By Lookout Staff
March 13, 2026 -- Two Santa Monica landlords will have to pay their tenants more than $50,000 in unpaid relocation fees after the City Attorney's Office obtained final judgments in two cases.
The landlords will also have to pay more than $40,000 in penalties and attorneys fees in the cases brought in Los Angeles Superior Court under the City’s Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance, City officials said Thursday.
The ordinance requires landlords to pay temporary relocation benefits to tenants who are displaced due to health and safety concerns.
In the case against Eric Goldie, the City alleged that the defendant "failed to pay temporary relocation benefits to a mother of four and her daughters after the Code Enforcement Division ordered him to do so," City officials said.
The landlord, who was "undertaking unpermitted construction work that rendered the unit uninhabitable," continued to refuse to pay the mandatory relocation benefit after losing an administrative appeal.
Goldie also "failed to properly challenge the administrative ruling in state court," prompting the City to file the lawsuit, officials said,, noting that the Superior court’s ruling "effectively upheld the City’s relocation order for the third time."
In the final judgment, the court ordered Goldie to pay the tenant $16,119 in the unpaid relocation benefit plus interest and a $500 civil penalty to the City.
The court also ordered Goldie to pay $40,700 to cover the city’s attorneys’ fees, City officials said.
In the other case, also filed in LA Superior Court, the City alleged that defendant landlord Christoper Charles Drake “Bo Drake” and affiliated companies refused to provide temporary relocation payments to tenants in two units.
The Code Enforcement Division determined the units were uninhabitable after SoCalGas red tagged the heaters and ordered the relocation "due to the lack of heat in winter," City officials said.
The City Attorney’s Office brought the case "after Drake failed to timely challenge the relocation order but still refused to pay the mandatory relocation benefit," officials said.
As part of the settlement with the city, Drake and the other defendants agreed to pay the two tenants a total of $35,929 for the unpaid relocation benefit plus interest and $1,000 in civil penalties to the City.
In both cases, the landlords were ordered to comply with landlord-tenant laws, including the Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance, the Tenant Harassment Ordinance, Rent Control and Just Cause for Eviction protections, and habitability and repair obligations.
“The city’s relocation ordinance provides stability and security to renters forced to leave their homes through no fault of their own,” said Deputy City Attorney Denise McGranahan.
“In an unforgiving rental market, it allows families to stay near their family, schools and work during necessary repairs.
"There is a process in place to ensure fairness, including a right to appeal a decision by code enforcement, but if landlords forego the process or are not successful in an appeal, they cannot simply refuse to provide the benefit. When necessary, the City Attorney’s Office will enforce the ordinance in court.”