Friday, April 10, 2026

Rent Relief Deadline Closes In: Altadena and Pasadena Applicants Have Until April 25 to Act

[Courtesy of County of Los Angeles Department of Consumer and Business Affairs Facebook page]

A software error left some landlords out of the loop on tenant applications — and county officials say no one has been denied yet, but the window to fix it is closing

Some landlords whose tenants applied for Eaton Fire rent relief never got the email telling them to finish the paperwork. Now they have until April 25 to find it — or the application dies.

The LA County Emergency Rent Relief Program is reaching out to applicants affected by a software error that disrupted Round 2 of the county program. The program can provide up to $15,000 per rental unit for wildfire- and emergency-related housing hardship, according to the City of Pasadena Rent Stabilization Department. The problem is specific: tenant-initiated applications submitted before the March 11, 2026 deadline sometimes failed to trigger the automatic email notification that prompts landlords to complete their required portion. Without both parts filled out, an application cannot be reviewed. The program covers Pasadena and Altadena residents directly — the City of Pasadena’s Rent Stabilization Department posted official notice of the program on its website, and the Eaton Fire is among the qualifying emergency events.

The good news, as of April 9: no application has been denied because of the error. Those cases are still pending. But the county has set a firm remediation deadline of April 25, 2026. Landlords who did not receive the original notification will get two more chances to respond — one email sent Thursday, April 9, from “ProgramNotification@lacounty-rentrelief.com,” and a second arriving Wednesday, April 15, from “no-reply@neighborlysoftware.com,” with a direct link to complete the landlord portion of the application.

The system error applies only to Round 2 of the program, which opened February 9, 2026 and closed March 11, 2026. In Round 2, tenants could initiate applications themselves — a change from Round 1, when only landlords could apply. Landlord-initiated applications from Round 2 were not affected by the error. Round 1 closed January 23, 2026; those applicants do not need to take any further action.

The program, directed by the LA County Board of Supervisors and administered by the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) in partnership with The Center by Lendistry, was designed to distribute more than $23 million in relief to those impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires and other wildfire emergencies, according to lacounty.gov. It gives priority to small landlords owning four or fewer units, households with incomes at or below 80 percent of the Area Median Income, and residents in high-need areas as identified by the county’s Equity Explorer tool. Grants may cover up to six months of debt, with a maximum of $15,000 per unit in most cases, according to the City of Pasadena Rent Stabilization Department.

“The urgent need for housing stability and to keep people housed is the reason behind LA County’s Emergency Rent Relief program,” Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell said when Round 2 was announced in January.

Tenants who provided complete landlord contact information when they applied do not need to resubmit anything, but the county is asking them to remind their landlords to check their inboxes — and their spam folders. Tenants whose applications were missing landlord contact information will receive separate instructions on how to provide it.

NEED TO KNOW: The deadline for landlords to complete their portion of the application is Saturday, April 25, 2026. Program staff is available by phone at (877) 849-0770, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with assistance available in multiple languages. A list of in-person and virtual assistance partners and the program portal are at lacountyrentrelief.com. ERRP is not accepting new applicants at this time.

Note: A DCBA press release issued April 9 corrected an earlier April 8 release that stated notifications would be sent from “no-reply@neighborlysoftware.com” on April 8. The corrected release states that the initial email notification was sent April 9 from “ProgramNotification@lacounty-rentrelief.com.”

The emails are in the queue. The applications are still alive. Whether they stay that way comes down to what happens before April 25.