Los Angeles County Relocation Assistance Guide (LARSO)

Updated 04/30/25

If you’re a property owner or landlord who owns rental property in Los Angeles county and are thinking of evicting your tenant or temporarily displacing your tenant, you may be required to provide your tenant Los Angeles County Relocation Assistance.

Table of contents

• What is LA County relocation assistance?
• When is LA County relocation assistance required?
• What is considered permanent or temporary displacement?
• Who qualifies for relocation assistance?
• Qualified & lower income tenants
• When Must a Landlord Pay Relocation Assistance Under LARSO?

What is LA County relocation assistance?

Relocation assistance is a benefit your tenant may be eligible for depending on where your rental property is located. Landlords may be required to provide assistance in the form of money, comparable accommodations and/or services from a professional in finding a new place to live.

When is LA County relocation assistance required?

Landlords are required to provide relocation assistance to their tenant when their property is located in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County or in cities that don’t have their own relocation assistance program when a tenant is either permanently or temporarily removed from their rental units for reasons that are no fault of their own.

What is considered permanent or temporary displacement?

A permanent displacement is considered when a tenant is evicted for a no-fault reason such as

• The landlord evicts for the occupancy for her/himself, spouse, grandchildren, children, parents or grandparents, or a resident manager (Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) 151.09.A.8). Landlords must comply with the restrictions and requirements of LAMC Section 151.30.
• The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the rental unit to demolish or to remove the rental unit permanently from rental housing use (LAMC 151.09.A.10). These are considered Ellis Act (California Government Code 7060.4) evictions and the landlord must comply with the requirements of LAMC 151.22-151.28.
• The unit requires permanent eviction due to a primary renovation in accordance with a Tenant Habitability Plan accepted by the HCIDLA (LAMC 152.05).
• The landlord evicts to comply with a governmental agency’s Order to Vacate (LAMC 151.09.A.11). Landlords must file a Landlord Declaration of Intent to Evict prior to giving notice to tenants.
• The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is both the owner and plaintiff and seeks to re-cover possession in order to vacate the property prior to sale (LAMC 151.09.A.12).
• The eviction is due to a Residential Hotel Unit conversion and demolition (LAMC 151.09.A.13).
• The landlord seeks to recover possession of the rental unit to convert the subject property to an affordable housing accommodation (LAMC 151.09.A.14).
• The landlord demolishes the property or converts the use of the property to condominiums, stock cooperatives, community apartment projects, hotels and commercial uses, regardless of whether the property is subject to the RSO (LAMC 47.06 & 47.07).

A temporary displacement is considered when a tenant is temporarily removed from their rental unit for either of the following reasons:

• Necessary repairs
• Major rehabilitation and upgrades
• Health or safety violations
• Any type of work that can’t be completed while a tenant lives in the unit

Who qualifies for relocation assistance?

Any tenant who lives in rental units subject to Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections Ordinance in unincorporated areas of LA County who are being evicted for no fault reasons or who are being temporarily displaced.

How much relocation assistance do permanently removed tenants get?

The amount of the relocation payment will depend on whether the tenant is an eligible or qualified tenant, the length of the tenancy, and the tenant’s income. The amount paid is per unit and not per tenant.

A qualified tenant is a tenant who on the date of the service of the Notice of Termination if 65 years of age or order, handicapped as that term is defined under California Law, or disabled, or a tenant who has one or more dependent children as determined for Federal Income Tax Purposes.

An eligible tenant is any other tenant subject to a not for cause eviction and the amount to be paid for relocation will depend on the length of tenancy and the income of the tenant.

A third type of tenant who will be paid relocation assistance is the low-income tenant who income is 80% below the median income adjusted for household size.

The following chart shows the amount of relocation assistance that must be paid to each category of tenant listed above:

Relocation assistance is calculated on the size of the unit and not the number of tenants who reside in the rental unit.

Qualified & lower income tenants

Seniors, persons with disabilities or households with minors are considered “Qualified”. Lower-Income tenants are defined by California Health and Safety Code 50079.5. If either a qualified or lower-income tenant lives in the household, the landlord must pay that amount for relocation assistance.

When Must a Landlord Pay Relocation Assistance Under LARSO?

How and when is the landlord required to make the payment?

1. The entire fee must be paid within 15 days of the notice; however,
2. The landlord may elect to deposit the relocation fee into an escrow account and must do so within the 15-day period The escrow account must provide for payments to the tenant(s) for actual relocation expenses incurred by the tenant prior to vacating the unit for the following relocation expenses: first and last month’s rent; security deposit; utility connection charges; moving expenses. Payments from the escrow account shall be made within three (3) working days of receiving a request for payment. The remaining balance of the escrow account shall be disbursed upon certification of vacation of the rental housing unit

The following are the stated exemptions from Relocation Assistance Payments.

Landlords are exempt from paying relocation assistance when:

Mom and Pop properties may pay reduced relocation assistance payments to their tenants for a good faith eviction for occupancy by the owner or eligible relative, provided that requirements in Section 151.30 of the LAMC are met.

The reduced fee for Mom and Pop properties applies, if all of the following conditions exist:

1. The building containing the rental unit contains four or fewer rental units;
2. The landlord has not utilized this provision during the previous three years;
3. The landlord owns no more than four units of residential property and a single-family home on a separate lot in the City of Los Angeles; and
4. Any eligible relative for whom the landlord is recovering possession of the rental unit does not own residential property in the City of Los Angeles.

There are also several types of eviction that will not require payment of relocation assistance:

The eviction is due to hazardous conditions caused by a natural disaster and, there-fore, not caused by any negligence on the part of the landlord

Evicting a resident manager to replace him/her with another resident manager. If the resident manager is a Manager-Tenant receiving free or reduced rent with no other compensation, he/she may be entitled to relocation assistance. (See RAC Regulations 920.00, Managers as Tenants.)

The tenant received actual written notice, prior to entering into a written or oral tenancy agreement, that an application to subdivide the property for condominium purposes, or to convert the building to a condominium, a stock cooperative, or community apartment project was on file with or had been approved by the City.