City of Los Angeles, Water/Sewer/Garbage in addition to Lease? (apartment, hotel)

[Holly_Wood_Mgr]

I lived in the LA area for several years (two blocks from where I am now) and have never seen this issue arise.

I have been in my current complex several months and have not received any bill in addition to my rent until this month.

Upon signing the lease (was between a rock and a hard place since I'd already moved out of my other complex and had been in a hotel three days when the landlord magically was out of town on my move-in date), I agreed to a $3/mo Garbage pickup which was shared with other tenants. I didn't mind this since it was only $3, so I signed.

This month, I receive a bill for water/sewer/garbage. The garbage portion is $24, the water and sewer collectively total $140, for a grand total of $164.

This is in addition to the $1650 I already pay in rent (which I found out is up $200 from the last tenant, which is already against the law).

I'm trying to complete my homework here by finding out if the water/sewer/garbage fees are even lawful. From my understanding of Rent Stabilization and the laws in the City of Los Angeles (which encompass my complex of 32 units that has a single master meter), because of the law, the amount of units, and the single meter - they are not able to pass the charges to the tenant.

Is this correct?

I found one passage in the Rent Stabilization Ordinance which reads "Any transfer of utility payment from landlord to tenant constitutes a decrease in services and a corresponding rent reduction must be made."

This means that the rent should include this fee, correct? And being the City of Los Angeles, isn't it the law that ALL multi-family complexes with a single meter are to have figured the water/sewer/trash into the rent already?

Someone with knowledge of this PLEASE assist me with this. I'm a single mom in a tiny 2br apartment and totally being raped by my new property management, apparently.