Los Angeles tenant harassment:
triple damages and penalties.

Harassment can affect a tenant’s health, sense of security, and ability to live comfortably in their home. The ordinance expressly recognizes mental and emotional distress as compensable harm. Those damages, together with the tenant’s other proven compensatory damages, are subject to the mandatory tripling.

Civil penalties provide a separate remedy. Because they attach to each violation, a claim involving several established violations may support multiple penalties. And if a tenant is older than 65 or disabled when the harassment occurs, the court may also impose a separate, additional penalty of up to $5,000 per violation.

Available relief also addresses the consequences of the harassment. A tenant may be entitled to rent refunds for reduced housing services and relocation relief when applicable. Punitive damages may also be available where the requirements of California Civil Code section 3294 are met. LAMC § 45.35(B)–(E).

TAHO defines harassment as a landlord’s bad-faith conduct directed at a specific tenant or tenants that causes harm. Bad faith includes willful, reckless, or grossly negligent conduct. The ordinance identifies 17 examples of tenant harassment, while leaving room for other conduct that satisfies the definition.

Many of those examples concern how a landlord manages a tenancy. Withdrawing promised housing services, leaving necessary repairs unfinished, or failing to protect tenants from harmful construction materials may constitute harassment. Harassment may also take the form of landlord abuse of the right of entry through repeated, unjustified requests, unreasonably broad entry windows, or access beyond the lawful scope of an inspection. Refusing lawful rent or rental assistance, withholding paperwork needed to obtain assistance, and imposing unauthorized tenancy terms can create similar pressure on a tenant. The ordinance also addresses physical threats, immigration or citizenship inquiries and disclosures, and housing discrimination. LAMC § 45.33.

Pressure may become more direct when a landlord wants a tenant to leave. Coercive offers of payment to vacate are expressly covered by TAHO. For rent-stabilized units, a separate provision also treats a buyout offer made without the required written notice of the tenant’s rights as harassment, subject to an exception for offers made during a pending unlawful detainer action. LAMC § 151.33.

Allegations described in a July 15, 2026 announcement by the Los Angeles City Attorney illustrate how several forms of pressure can arise in the same tenancy. The City’s announcement concerns a lawsuit against the owner of an eight-unit apartment complex, alleging that he demanded tenants leave without just cause five days after purchasing the property so he could obtain higher rents. When the tenants remained, the City alleged, he interrupted water and waste disposal services, imposed new charges, revoked outdoor storage rights, and discarded tenants’ belongings. The lawsuit also challenged evictions based partly on unilateral lease changes.

For rent-stabilized housing, the ordinance also addresses the financial incentive to force a tenant out. If a TAHO violation causes an RSO unit to become vacant, the landlord may re-rent it only at the lawful rent in effect at the most recent termination of tenancy. LAMC § 45.37.

A tenant can bring a lawsuit under TAHO without waiting for a city agency to act. Depending on the circumstances, the court can award compensation and issue an injunction requiring the landlord to stop the unlawful conduct. That right continues when a tenant has moved out because of harassment; returning the keys does not, by itself, extinguish the claim. LAMC § 45.35(A), (D).

Repair and maintenance claims carry a specific notice requirement. Before filing a claim under section 45.33(2), the tenant or another person must notify the landlord in writing of the alleged violation and allow a reasonable time to correct it. The waiting period does not apply when the landlord’s conduct is intentional and demonstrates willful disregard for the tenant’s comfort, safety, or well-being. Keeping the notice, the date it was sent, and the landlord’s response helps establish what the landlord knew and how the problem was handled. LAMC § 45.35(F).

Harassment can also affect an eviction case. A tenant may raise it as an affirmative defense regardless of the factual allegations in the eviction notice. Separately, section 45.33(7) addresses eviction threats, notices, and proceedings based on facts the landlord has no reasonable cause to believe are true. When liability under that provision is based on bringing an eviction lawsuit, the tenant must first obtain a favorable termination of that action. LAMC § 45.34; LAMC § 45.33(7).

TAHO establishes a three-year statute of limitations and makes its remedies available for that statutory period. The filing deadline should be evaluated against the facts and dates of the particular claim. Preserving leases, notices, repair requests, messages, photographs, and records of the resulting harm can help an attorney assess both the claim and the relief available. LAMC § 45.35(G).