The Brief

Trying to figure out how much your landlord can legally increase your rent? For tenants in Southern California, it can be confusing.

State law allows annual rent hikes as large as 10% for most apartment dwellers during periods of high inflation. However, different parts of California have different rules on rent increases.

Some cities have local forms of rent control that impose much lower limits. Others have no local limits at all.

Generally, older buildings are more likely to be subject to caps on rent increases. In many newer buildings, the sky's the limit because lawmakers say rent caps on newly built properties would remove the incentive for developers to build new housing.

The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act limits the kinds of rent control cities can impose on buildings constructed since 1995. Sacramento lawmakers also have agreed to exclude buildings constructed within the past 15 years from statewide rent caps.

The upshot: Finding the answers for your specific home isn’t easy. To sort it all out, we’ve put together a short guide on rent control laws across Los Angeles and Orange counties. Each jurisdiction is presented below, alphabetically.

Of course, we’re not lawyers. We can’t tell you exactly what’s legal and what’s not for your situation. L.A.-area tenants who need further help can reach out to Stay Housed L.A., a collective of legal aid organizations funded by local governments.

Baldwin Park

Baldwin Park city officials do not know what caps their rent control law imposes on annual increases. You read that right — the city’s rent control ordinance is so confusing, even those enforcing it don’t understand what it says about rent hikes.

LAist reported on a similar situation last year. Back then, Baldwin Park had failed to post timely information online about the city’s rent caps. After LAist asked what limits landlords and tenants should adhere to, given the lack of clarity, the city updated the guidance on its website.

One year later, the city is back in the same position, unable to say exactly how much landlords can legally raise rents on tenants covered by local rent control rules. Ryan Mulligan, a housing manager with the city, told LAist that the Baldwin Park City Council would have an updated rent control ordinance to consider later this month.

“The city of Baldwin Park is in the process of updating its rent stabilization ordinance to ensure it aligns with recent changes in state housing laws and reflects current community needs,” Mulligan wrote in an email. “The city’s goal is to provide a fair, balanced and legally sound framework that protects tenants while offering clarity for property owners.”

In past years, the city had limited annual rent increases to 3.8%. That limit took effect Aug. 1, 2023, and it remained in place until a new 3.9% limit replaced it Aug. 1, 2024. Now, in November 2025, city housing staffers say landlords and tenants should continue to follow the 3.9% limit, though they acknowledge that cap is out of date.

The city's rent control rules state that annual rent hikes will be 5% or lower, depending on recent inflation statistics. But the local ordinance fails to point out which month of inflation data would determine the upcoming year’s rent hike limit.

The city’s rent caps — assuming they are clarified at some point — generally apply to multi-family housing built before Jan. 1, 1995, with exceptions for single-family homes, condos and owner-occupied duplexes.

Bell Gardens

The city calculates allowable rent increases based on 50% of the local consumer price index, or 4%, whichever is lower. The current limit is 1.5%. That cap will remain in effect until a new limit is announced. The new cap would take effect Nov. 1, 2026.

Landlords who charge less than 80% of the area’s Fair Market Rent, as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, can apply to the city for permission to raise rents by an additional 3% per year.

City councilmembers in Bell Gardens voted to implement local rent control in August 2022. The city’s rent control law generally applies to apartments built before Feb. 1, 1995. Single-family homes, condos and townhomes are generally excluded.

Beverly Hills

The city of Beverly Hills allows annual rent increases of up to 3% in most rent-controlled housing. The city is scheduled to update this limit in June 2026.

However, as of Sept. 11, 2025, landlords are allowed to raise the rent 3.14% for tenants who originally moved into their housing units at rents of $600 or less and who live in buildings built before Sept. 20, 1978.

Details on how these complex rent increase rules work can be found on the city’s website. Beverly Hills’ rent control law generally applies to rental housing constructed before Feb. 1, 1995.

Cudahy

Under Cudahy’s rent control law, landlords cannot raise rents by more than 3% per year. In years when the local consumer price index is running lower than 3%, landlords must base annual rent hikes on the lower inflation figure.

The city’s maximum allowable rent increase between July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, is 3%.

The Cudahy City Council first passed a local rent control ordinance in June 2023. The rules generally apply to rental housing built before Feb. 1, 1995. The limits don’t apply to renters in single-family houses, condos or townhomes.

