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Pasadena board limits settlement conferences for upward rent-increase petitions
Summary
On Aug. 6 the Pasadena Rental Housing Board approved amendments to Chapters 5 and 7 to remove the mandatory prehearing settlement conference for petitions seeking upward rent adjustments and to clarify tenant‑hardship language, citing constraints in Article 18 and hearing-officer authority.
The Pasadena Rental Housing Board on Aug. 6 voted to amend its regulations so that prehearing settlement conferences are required only for petitions seeking downward rent adjustments, not for petitions requesting upward adjustments.
Senior hearing officer Stacy Horrow told the board staff had proposed the change after finding hearing officers cannot facilitate settlement agreements that result in rent increases above the annual general adjustment (AGA) without running afoul of Article 18. "We're recommending that language be changed to 'downward adjustment of rent specifically,'" Horrow said, explaining the edit would remove unnecessary conferences that cannot produce an enforceable upward‑rent settlement.
Board members and a handful of public commenters raised questions beforehand about how the change would affect tenant notice and access to hearing procedures, but no member requested delaying the resolution. After a motion and roll‑call, the chair announced the resolution passed by majority vote.
The board also approved a related edit to Chapter 7: staff recommended striking the word "settlement" so that tenants are still encouraged to discuss hardship during a prehearing conference but are not given the expectation that the conference can produce an upward‑rent settlement. Horrow noted the edit preserves tenants' ability to voice hardship concerns while aligning the rule with hearing officers' legal limits.
The changes will be incorporated into the board's regulations; staff said they would appear in the board's posted attachments and in the municipal regulatory record. Implementation steps and the exact effective date will be announced by the rent‑stabilization office.
