Photo by Travis Wise is licensed under CC BY 2.0
In the City of Los Angeles, many tenants reside in master-metered apartment buildings. Essential utility services (water, common area electrical service, trash) are important to the habitability of the unit, and the livelihood of tenants. Termination of these essential services, for failure to pay, would make the building uninhabitable.
The Utility Maintenance Program (UMP) is designed to provide master-metered, rent-stabilized rental properties an alternative to shutoff of essential services provided by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
If the property owner fails to pay the LADWP utility fees, UMP establishes an escrow account into which tenants have the option to pay their rent. If sufficient funds are collected in escrow to pay the delinquent LADWP utility fees, the Department will use the funds in escrow to pay the delinquent bill and restore utility services.
HOW DO I KNOW IF MY PROPERTY IS IN UMP?
When a property is referred to UMP by LADWP, a Notice of Eligibility is mailed to the landlord, tenants, and interested parties. The Notice of Eligibility provides written notification of the building’s eligibility for placement into UMP and provides the landlord an opportunity to appeal. If the decision to accept a property into UMP is appealed, a hearing is held to determine whether or not the property should be placed into UMP.
Once the decision to accept a property into UMP is final, an escrow account is opened, and tenants are provided the opportunity to pay their rents into the escrow account. A notice is also recorded on title of the property to inform potential buyers and any interested parties that the property has been placed into UMP. The notice will be terminated after the property is removed from UMP, and the case is closed.
If you still have questions about UMP, we are here to help, please contact us at the numbers below, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Phone: (844) 864-REAP Fax: (213) 808-8810 TTY: Due to technological changes, if TTY is needed to contact us, please use Telecommunication Relay Services (TRS) such as Text-to-Voice TTY-based TRS, Speech-to-Speech Relay Service, Shared Non-English Language Relay Services, Captioned Telephone Service; IP Captioned Telephone Service, Internet Protocol Relay Service, or Video Relay Service.
Or by email: hcidla.reap@lacity.org