Culver City

Tenants covered by the city’s rent control rules can receive annual rent hikes of up to 3.25% for increases that take effect between Nov. 1, 2025, and Nov. 30, 2025. The city frequently updates these limits. The latest figures can be found on this website.

Culver City’s rent control ordinance allows annual increases ranging from a minimum of 2% to a maximum of 5%, depending on recent consumer price index figures.

The city’s rent control law generally applies to rental housing units built before Feb. 1, 1995. The law generally exempts single-family homes, condos and townhomes.

Inglewood

Inglewood’s highly complicated housing protection ordinance, which originally took effect in 2019, currently allows annual rent hikes of up to 10%. But the city’s rent caps can be much lower, depending on how cheap your current rent is and the size of your apartment building.

If you live in a building with five or more apartments, your landlord can raise your rent up to 3% between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026. That limit is based on the local consumer price index from April 2025. The city updates its allowable rent increases every May based on those figures.

However, Inglewood allows landlords with smaller buildings to impose higher rent increases. If you live in a rent-controlled apartment building with four units or fewer, your landlord can raise your rent by 8% starting July 1, 2025.

Additionally, Inglewood allows landlords to raise rents even more on tenants who pay 80% or less of the area’s “fair market rent.” Essentially, this means landlords can impose larger annual increases on those with cheaper rents.

Details on what qualifies as below "fair market rent” can be found on the city’s website. Tenants below those limits can receive rent hikes of up to 8% in buildings with five units or more — or up to 10% in buildings with four units or fewer.

The city’s limits on annual rent increases generally exempt single-family home and condo rentals (unless they’re owned by a corporate landlord), as well as any rental housing built within the past 15 years.

City of L.A.

Los Angeles landlords are currently allowed to raise rents by 3% on tenants covered by the city’s rent stabilization ordinance. The city also allows landlords to increase rents by another 1% if they pay for tenants' gas, plus another 1% if they pay for tenants' electricity. Along with the 3% baseline increase, that adds up to a total allowable rent hike of 5% if landlords cover both utilities.

This limit took effect July 1, 2025, and had been scheduled to remain in place until June 30, 2026 — unless the L.A. City Council voted to change the rules (which they have done).

It's important to note that depending on recent consumer price index figures, allowable rent increases in the city of L.A. can range from a minimum of 3% to a maximum of 8% — or up to 10% in cases where landlords cover their tenants' utility costs.

All of that is likely to change soon. On Nov.12, the City Council voted to significantly lower annual rent increases in most of the city’s apartments. Before any new rules take effect, they still need to be drafted by the City Attorney’s Office and returned to the council for a final vote.

Here's are the proposed changes:

• Rent increases would be capped at 4% annually
• An additional 2% increase for landlords who cover utilities would be eliminated.
• The exact rate each year would be equal to 90% of the change in the region’s consumer price index, a government measure of economic inflation.

Tenant advocates and some council members had pushed to lower the caps to 3%.

The current rules around rent increases follow a prolonged period of flat rents in L.A. The city banned rent hikes in rent-controlled housing during the COVID-19 pandemic. That prohibition expired Feb. 1, 2024, after remaining in place for nearly four years.

During the rent freeze, L.A. tenants filed a record number of complaints about illegal rent hikes. If you believe you received an unlawful rent hike in a city of L.A. rent-controlled apartment between April 1, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2024, you can file a complaint with the city’s housing department here.

The city’s limits generally apply to rental housing built before Oct. 1, 1978. Single-family home rentals are generally exempt. You can search for your address on the city’s ZIMAS website and click the “housing” tab on the left to find out if your home is subject to the city’s rent stabilization ordinance, or RSO.

Maywood

The city’s current limit on annual rent increases is 3%. This cap took effect on July 1, 2025, and will remain in place through June 30, 2026. The number is based on the April 2025 consumer price index.

Maywood’s City Council voted in August 2023 to implement the new rent control policy.

The southeastern L.A. city’s rules limit annual increases to 4% or the local consumer price index, whichever is lower.

Maywood’s rent control limits generally apply to rental housing built before Feb. 1, 1995. Single-family homes, condos and townhomes are generally not covered by the city’s rules.

Pasadena

The city’s current annual rent increase limit is 2.25%. This figure took effect Oct. 1, 2025, and will remain in place through Sept. 30, 2026.

Allowable increases under the city’s rent stabilization rules are equal to 75% of the region’s most recent consumer price index figures. Landlords can raise rents once per year, only after giving tenants a 30-day notice.

