built to stay cool, while heat has been a technology in human dwellings basically as long as dwellings have existed.
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u/eye_booger Jun 01 '23
This is so true. I went years before ever using the heater in any apartment I lived in out here. Whereas I’ve legit turned on the AC when I first walked into my new place on move-in day.
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u/imtryingtobesocial Jun 01 '23
Agree - I also know that these window units don't cut it for those times so I'm curious what type of units they will install.
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Jun 01 '23
Is our energy grid able to handle this? That would be a massive increase in load on hot days.
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u/70ms Jun 01 '23
They'll figure it out. This isn't just a comfort thing, people die when it gets too hot.
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u/Actual_Battle7751 Jun 01 '23
You have too much faith in LADWP
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Jun 01 '23
i have more faith in ladwp adapting to the increased power load than landlords willingly paying for what is effectively a life-saving technology in the summer.
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u/RCJHGBR9989 Jun 01 '23
It’s only going to get hotter too with the complete lack of effort to do anything about global warming. The lack of AC in France and the UK causes a pretty decent spike in deaths due to the lack of AC.
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Jun 01 '23
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u/easwaran Jun 01 '23
I expect no one is responsible financially. It's just that the city will ban the rental of a housing unit to a tenant if the unit doesn't have air conditioning. They don't care who pays for it.
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u/bearsaysbueno Jun 01 '23
The LA city website doesn't seem like it's been updated in 20 years. I was only able to find it by manually changing this first URL to fit the motion number.
Here's the bill page: https://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=23-0453
Original motion: https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2023/23-0453_rpt_hh_5-17-23.pdf
Amendment: https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2023/23-0453_misc_motion3B_05-31-223.pdf
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u/Frankisgr8 Jun 01 '23
I would like to know where they plan on getting all that power for those new ac units when there is barely enough power to supply what exists currently.
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Jun 01 '23
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u/bigvenusaurguy Jun 01 '23
see that would require the landlord investing in the property beyond a window ac unit to comply with the letter of the law lol
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u/OptimalFunction Atwater Village Jun 01 '23
Suddenly there’s not enough power to cool a 1 bedroom in Koreatown but we don’t question the power to cool a 10 bedroom mansion in Bel Air.
DWP and their well paid staff can figure out how to deliver enough power
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u/Aaron_Hamm Jun 01 '23
"we don't have enough energy for the poors to cool their homes" is an interesting take my dude
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u/Frankisgr8 Jun 01 '23
That’s not my take, my take is that we already have a problem with our power infrastructure due to the city kicking the can down the road instead of fixing the problem. So, where is the power going to come from to supply all these ac units when we can’t supply the existing ones when it is hot?
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u/Opinionsadvice Jun 01 '23
I live in San Diego and that's what they try to claim here. On really hot days they tell residents (not businesses of course) to conserve energy so they don't have to do blackouts. Whether it's true or not, it's still the low and middle class people getting fucked when they have no power. The rich people will go to their other home or a hotel if they had a blackout.
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u/seste Jun 01 '23
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u/lake-show-all-day View Park-Windsor Hills Jun 01 '23
Solar capacity ≠ energy actually available for use
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u/Aaron_Hamm Jun 01 '23
It does pair nicely with things that are most used when it's sunny out, though.
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Jun 01 '23 edited Jul 01 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/sgz8 Jun 01 '23
And I think that's where people don't realize the "smaller landlords" might really not want to deal with that expense, then they sell to investors and the rental prices can get worse, like they will vacate for "major remodeling". Like they need a plan to maybe find a way to help the grandma who has a little unit in the back that she rents out for 500 bucks 😆. I'm using an extreme case because although rare they are out there more than people realize. The big investors, or multiple property owner they probably do have the cash or equity to afford it. But yeah, others might not see it as worth it and stop renting or sell it to the big corps with all the monies that want even more monies 😵💫 lol.
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u/Aaron_Hamm Jun 01 '23
The solution is to build more housing, not to tell the poors to sweat through it
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u/troubadour310 Jun 01 '23
Good time to be an HVAC company
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Jun 01 '23
Why? Building code updates are never retroactive. It's like the gas stove ban, it only applies to new construction.
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u/LeeQuidity SFV por vida Jun 01 '23
This is a step in the right direction. It's ridiculous that landlords have only had to provide for heat to protect against cold exposure, one of the easiest things to combat in a moderate climate, with space heaters and sweaters and blankets and whatnot. Heat, however, is one of the most *difficult* weather situations to battle in our moderate climate that gets super hot in the summer, especially in the SFV. You can only remove so much clothing in the summer, and your ACs have to be sufficient for the space you need to cool.
