Photo by Till Westermayer is licensed under CC BY SA

The Department is here to help! Our goal is to make sure your property is restored to a safe and habitable condition so that it can be removed from the Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP) as quickly as possible. We have a number of resources available to assist you in complying with the requirements before the property can be removed from REAP.

The Landlord/Property Owner REAP Removal Checklist provides you a checklist you can follow to ensure the requirements for removing a property from REAP are met.

COMPLY WITH OPEN ORDERS FROM ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

Before your property can be removed from REAP, all citations issued by the Department must be addressed. If you need assistance understanding the violations that have been cited on your property, please contact your inspector, or your landlord REAP outreach service providers.  The Department also verifies that all open orders issued by other enforcement agencies have been complied with (LAMC Section 162.02) such as:

• Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS)
• Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD)
• Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH)

If the orders issued by these agencies are not addressed, the property cannot be removed from REAP.

In addition to complying with all orders that have been issued by the aforementioned enforcement agencies, you must ensure that all electric and/or water charges for the property have been paid to the satisfaction of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).

OUTREACH FINAL SITE VISIT AND ADVISORY OPINION

When all violations have been corrected, contact your assigned tenant outreach service providers to schedule with them a site visit.  The purpose of this visit is to:

• Advise you on the status of the completion of the repairs;
• Assist you in resolving any tenant/landlord issues; and,
• Help you gain access to your units if necessary.

The services of the  outreach service providers are provided free of charge, whereas the Department charges for its  Code Enforcement inspections. As such, we highly recommend that you take advantage of these site visits to limit the need for repeated inspections by the Department’s  inspectors.

CODE ENFORCEMENT FINAL INSPECTION AND SIGN OFF

After obtaining the tenant outreach service provider’s advisory opinion, contact the assigned Department Code Enforcement Inspector/Case Manager to schedule a final inspection.

The purpose of the final inspection is to verify that all violations cited have been corrected, that the property meets the required health and safety and habitability standards, and to sign off on cited violations.

REMOVAL RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL AND CLOSING OF THE ESCROW ACCOUNT

When all orders have been closed and all electric and/or water charges on the property are satisfied, the Department will recommend to the City Council that the property be removed from REAP (LAMC § 162.08), and your case will be scheduled for the next available City Council meeting.

After the City Council adopts the Department’s recommendation to remove the property from REAP by resolution, the Department will send a letter to all tenants, property owners, and interested parties notifying them that the property was authorized to be removed from REAP and that rents will be restored to their original level 30 days from the date of the notice. The escrow account closes, and the Department must determine the amount of unpaid fees, and apply those fees to any balance remaining in the escrow account.

If the escrow account balance exceeds the amount owed in fees, a refund will be issued to whomever was the owner of record at the time that the City Council authorized the property’s removal from REAP, otherwise a bill will be issued for the balance of fees.