The purpose and intent of this chapter is to protect City of West Hollywood tenants from artificially inflated rental rates and unfair rent increases by prohibiting the sale, licensing, and use of algorithmic devices and to provide tenants with remedies for violations of this chapter.
(Ord. 26-08, 5/4/2026)
"Algorithmic device"
shall mean a software or product that uses or incorporates analytical or computational processes that use nonpublic competitor data to calculate and recommend rent prices, fees, occupancy rates or other rental contract terms for future leases in coordination between a landlord who owns a rental unit in the City of West Hollywood and one or more of such landlord's competitors, including through a third-party vendor. "Algorithmic device" does not include either of the following: (a) a software or product used by a person to generate or publish reports, studies, or presentations regarding existing residential rental rates or residential rental occupancy levels in an aggregated and anonymous manner but does not recommend rent prices or fees for future residential tenancies or occupancy levels for rental housing units; (b) a software or product used by a person to establish residential rental rates or income limits in accordance with any local, state, or federal affordable housing program requirement; or (c) a product or process that provides or uses, or the provision or use of, information for the purpose of: (i) conducting market research for project financing; (ii) conducting an appraisal; or (iii) conducting research, testing, or training for software development. For clarity, "research, testing, or training for software development" includes, without limitation, the use or processing of nonpublic competitor data in the development, training, or testing of predictive or machine learning models so long as any such data is not used as an input in the operation of the model at the time a recommendation is calculated for publication or provision to a landlord.
"Landlord"
shall mean the same as defined in Section 17.08.010 of the City's Municipal Code.
"Nonpublic competitor data"
shall mean information that is not available to the general public about actual residential rental rates, residential rental rate changes, residential rental property supply levels, occupancy levels, lease start and end dates, and similar data regarding a property other than a property that is owned or managed by the landlord who is the recipient or user of the generated recommendation, when such data is less than 90 days old.
"Rental unit"
shall mean the same as defined in Section 17.08.010 of the City's Municipal Code.
(Ord. 26-08, 5/4/2026)
a. 
It shall be unlawful to sell, license, or otherwise provide to any landlord of any rental unit in the city, any algorithmic device that sets or recommends rental rates or occupancy levels that may be achieved for rental units in the city.
b. 
It shall be unlawful for a landlord to use an algorithmic device when setting rents or occupancy levels for rental units in the city. Each separate month that a landlord charges rent at an amount set in violation of this subsection, and each separate rental unit for which the landlord used the algorithmic device, shall constitute a separate and distinct violation.
(Ord. 26-08, 5/4/2026)
a. 
The City Attorney may file a civil action for violations of Section 9.22.030, subsections a and/or b, for damages, injunctive relief, restitution/return of illegal profits, and/or civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the City Attorney if the City Attorney is the prevailing party in such a civil action.
b. 
An aggrieved tenant may file a civil action for violations of Section 9.22.030, subsection b, for injunctive relief, money damages, and/or civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the tenant if the tenant is the prevailing party in such a civil action. A lease provision that limits a prevailing tenant from obtaining attorneys' fees shall not be enforceable against a tenant's claim for attorneys' fees that arises under this subsection b.
c. 
The remedies provided in this chapter are not exclusive, and nothing in this chapter shall preclude any person from seeking any other remedies, penalties, or procedures provided by law.
(Ord. 26-08, 5/4/2026)
In enacting and implementing this Chapter 9.22, the city is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such breach proximately caused injury.
(Ord. 26-08, 5/4/2026)