Landlords across Los Angeles are using a recent change in state law to turn garages and parking lots into new apartments, and in many cases they don’t have to replace the spaces they remove. 

Tenants who say parking was part of their leases are pushing back. Many have sued their landlords and some have named the city as well.

Senate Bill 1211, which took effect in January 2025 as part of California’s effort to ease its housing shortage. 

It makes it easier to add accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to properties with multiple apartments, including by converting garages and other spaces not designed for living. It also bars cities from requiring owners to make up for the lost parking.

Landlords can collect rent from additional units without buying more land. Tenants may lose a guaranteed space, spend years searching for street parking, or move out altogether. 

Older and disabled residents say the effects are the most severe, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Tracey Ellis, 70, who has lived in a rent-stabilized building near the Sunset Strip since 2001, uses a cane to walk. Even short walks cause her considerable pain. Her garage space is how she gets to medical appointments and the grocery store.

She and other tenants were recently told by her landlord that a new unit will be built above the garages, which could make parking unavailable for one to two years during construction, and possibly longer.

“Parking in this city is a lifeline for people, and to take away their parking – why don’t you just take half my house or apartment?” Ellis said. 

“It’s my freedom,” she told the LA Times.

According to Ellis, who pays just over $1,600 a month, tenants were first offered a $100 discount in exchange for giving up their parking spaces. She fears that would barely cover the cost of other transportation, the Times reported.

In Silver Lake, 83-year-old Karen Numme has lived in her rent-stabilized home since 1995. Her landlord plans to permanently remove her garage space and build two apartments in its place. With limited mobility, she dreads having to find parking on the neighborhood’s steep streets.

Numme has filed a lawsuit claiming the plan violates California’s fair housing and disability laws, as well as local tenant protections, the Times reported. 

Her attorney, Frances Campbell, had a message for property owners. “Build all you want, that’s OK with me. Landlords, make as much money as you can – but don’t make it on the back of old and disabled people,” Campbell told the LA Times. 

Residents of a rent-stabilized building in Hollywood also challenged permits that would turn 20 parking spaces into nine ADUs. A judge halted construction in May while the case is pending, the Times reported.

The tenants say parking was part of their rental agreements and that removing it illegally changes their leases, according to the news outlet.

“Our position is you are evicting somebody from their rental unit,” their attorney, Sabrina Venskus, told the LA Times.

The owner’s attorney, Jacob H. Zadeh, described the project as a practical way to help meet the city’s housing needs. “I do feel sympathetic for the tenants losing parking,” he said. “But what is the other option, tearing down the whole building?”

Supporters of the law argue that homes matter more than parking. Matthew Lewis, communications director for California YIMBY, a pro-housing group that co-sponsored SB 1211 in 2024, said LA doesn’t have a parking shortage but suffers from a housing crisis. 

“Is parking more important for Angelenos, or housing?” Lewis told the Times. 

Los Angeles planning officials told the Times they are “sympathetic to tenants” who may lose parking, but said they must approve the ADU permits because the city “cannot override state law.”

“The creation of new housing and reduction of auto reliance and parking are also important policy goals of both the city and state,” the officials said in a statement, the news outlet reported.

They added that many tenants losing parking would qualify for a rent reduction and, where applicable, could request a new disabled parking space on their block.

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