With a statewide referendum on rent control gathering signatures for the November ballot, a city lawyer is arguing Santa Monica needs its own initiative to stop an unintended consequence if it passes: 1970’s rent for 2018 move-ins.

The Rent Control Board’s (RCB) general counsel is now warning if voters repeal Costa Hawkins in November, the City Charter defines the rent ceiling as the base rent in 1978, meaning a landlord could have to charge any new tenant (without an existing lease) rent as low as $560 for a studio apartment in the Pico Neighborhood.

“As units turn over, this would result in rent rollbacks and could, conceivably, cause significant economic dislocation,” wrote J. Stephen Lewis in a memorandum to the RCB. “In the absence of any state law providing for a vacancy rent increase, the Charter appears to include no definition of ‘base rent ceiling’ other than that which pegs it to the 1978 rent.”

The Board will discuss Lewis’s memorandum and recommendations at the April 12 meeting at 7 p.m. inside City Council chambers at City Hall, 1685 Main Street.

Read More: http://smdp.com/city-lawyer-warns-ballot-initiative-could-reset-new-rents-to-the-1970s/165462