1041 20th Street v. Santa Monica Rent Control Bd. (2019)

Citation: 1041 20th Street v. Santa Monica Rent Control Bd. (2019)
Parent Document: 1041 20th Street v. Santa Monica Rent Control Bd. (2019)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2019-07-30
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4644132/1041-20th-street-v-santa-monica... ↗

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Longshore v. County of Ventura (1979) 25 Cal.3d 14, 28 [“no court
has expressly invoked principles of estoppel to contravene
directly any statutory or constitutional limitations”]; Santa
Monica Unified Sch. Dist. v. Persh (1970) 5 Cal.App.3d 945, 953
[“the principal of estoppel is not applicable to a municipal agency
which has not acted in compliance with a statute which is the
measure of its power”].)
       “The existence of equitable estoppel generally is a factual
question for the trier of fact to decide, unless the facts are
undisputed and can support only one reasonable conclusion as a
matter of law.” (Schafer, supra, 237 Cal.App.4th at p. 1263;
Feduniak v. California Coastal Com. (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th
1346, 1360.) Questions of law are reviewed de novo. (Schafer,
supra, 237 Cal.App.4th at p. 1264.)
       We consider whether the application of equitable estoppel
here, to require the Board to permanently exempt the 20th Street
property and Unit 211 of the Ocean Avenue property from rent
control regulations, would require the Board to act in excess of its
authority. According to 20th Street Owner, the granting of a
removal permit exempts rental units from rent control; in other
words, section 1803(t) authorizes the Board to exempt rental
units from rent control regulations. The plain terms of section
1803(t), however, do not support this position. That section
provides that “[a]ny landlord who desires to remove a controlled
rental unit from the rental housing market by demolition,
conversion or other means is required to obtain a permit from the
Board prior to such removal from the rental housing market.”
(§ 1803(t), italics added.) A “market” is “[a] place of commercial
activity in which goods or services are bought and sold.” (Black’s
Law Dict. (10th ed. 2014) p. 1113, col. 2.) Thus, section 1803(t)

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