Rent control took root in Pasadena after voters there passed Measure H in November 2022. The city’s rules generally apply to rental properties built before Feb. 1, 1995. Condos and single-family homes are generally exempt.

Pomona

The city’s current limit on annual rent hikes is 4%.

That cap took effect Aug. 1, 2022 after the Pomona City Council passed an urgency ordinance in preparation for the passage of a permanent rent control law. The city’s website said a vote on that final ordinance was expected in October 2025.

The city’s rent hike limits generally apply to rental housing built before Feb. 1, 1995. Single-family homes, condos and townhomes are generally exempt.

Santa Ana

The city currently caps annual rent increases in rent-controlled housing at 2.42%. That limit took effect Sept. 1, 2025, and is set to remain in place through Aug. 31, 2026.

The city’s rules limit rent hikes to 80% of the local consumer price index or 3%, whichever is lower. The law, adopted in late 2021, generally applies to apartments built before Feb. 1, 1995.

Santa Monica

Currently, the city generally limits annual rent increases to 2.3% for covered units, with a maximum increase of $60 per month. That cap is set to continue until Sept. 1, 2026, when a new limit will be announced.

Voters in Santa Monica approved a ballot measure in November 2022 lowering allowable annual rent hikes to 3%, or a maximum of $70 per month. Just before that vote, in September 2022, Santa Monica’s rent control board had approved a 6% increase, with a cap of $140 per month. The ballot measure invalidated those higher increases.

Rent control in Santa Monica generally applies to apartments built before April 10, 1979.

West Hollywood

The city currently allows annual rent increases of up to 2.25% in rent-controlled housing. The limit took effect Sept. 1, 2025, and will remain in place through Aug. 31, 2026.

The city’s rent control rules generally apply to rental properties with two or more units that were first occupied before July 1, 1979.

The city calculates allowable increases using a formula based on 75% of the local consumer price index.

Unincorporated L.A. County

Annual rent hikes of up to 1.93% are now allowed in many rent-controlled housing units located in unincorporated areas of L.A. County. That limit took effect on July 1, 2025, and is scheduled to last through June 30, 2026.

But there are exceptions that allow for higher increases. Small landlords who testify to the county that they own no more than 10 rental housing units can raise rents up to 2.93% during this period. Mobile home tenants can receive an increase of up to 3%. And if your apartment is considered a “luxury unit” under the county’s rules, your landlord can raise your rent by 3.93%

The county’s rules generally limit rent hikes to no more than 3% — or less, based on a 60% of consumer price index formula. However, small landlords and luxury-unit owners can further increase rents by another 1% or 2%, respectively.

Confused about what an “unincorporated area” is exactly? Let’s break it down.

There are 88 incorporated cities across L.A. County. But many areas are not incorporated and are instead subject to rules passed by the county’s elected leaders. One in 10 county residents lives in an unincorporated area, including places like East Los Angeles, Florence-Graham and Altadena.

Many renters in these areas live in properties subject to the county’s rent stabilization ordinance. Those rules generally apply to rental housing in unincorporated areas built before Feb. 1, 1995.

Other cities

Many incorporated cities in L.A. do not have local forms of rent control. For a 2022 story about inflation and rising rents, we interviewed tenants in Burbank facing rent hikes of 10%. Those tenants were receiving such large increases in part because they lived in a city that does not impose local limits on annual rent hikes.

Even if your city lacks rent control, you may still be covered by a 2019 state law called the California Tenant Protection Act (also known as AB 1482). That law is meant to stop landlords from passing on very large rent increases to tenants across the state who live in areas without local rent control.

There are some exceptions. Newly constructed housing is not covered by this law. That means if you live in an apartment built within the past 15 years, these limits do not apply to your situation. But if your building is older than that, your unit is likely subject to the Tenant Protection Act’s limits on annual rent hikes.

The state law's rent increase limit is currently 8% for L.A. and Orange counties. That went into effect Aug. 1, 2025, and is based on more recent consumer price index figures. It's slightly down from last year's 8.9% maximum.

The law establishes a new annual baseline in August of each year. The rate is determined by the local consumer price index from April. State law sets the maximum allowed rent increase at 5% plus the local consumer price index (which was 3% in L.A. and Orange counties in April 2024) — or 10%, whichever is lower.

Typically, local rules take precedence over the state law. So if you live somewhere with stricter rent control, your landlord will have to comply with the lower local caps on rent increases.