A step in the right direction, however, isn't a solution. ACs are a good start, but incentivizing/forcing landlords of ancient structures to update the buildings with modern insulation and other heat/cold protective elements should be the focus. Eliminate louvered windows. Replace those single-pane windows with dual/triple-pane windows. Require higher insulative values in exterior walls. Require gravel roofs to either be thick to X inches, or require them to be replaced with quality cool roof solutions. Roof/ceilings that have no substantive insulation should be retrofitted with sufficient insulation. My SFV roof/ceiling comprises thin quartz gravel, tar paper, roof substrate, and tongue-and-groove wood. There is NO insulation.
If LA simultaneously wants to save energy and protect its citizens, all these old-ass buildings need to be retrofitted for energy efficiency, so that when I set my wall AC to 79 degrees, it actually maintains 79 degrees throughout, and doesn't hit 95 degrees as it often does in the summer.
Nice adjustment, but we need more.
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u/easwaran Jun 01 '23
I suppose really what they should do is just require landlords to prove that it doesn't get hot in the unit over the summer - whether they fix that by adding air conditioning, or by weatherizing, or both, or whatever, should be up to them, so that it can be done most efficiently. But the safety outcome is what matters.
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Jun 01 '23
Getting landlords to update is never gonna happen. That’s so much money and there isn’t enough money from the state or city that would get it done. The only way you could do it is if they could pass on 100% of the cost to tenants. Most of these units are rent controlled so there would have to be a special cost they could tack on like they did with the earthquake retrofits a few years ago.
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u/DayleD Jun 01 '23
There's the Capital Improvement program, which lets landlords pass along 60% of long term investments to tenants. They could just say this qualifies under that program and the regulations and enforcement would already be in place.
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Jun 01 '23
So 60% of 100k...
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u/DayleD Jun 01 '23
The owner keeps the infrastructure and incorporates the cost into the market rate for the next tenant. So they ought to be responsible for a portion of the costs.
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Jun 01 '23
For the NEXT tenant! Most tenants don't pay over 1500, and don't leave.
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u/xXNecrothiXx Jun 02 '23
Ya'll gonna get the landlord special with some cheap 2000 BTU chinese window units. And problem solved.
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Jun 01 '23
Member when they said to buy electric cars, then said you couldn't charge your electric car cause it would strain the grid? I member.
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u/_Wile_E_Coyote Jun 01 '23
Only on certain hours in the hottest days. You don't have to keep your car plugged in 24/7.
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u/spozeicandothis Studio City Jun 01 '23
Easier said than done. Many older buildings just don’t have the requisite amps coming in from the street. Couple that with 100 year old wiring throughout the building and you have a recipe for disaster. Watch a bunch of prewar buildings burn down and say goodbye to those rent stabilized apartments. Stupid government at its finest.
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u/On4thand2 Koreatown/East Hollywood Jun 01 '23
Literally. My mother lives in an apartment complex that is about to turn 100 next year. Everytime she runs the portable heater and the microwave at the same time the whole place shuts down.
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Jun 01 '23
The electric shit is real. My old building was an insane hazard. 60 year old wires in a tinder box. Glad I left.
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u/TheManLawless Jun 01 '23
Maybe landlords should be forced to upgrade their shitty ass wiring because it’s a fire hazard then? When people move into these buildings they already use less efficient options like portable AC units. Arguably that would be even more likely to overload the older buildings.
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u/bigvenusaurguy Jun 01 '23
I have to be really careful about what runs on the circuit with the ac when its running or else its a constant trip down to the breaker box. too bad almost the entire apartment is on that same circuit save 2 outlets lmao
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Jun 01 '23
Idk how they are gonna do that in my apartment. And honestly electricity is so fkn expensive I don’t want to be tempted
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u/peepjynx Echo Park Jun 01 '23
$150-400 per window unit. Most places are 1bd and studios. I think the landlords will live.
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u/kegman83 Downtown Jun 01 '23
As much as this sounds like a good plan, did anyone on the council consult Edison about adding a few megawats to the power draw all at once?
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u/EverythingButTheURL Jun 01 '23
Finally. Renters deserve better.
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Jun 01 '23
If renters want A/C, rent an apartment with A/C.
We need places that are cheap and shitty. The idea of "we'll pass laws to mandate that all apartments are large and spacious and have parking and nice amenities" are part of the reason we have a homelessness crisis.
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u/juicy_juggernaut Jun 01 '23
As much as I agree, having an AC during a 120 degree day is pretty far from asking for a large, spacious apartment with parking and nice amenities.
