Bayside Manor, Inc. v. City of Santa Monica

The City of Santa Monica and the city’s rent control board appeal from a judgment granting a peremptory writ of mandate, requiring it to grant to petitioners an exemption from the city’s rent control law. We reverse.

For some time, petitioners operated a group of buildings, licensed under the Community Care Facilities Act (Health & Saf. Code, § 1500 et seq.). The record shows no attempt to apply the Santa Monica Rent Control legislation to that facility until after May of 1980. However, in June of 1979, petitioners filed an application for formal exemption from that legislation. No action having been taken on that application, in April of 1980, petitioners notified all of their occupants to vacate and, as of May 20, 1980, the facility had become vacant. Thereafter the application for exemption was denied. By this proceeding in mandate, the trial court ordered that the exemption certificate be issued. The writ also purports to hold that all community care facilities are exempt from the Santa Monica regulations. The city and the rent control board have appealed. We reverse.

I

We agree with appellants that the portions of the writ which purport to hold all community care…