Your building has a “Soft Story” if it was built under building code standards enacted before January 1, 1978, is made of a wood frame construction, and has a ground floor (e.g., “tuck-under”) parking or other similar open floor spaces.

A Soft Story retrofit cost in Los Angeles varies, depending on the type of building and its size. The following rule-of-thumb often holds true: for a “tuck-under” parking garage, one must design and build one reinforcing structure (either a “moment frame” or a “cantilever column”) for every six parking stalls. Each such reinforcing structure will cost about $35,000 to $40,000. Following this math, if a [...]

The time it takes to retrofit a Soft Story building will of course depend on a variety of factors, for example how many reinforcing structures must be built, how easy is access to the building from the street, whether or not concealed and/or unforeseen site conditions are encountered (e.g., concrete footing underground which must be broken up), the weather, how quickly the custom steel is [...]

Yes, indeed, the City of Los Angeles’ Tenant Habitability Program, as administered by the Housing and Community Investment Department (“HCIDLA”), can approve a rent increase if a property owner/landlord submits a temporary rent increase request within one year of completing the Soft Story retrofit. The HCIDLA will notify tenants of the increase and the tenants will have the opportunity to submit any objections in writing. [...]