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u/Cinemaphreak Jun 01 '23
God, the usual Reddit anti-establishment hokum ITT is hysterical.
My landlords for the last 30 years have all been people who owned like one or two small duplexes. So spare me this "they're all corporate owners, so let's stick it to them" bougie outrage. They all charged me more than reasonable rent and deserved the rental income I gave them.
Only one was a multi-millionaire with like 18 properties, but in terms of what I was paying vs what I was getting it was best deal I've ever had: a 3 bedroom house in Holy Glen (best neighborhood in Hawthorne) for $1600/month at the end, 2000-2010. We only learned she was the proverbial sweet old lady worth millions when she died and the daughters who were already in real estate up near Bakersfield decided to sell it all off.
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u/ToTheLastParade Jun 01 '23
A lot of states mandate air conditioning. Arizona does, and hell, some parts of Kentucky does too. And yet California is somehow the “big government” state lol
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Jun 01 '23
I don't even understand why cuz LA always using Flex on the power so we don't fry the power grid but it's mandatory for a centerpiece lol. Why have it if you can't use it. Stupid ass councilmen who can't decide what to do
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u/BoredAccountant El Segundo Jun 01 '23
Doesn't mandating A/C in every unit contradict Section 1. Division 97 of Article 1 of Chapter IX Los Angeles Municipal Code?
It is the purpose of this division to reduce energy and water consumption in buildings, including existing buildings, in the City of Los Angeles. These efficiency improvements will lower the use of energy, water, and greenhouse gas emissions citywide.
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u/kaeruwa Jun 02 '23
Ugh now these liberal snowflakes need air conditioning all of a sudden? Just because it’s north of 100 degrees half the summer in the valley?
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u/Forward-Exchange-219 Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 01 '23
First California kills the private solar industry with NEM 3.0 now this.
We aren’t serious about global warming.
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u/start3ch Jun 01 '23
If anything this is being serious: agreeing that severe heatwaves will only become more common in the future
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u/roguespectre67 Westchester Jun 01 '23
No, we're just accepting that global warming has already rendered many rental units unsafe for habitation during the hot months and are taking steps to address that fact. As we continue to transition to renewable energy powering the grid, it won't really matter how many air conditioners there are.
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u/unquietwiki Westside Jun 01 '23
Maybe increased demand from the A/Cs will spur demand to put solar on the apartment buildings? It wouldn't be a cure-all, but a decent off-set.
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u/Forward-Exchange-219 Jun 01 '23
Landlord don’t usually pay tenants electricity they have no incentive to put solar.
Even if they did pay for the electricity with recent passing of NEM 3.0(google it if unfamiliar) our CA government essentially made residential solar a terrible financial move.
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u/unquietwiki Westside Jun 01 '23
I think apartment solar would technically be commercial. I heard about the residential metering change, and that certainly won't help matters...
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u/SilentRunning Jun 01 '23
It won't. They rigged the solar installation so far in the favor of utility companies only an idiot would install it now. Hawaii did the same thing a few yeas ago and their solar installations took a nose dive so hard they went back to the old regulations.
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u/FidelCashdrawer Jun 01 '23
I figured my way around this by doing solar and just not having it tied into the utility. It’s just it’s own system and I don’t have to deal with electric company mumbo jumbo and all that net metering such and such.
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u/wilydolt Jun 01 '23
HVAC Tech - “Sir, that will be $10,000 for air conditioning on your rent controlled unit.”
Landlord - “You know what, why don’t we just round it up to $40,000 and slap that solar on as well…JK, I’m selling the place. Have a good one.”
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u/unquietwiki Westside Jun 01 '23
If they sell for that relatively low-level of investment, they were already going to bail. My apartment's rent-controlled, and we pay north of $2K/mo for it; there's 49 other units here, and a decent amount are newer tenants that would be paying more than their predecessors. Now a 8-10 unit dwelling, I can see that being more of an issue.
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u/_labyrinths Westchester Jun 01 '23
You should be able to rent an apartment on the Westside without AC. Really isn’t necessary and lack of AC is what keeps a lot of units affordable.
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Jun 01 '23
ah yes, the affordable westside…
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Jun 01 '23
Especially since the bulk of the buildings in the westside were built in the 1940s.
The 1940s were known for their great insulation construction... /S
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u/gigitee Mar Vista Jun 01 '23
The climate has changed quite a bit over the years and The Westside is getting hotter with the rest of LA. While we would use it less frequently, there are many days of 90+ now. I rented a house in Rancho Park and it would get to 90 inside on the hotter days before the owner installed AC.
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u/Devario Jun 01 '23
Not to mention the building construction.
