Indigent tenants in Los Angeles receive assistance through the Bet Tzedek Unlawful Detainer Trial Project
Client(s) Los Angeles Unlawful Detainer Trial Project
Jones Day Los Angeles is working with Bet Tzedek, the House of Justice, to provide a valuable service to low-income families and individuals in need. Many parts of Los Angeles have established ordinances that preclude property owners and landlords from increasing rents on housing units at unreasonable rates. These "rent-controlled" units are often occupied by long-term tenants, many of whom are disabled, elderly, or living below the poverty line. In many situations, unscrupulous landlords attempt to evict tenants of rent-controlled units so that they can then rent those units at significantly higher rates. Jones Day works on a pro bono basis to defend those tenants and protect them from the homelessness that usually follows eviction. In a recent matter, Jones Day represented Maria del Carmen Frayre, a tenant who faced eviction from her rent-controlled apartment for purportedly violating the rental agreement's no-pets clause. In April, Jones Day attorneys prevailed in a one-day bench trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. Finding that our client had never signed the purported rental agreement, the court entered judgment in her favor.
