Heather Hutt, who represents City Council District 10, held a press conference on Tuesday at LA City Hall to ask the community to support a new law called the Commercial Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance, or TAHO.
Small business owners also gave personal accounts of their experiences with commercial landlords who they say suddenly raised their rent, used intimidating tactics to get them to leave and refused to repair the property.
“We don’t want big corporations to own everything and no small business has an opportunity to grow,” Hutt told The LA Local. “We want them to be stabilized and TAHO will stabilize the business owners, especially small business owners.”
In a statement released on June 16, Hutt said the ordinance, “will protect small, independent, and minority-owned legacy businesses from predatory displacement, intimidation, and landlord overreach.”
Hutt confirmed the ordinance is now in committee and City Council will continue to explore what the ordinance will entail and how it will be enforced, if passed.
Most small businesses in LA rent their spaces, according to Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE). In 2024, SAJE formed the Small Business Alliance to support commercial tenants facing harassment, retaliation and exaggerated rent increases from their landlords. Francisco Arvizu, assistant director for SAJE’s South LA Eco-Lab, highlighted the need for more legal protections for LA’s commercial tenants.
“No business owner should be forced to choose between operating in a safe condition with a peace of mind and losing their business they’ve worked years to build,” Arvizu said at the press conference. “Especially when they are paying rent that should guarantee them a basic standard of habitability.”
Tyrei Lacy, owner of The District by GS restaurant in South LA, is currently battling an eviction by Fred Leeds Properties in court and believes the 20-year-contract he signed in 2019 has been breached.
“There is no protection,” Lacy said during Tuesday’s press conference. “There is nothing that can save us from these predatory actions, so TAHO is amazingly important.”
Lacy also held a press conference in front of his restaurant on June 17 to bring more awareness to his lease dispute with Leeds. He alleges Leeds attempted to collect years of back fees and stopped accepting his rental payments five years into the lease agreement.
The LA Local reached out to Fred Leeds Properties multiple times for comment but have not received a response.
Commercial tenants throughout the city are sounding the alarm about alleged abuse
Rosa Maria Marquez has owned Rock Rose Gallery in Highland Park for 27 years and is now just days away from being forced to vacate the space, she said during the press conference.
“I was given a 60-day notice and I have six days before I’m supposed to pack it up and leave,” Marquez said. “It’s not that I won’t leave but the manner in which I’m being approached is difficult.”
Marquez vowed to stand and fight with other small businesses for more protection by supporting TAHO.
Marqueece Harris-Dawson, City Council president, and Council members Eunisses Hernandez and Ysabel Jurado, of council districts 1 and 14, respectively, also spoke during the press conference to show their support for the ordinance.
“If your business model depends on intimidation, coercion, retaliation or forcing our neighborhood businesses out because you know they don’t have the resources to fight back, we’re coming for you,” Jurado said.
As for Lacy, he said he’s not sure if the new ordinance will help his case but he wants to prevent other small businesses from having the same experience.
“I don’t know if it’ll help me retroactively, but most importantly, we can make sure that landlords are held accountable,” Lacy said. “Now there’ll be legislation that’ll help protect small businesses.”