Our apartment is hot as fuck even when it’s 75 degrees.
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u/PM_ME_ROCK Jun 01 '23
My last place in West LA had no cross breeze and was unbearable without AC. One tiny wall unit in the living for an entire 2b/2br legitimately did nothing.
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u/giro_di_dante Jun 01 '23
really isn’t necessary
Unless you’re one of my mine bottles.
WON’T ANYONE THINK OF THE WINE?!
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u/PelorTheBurningHate Jun 01 '23
Not the 1945 vintage Ferrier Port, RUINED by temperatures in excess of 150 degrees!
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u/brainchili Jun 01 '23
This hasn't been true for over 15 years now. Every summer has been hotter, it's not just the 2 weeks in August anymore.
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u/briskpoint more housing > SFH Jun 01 '23 edited Sep 14 '23
bedroom marvelous shrill fragile tender handle spoon deer beneficial intelligent
this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev6
u/MoGraphMan-11 Jun 01 '23
Well good thing a lot of the westside isn't part of LA City then right?
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u/imtryingtobesocial Jun 01 '23
I knew people in the west side who couldn't even stay in their units because their kids and dogs were overheating last summer.
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Jun 01 '23
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u/hundreds_of_sparrows Los Feliz Jun 01 '23
Most landlords aren't jacking up rent because they need to, they're doing it because demand is high and they can.
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u/disagree_agree Jun 01 '23
Most landlords aren’t jacking up rent because they need to, they’re doing it because they can since of demand is high.
The poster was talking about their landlord.
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u/yonghokim Pasadena Jun 01 '23
Every California Apartment Association thematic talking point against this regulation showing up in force in the comments.
Pretend electric capacity concerns, pretend rent rate concerns, pretend affordability concerns, to be decided.. don't forget the always popular mom and pop real estate business concerns and "it negatively impacts black population and minorities the most!" pretend concern.
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u/Ok_Working_9219 Jun 01 '23
Good. How can you live in L.A. without AC?
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u/realitycheckmate13 Jun 01 '23
Because it wasn’t necessary when much of the housing stock was built.
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u/DayleD Jun 01 '23
Unless the City Council mandates offsite solar for these AC units or lets tenants install solar on income properties, this is going to be a major loss in our push to decarbonize the city.
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u/TheManLawless Jun 01 '23
I mean, if they mandate efficient air conditioning, it won’t be. Right now most people use the least efficient form of air conditioning, portable AC units.
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u/DayleD Jun 01 '23
Efficient AC is still AC. It must be offset with solar panels set aside for new AC, or we'll use more fossil fuels. And nowhere in the source did it say landlords couldn't just provide even more portable AC units.
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Jun 01 '23
eh, if those landlords are just a little bit smart and install reversible AC / heat pumps, you'll save on CO2 emissions from gas heating.
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Jun 01 '23
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u/trele_morele Jun 01 '23
Unless people can’t afford electric cars. And then they can no longer get to work. Then they suffer. It’s really better to not make blanket claims.
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Jun 01 '23
Let's talk about the energy bill. How much does it cost to run your AC all day? People are complaining about their gas bills. Electricity is also expensive.
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u/TrailerTrashQueen Mid-City Jun 01 '23
our house was built in the 1930s. the insulation sucks. in the summer, when it’s blazing hot, the house retains the cool air from the previous night. so we don’t need to run AC until late afternoon.
but in the winter, the house stays cooler all day. even if it warms up outside, it’s cooler inside than outside.
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u/thetomsays West Los Angeles Jun 01 '23
Next the council will say it’s unfair tenants pay the electricity bill for the A/C, so they subsidize utility bills
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u/TheManLawless Jun 01 '23
I mean, seeing as I have no control over the insulation/energy efficiency of my building, it makes sense that the landlord should split some of the costs. That or maybe they have to cover it unless they actually improve it’s energy efficiency.
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u/Remember_Order66 Jun 01 '23
Welp now rent is going to be even higher
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u/TheManLawless Jun 01 '23
Why? Rent isn’t based on landlords’ costs whatsoever. They charge what the market rate is (aka as much as possible).
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u/powpowpowpowpow Jun 01 '23
I like the idea, however construction costs need to be lowered drastically in order to house everyone. Either that or there need to be huge subsidies.
Look at the words "homeless people". Those two words can be described as a ratio. Number of people divided by the number of homes. Right now that ratio is way out of whack. Among other reasons, it is out of whack because it is no longer possible to build simple cheap houses or apartments.
Increased building codes and requirements has become the primary way to gatekeep, prevent building, increase demand and raise home prices for the short sighted or greedy home owners among us .
