Beverly Hills Patch accepts and publishes emails to the editor regarding any relevant local issue. The views expressed in the following commentary do not reflect the opinion of the publication, its editor and/or its writers. Emails may be edited for length and clarity. Have an opinion? Write to the site editor at mariec@patch.com. C ommentary submitted by   Beverly Hills resident Jennifer Brugger. I am currently a Beverly Hills resident and have proudly been so for the past two years. I moved to the area from Thousand Oaks to be closer to my job and to give my son a great education in the Beverly Hills Unified School District, which I must say I am overjoyed at the progress he has made since moving to this community. However, being a single parent and the sole provider for my son, it has been an uphill battle to be able to afford the rent in such a pricey neighborhood. We did it though, on time and in full every month. But one and a half years into our residential bliss in Beverly Hills, I found out the sad reality of the lack of protection for renters in Beverly Hills. I was very happy to be living month to month in what I thought was a beautiful, two-bedroom apartment on South Elm Drive for only $1,800 a month. Then I came home from work one day and saw a notice on my door. The notice said we had 60 days to vacate the property and that they would be demolishing our building, plus four others in a row, to build a ginormous condo building. I had no extra money for this; we lived paycheck to paycheck as it was. My fear of shaking up my child’s life, moving schools and jobs right after what felt like a very recent move to the area was all too much to handle. I could barely sleep that night. The next day I spoke with a friend whose parents buy properties and rent them out in Glendale, and he had some very reassuring words for me: relocation fees. I asked what this meant. He said, “Relocation fees are monies paid to renters to assist them in moving within the allocated time frame. Los Angeles County requires landlords to pay these fees to tenants asked to vacate for condo conversions.” I got all excited. I thought, “OK, if they have to pay me even just a little to move, it will help with moving our things and paying a new deposit, and all of the expenses that go along with a move.” Not long after the good news hit my ears I heard the dreaded word “but.” He said, “But…you need to check with the city of Beverly Hills and make sure the same ordinances apply to BH residents as do to Los Angeles County residents because Beverly Hills sometimes has their own set of rules.” I figured Beverly Hills must have something in place similar to Los Angeles County to protect the little guys like me. So I placed a call to the city. I left a voicemail for Terence May, senior code enforcement officer of Beverly Hills. It was not an hour later when I received a return phone call from Mr. May with some very bad news. He said Beverly Hills does not have an ordinance in place requiring landlords to pay tenants’ relocation fees and that they were abiding the law in Beverly Hills by giving us 60 days to vacate.  Soon after I was hunting Craigslist and buying a membership to Westside Rentals in desperate search for a home within walking distance from my son’s school. Very little within our price range was available and what was available was too far away or just outside the city limits, which meant I would have to change my son’s school. I ended up moving to a place nearby for $400 more a month. I had to sell my car for a lesser one and liquidate some of the items we owned to be able to afford it. But getting rid of my things wasn’t the saddest part of the experience. There were four other single parents living in my two-building complex and an elderly couple who had lived there 25 years. And the saddest yet… I was awoken one night by screaming and crying from what sounded like the front of the building at 3:30 a.m. I got scared that someone was being hurt and called the police. I stood on my balcony and watched the police arrive. I pointed to where I thought the noise was coming from. They banged on the door of the apartment and it was one of my son’s friends that lived there. I heard the police ask a crying young women to come out and talk to them.  “My father left us and took our business. It’s just me and my mom, my younger sister and my younger brother living here, and I am in college with a part-time job taking care of my whole family,” the woman said through sobs. “They are kicking us out and we will have no place to live and it’s very stressful. I’m sorry we were fighting so loudly so late.” This is a one-bedroom apartment mind you. My heart sank. My position was awful but my neighbor’s position was much worse. I couldn’t believe such a wonderful city with such a sense of community and family would have no protection for us—the little renters—who also pay our taxes and spend our paychecks within city limits supporting small business, chains and overall being upstanding, hardworking citizens.  Please protect us with a relocation fee ordinance. It promotes slow growth and protects us from overseas tycoons who come in, buy a block and kick the tenants to the curb. Also, say goodbye to the nostalgic 300 block of South Elm Drive with its early 1950s charm-filled buildings early this year. I know I will as the wrecking ball wakes me up at 7 a.m. daily to tear our old home down. Jennifer Brugger Beverly Hills Resident  Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on  Twitter  and “Like” us on  Facebook . Read the original post: Commentary: Beverly Hills Needs a Relocation Ordinance to Protect Tenants