LOS ANGELES—The Barrington Plaza Tenants Association June 12 filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping the mass eviction of tenants at the 712-unit, rent-controlled apartment complex in West Los Angeles.
The suit follows an announcement by owners last month that the complex—which has been the scene of two fires over the past decade, including one that killed a 19-year-old foreign exchange student—will be closing to all renters and begin vacating occupied units so the buildings can be renovated with fire sprinklers and other safety upgrades.
Monday’s Los Angeles Superior Court complaint focuses on a state law that allows landlords to evict if they plan to remove the units from the rental market. Passed in 1985, the Ellis Act was created to allow mom-and-pop landlords to go out of the rental business and take their units off the rental market….