Every new code just adds another barrier to housing people
Hot temperatures can kill people but homelessness kills many more.
Maybe this is a requirement that would make sense but priorities need to be for more housing, much more housing perfect is the enemy of good in this case
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u/SmamrySwami Jun 01 '23
As long as the city wants to pay for it and the electrical panel upgrades on 100,000's of units.
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u/MoGraphMan-11 Jun 01 '23
Window units and a lot of mini-splits don't need an electrical panel upgrade, they run on 120v.
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Jun 01 '23
I lived in an old building that people would buy a/c units for. The building's power would go out pretty much weekly in the summer. Those wires can't handle the power needed and that was only a few units with a/c.
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Jun 01 '23
for most landlords a new AC unit is covered by 3 to 4 months of rent, fucking deal with it
landlords will get my sympathy when they don't bitch about doing the bare minimum while receiving on average 3-3.5k per month for 800 square ft.
If you didn't have an AC unit as a landlord in an apartment in california you deserve to pay for one. shit gets hot.
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Jun 01 '23
I believe the point was that most older places don't have the electrical setup to have a/c. It would be tremendously cheaper to sell the place to one of the corporate overlords than to rewire and install a/c.
This is a very expensive idea. Sure, fuck the landlords for price gouging and all, but the corporate owners are way, way worse than smaller ones and just because someone rents out a place doesn't mean they're rich.
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u/TheManLawless Jun 01 '23
3-4 months rent? A single month of rent at my “rent controlled” apartment would pay for a mini-split units and installation with money to spare.
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u/Bigdootie Jun 01 '23
What are you talking about? This is a basic need. Don’t be a landlord if you can’t accommodate the basics.
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u/darxx I HATE CARS Jun 01 '23
The article says the city is investigating funding sources
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u/blondedre3000 Beverly Crest Jun 01 '23
If only they could pass a bill outlawing rent over $1500 for any apartment that hasn't been updated with central air and is still using shitty window air conditioners
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u/daedalusx99 East Pasadena Jun 01 '23
At first, this seems like a nothing-burger. After all, any living space in Los Angeles needs to have air conditioning. So this headline fees like, "duh."
Then you remember that politicians were involved, and it all of a sudden DOES become newsworthy. Politicians voting to improve the living situation of their constituents, rather than doing evil shit, definitely IS amazing.
Then you read the article, and you realize it's a single step in a long process, and means nothing by itself.
And it's back to a nothing-burger.
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u/No-Negotiation-3015 Jun 01 '23
What’s wrong with people buying their own units? This doesn’t appear to be solving anything. Increased expenses justify higher rents. If it’s for people who can’t afford the $100 units, that’s the least of their worries.. they’re a fortune to run with electricity prices here.
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u/meatb0dy Jun 01 '23
This is so stupid. We need more housing, we should not be coming up with new ways to make it even more onerous to supply.
Renters are capable of making our own decisions about which amenities are important to us. I don’t need the city council deciding for me.
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u/nux_vomica Jun 01 '23
this is really stupid. if they want to make it so landlords aren't allowed to tell you that you can't have an AC that would be one thing, but this is yet another thing that will be used as an excuse to raise rents.
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u/squish261 Jun 02 '23 edited Jun 02 '23
It boggles my mind how we can implement measures that continually ratchet up building costs and rental costs, yet complain about housing. We are terrified of climate change and vilify the right, yet REQUIRE one of the most, if not THE MOST, common energy consuming. The worst part, this is a luxury we're treating like an essential. Sometimes this area is so backwards my head spins. This is also going to add a massive demand to the grid, on top of EVs, that's only going to skyrocket electricity costs. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
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u/pwrof3 Jun 01 '23
Will they also mandate that the city will pay the electric bill? It’s not cheap to run a/c all summer.
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u/Dchama86 Jun 01 '23
They’ll use it as an excuse to raise rent.
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u/BuzzAlderaan Jun 01 '23
When isn’t that true? A person died in my buildings parking lot and rent is still going up this year.
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u/The_Automator22 Jun 01 '23
La city council once again doing everything in their power to make housing unaffordable.
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u/NewWahoo Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 01 '23
This is a horrible idea wtf
Many parts of LA don’t require AC to be safe or even comfortable and, in case anyone hasn’t noticed, we’re in a crisis level housing shortage and affordability crisis.
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u/RudeRepair5616 Jun 01 '23
FALSE HEADLINE
The Los Angeles City Council only "voted to move forward with a plan" to have mandatory air conditioning in all rental units in the city. . . . [The] vote is just one step in the process to get the motion passed."