Isla Vista property owners are fighting back against the county’s rental housing inspection program with a lawsuit.

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved the program earlier this year with the goal to hold landlords accountable to do required maintenance and have rentals meet basic health and safety standards.

Inspections started last week and are moving forward after a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge denied the property owners’ request for a preliminary injunction to enforce an emergency stop of the program. 

The Isla Vista Rental Property Owners Association filed a lawsuit in June that argues that the inspection program forces owners to violate tenant rights. They allege that the ordinance requires landlords to allow inspectors inside a unit when a tenant is not at home to object to the inspection, according to the civil complaint. 

The county argues that the property owners have misinterpreted the ordinance and that inspections can’t continue without the tenants’ consent, according to the county’s opposition to the ex parte application for a preliminary injunction.

The only way an inspector could enter a unit without consent is if they obtained an inspection warrant or if “exigent circumstances” are observed, according to the county’s court documents.

Isla Vista has a large population of UC Santa Barbara students, and about 87% of Isla Vista residents are renters, according to the county.

The program gives Lisa Plowman, the Planning and Development director, the authority to have housing inspectors proactively inspect units periodically, or after receiving complaints.

For the county program, property owners or an agent will be notified 15 days before the scheduled inspection. They will be responsible for notifying tenants and will have to be present during the inspection. If a property owner or agent is not present, the inspection can proceed with the tenant’s consent.

Lacy Taylor, an attorney with Thyne, Taylor, Fox, Howard LLP who is representing the Isla Vista Rental Property Owners Association, told Noozhawk that they believe the program will result in some students losing housing as a result of inspectors finding illegally converted garages and lofts that landlords will have to fix.

Taylor said they’ll be filing a new motion soon to stop inspections while litigation continues.

The complaint also argues that there is no reason why Isla Vista should be targeted in the rental inspection program because Isla Vista does not report more incidents of health or safety concerns to county officials than other areas of the county. 

“By selectively targeting Isla Vista for inspections, the County of Santa Barbara is targeting one of the poorest and youngest communities in the county and subjecting the community to inspections which will likely lead to increased rents and will interfere with the stability of their housing,” the complaint states. 

Jamia Stetler, a longtime Isla Vista landlord who grew up in Isla Vista, said landlords decided to take action against the program because they feel that it discriminates against tenant rights for the county to make landlords give notice for the inspections.

Per California law, landlords can inspect properties but they have to give tenants at least a 24-hour notice. 

“I think it would be good for the county to revise what they’re looking at as far as health and safety and focus on all of our community for the funds that they earned from a housing shortage,” Stetler said. “Rather than targeting an area that is probably the most transient community in our whole area, and one that turns over pretty much every single year, meaning houses are empty, houses are cleaned, houses are repaired.”

Stetler also argues that the county already has a complaint process where people can report health and safety concerns, and that there should be more focus on tenant rights education, improving lighting and increasing patrols. 

The Isla Vista Rental Property Owners Association filed to form as a nonprofit corporation on June 24, according to the California Secretary of State website. The civil complaint against the county was filed on June 26, according to court records. 

Santa Barbara County Second District Supervisor Laura Capps proposed the program after heightened concern around tenant safety following recent cliff fall deaths and collapsed balconies on Del Playa Drive. 

“I find it baffling and deeply troubling that this group of landlords, I don’t know who they are, but they’ve chosen to spend money on litigation rather than just making repairs,” Capps said.

Because most of the Isla Vista population is made up of young, first-time renters, Capps said they wanted a proactive inspection program for people who don’t know how to report inadequate housing conditions.

“What’s at stake here is trying to make Isla Vista a place where there’s safe, livable homes,” Capps said. “That’s the goal of this inspection program, and that’s why it’s passed unanimously through the Board of Supervisors, because it’s no secret that there’s too many young and low income tenants that are living in these unsafe and substandard housings.”

Since the program started last week, the county has inspected 16 units on nine properties, said Errin Briggs with the Planning and Development Department. Inspectors have not found major violations, but have issued correction notices for minor things such as peeling paint and a lack of smoke alarms. 

Inspectors have a checklist of things to look for including mold, illegal conversions of garages into bedrooms, cracked countertops, and flooring issues, Briggs said.

So far, Briggs said, the units have been in good shape due to landlords fixing up the properties after many students moved out for the summer in June. Inspections have started on the west end of Del Playa Drive and inspectors will make their way east.

The inspection program is funded for one year, and county officials hoped to do most of the inspections during the summer before the UCSB academic year begins. 

The program will cost the county $600,000, and funding is coming from a $3.7 million legal settlement from UCSB. The county and City of Goleta filed a lawsuit alleging that the university failed to create enough housing for students, and reached a settlement last year.