Luxury Real Estate Los Angeles Tear Down Laws
Los Angeles is fed up with the ugly, oversized luxury real estate and houses that are spreading like wild fire and taking up some much loved and much needed space in the city. Last week the L.A. City Council instituted a new set of rules and real estate laws that will put limits on turning low-income areas into McMansion zones.
A "tear-down" is when home owners demolish properties and then build dwellings that are several times larger. Often, they end up installing superfluous amenities like elevators and garish design elements that draw attention to themselves and stick out like a sore thumb in humble 'hoods. Among those affected by this trend are they that live in residential hotels and can't afford normal housing. In recent years many of said hotels have been torn down and replaced with luxury houses. Some say this is tough for new home buyers and cry gentrification and say that the lavish homes disrupt neighborhood Feng shui, push the poor to the fringe and draw unwanted attention to areas that just plain want to keep things nice and quiet.
Critics of the new real estate laws argue that they will do damage to the city's economy and that property values will plummet. However, city council members approved the law measure unanimously in a vote of 12-0.