Apartment Assn. of Los Angeles etc. v. City of Los Angeles (2026)

Citation: Apartment Assn. of Los Angeles etc. v. City of Los Angeles (2026)
Parent Document: Apartment Assn. of Los Angeles etc. v. City of Los Angeles (2026)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2026-05-14
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10859038/apartment-assn-of-los-angeles-... ↗

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ordinance does not impede the unlawful detainer statute, which
governs the procedural aspects of eviction after a substantive
basis for eviction is met. Their supplemental briefing argues that
the Eviction Threshold Ordinance is distinguishable from the
municipal measure we rejected in Pasadena because that
measure imposed affirmative written notice and cure period
requirements that landlords had to satisfy before pursuing
evictions for nonpayment of rent.
       We analyze whether the Eviction Threshold Ordinance is
preempted using the rubric set forth in the seminal case
Birkenfeld, supra, 17 Cal.3d 129. As we explained in Pasadena,
supra, 117 Cal.App.5th at pages 243 to 244: “Birkenfeld
concerned a landlord class action challenge to two separate
provisions in an initiative amendment to the City of Berkeley’s
charter, one of which the Supreme Court found was preempted
and the other not. ([Birkenfeld], at p. 135.) The Supreme Court
held that a local eviction protection does not conflict with the
unlawful detainer statutes if it serves a distinct purpose. (Id. at
p. 149.) ‘The purpose of the unlawful detainer statutes is
procedural. The statutes implement the landlord’s property
rights by permitting him to recover possession once the
consensual basis for the tenant’s occupancy is at an end.’ (Ibid.,
italics added.) By contrast, a local measure eliminating
particular grounds for eviction, for instance, is a limitation upon
the landlord’s property rights under the police power, creating a
substantive ground of defense in unlawful detainer proceedings.
(Ibid.) Thus, the unlawful detainer statutes did not preempt the
provision in the Berkeley charter amendment limiting the
grounds for eviction and making substantive defenses available
to the tenant. (Ibid.)”

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