NEW YORK — In Brian Sanchez's slice of Astoria, the FIFA World Cup doesn't begin with the first match. It starts weeks earlier, with the arrival of a sticker album — and a mission.

It's a deceptively simple one: Fill the book with all the stickers representing World Cup teams, players, venues and other tournament details. But these stickers are sold in blind packs, similar to baseball or Pokémon cards, which adds to the fun and the headaches.

Sanchez, 20, has tried to complete the task before but never succeeded. This year, he planned to skip it altogether, but it was hard to ignore the chatter and excitement among his friends and family — both at home and abroad — who were all participating.

"Honestly it comes down to a little bit of FOMO," he said.

The hunt for stickers, produced by the Italian company Panini, is a decades-old World Cup tradition that's especially popular in Latin America and Europe. In the U.S., interest has been building steadily over the years, but this summer, the buzz is bigger than ever.

Jason Howarth, senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations at Panini America, said retailers reported being sold out of sticker packets within a week of the release in late April — unseen in previous World Cup cycles.

"There's a different energy coming out of it," he said. "Right now, it's outpacing where we were in 2022 by three to five times."

The surging demand comes as collectors face their toughest challenge yet. This year, they need to track down 980 distinct stickers to put the album to bed — 310 more than at the 2022 World Cup and a record number for the company. It's a reflection of the upcoming tournament's historic scale, which is expanding from 32 teams to 48 across three countries.

This edition will also be the second to last men's World Cup sticker album produced by Panini — ending a partnership that stretches back over five decades. Last month, FIFA announced that starting in 2031, U.S.-based Fanatics will be the official supplier of FIFA soccer cards, trading cards and stickers.

On a recent afternoon in Central Park, Sanchez met up with other collectors. Hunched over stacks of stickers, some two dozen people inspected the offerings with laser focus.

With only four stickers missing, Sanchez was already looking forward to earning bragging rights as the first person in his family across the finish line this year.

" I'm feeling pretty accomplished," he said. "I've been trying to get a win, and this is gonna be a huge win for me."

An expensive, labor-intensive but rewarding hobby

A single pack of seven stickers — available online, at corner stores or drugstore chains like Walgreens and CVS — now cost $2, compared to four years ago when five stickers retailed for around $1. That means simply buying enough packs to accumulate 980 stickers would total $280.

Given the costs, finishing the book is rarely a solitary pursuit, and aficionados often meet up to spread the wealth, according to Crista Latvis, 26, who organized the recent sticker swap in Central Park.

"You can't just buy your way into it," she said. "Otherwise,  it's super expensive and you've got to be very lucky."

For many, these gatherings are part of the pastime's draw.

"It's great to meet other people who are also doing it and also excited for the World Cup, especially since it's here," Latvis said.

Sebastian Clavijo, who attended Latvis' swap, said he spent tens of thousands of dollars on his quest this year. Clavijo, 32, has been collecting Panini stickers since he was 4. This year, his goal is to complete the book only with pieces featuring red and purple borders — an even rarer get.

" I just like soccer and I love collecting," he said. "That's my hobby, you know?"

In 2022, Panini introduced stickers with different colored borders that vary in rarity. That element has been an especially big hit with the trading card community and contributed to the hobby's appeal in the U.S., according to Howarth from Panini America.

Panini popularity has grown along with soccer

Demand has always existed in New York, Texas, Florida, among other big states, but it's also emerging nationwide, in places like Phoenix and the Northwest, according to Howarth.

" As soccer has grown, so has Panini," he said.

Howarth believes part of this year's popularity stems from the expanded World Cup format. Teams that have never qualified for the tournament — and therefore never been sticker-fied by Panini — are finally getting their moment.

For some, completing the sticker album is driven by nostalgia for their childhood, family or home country.

Linda Lino never heard of the hobby until she was 18, and her grandmother gave her a Panini sticker book. That was in 2014. Lino has completed every World Cup edition since, in part in memory of her late grandmother.

"It started with my grandma and then it became like a whole family thing," Lino said. "I love the community that it brings together."

That's especially true with her father, who never had the chance to collect stickers when he was a kid in Peru, Lino said. Now, the two are making up for lost time.

"My dad is so excited," she said. "He's like 'I want to help you. I want to put the stickers together.'"

Clemente Lisi, a sports journalist who has written about the Panini sticker phenomenon, said the sticker album serves as a time capsule for the World Cup. With the tournament's return to the U.S. after 32 years, he expects it will produce more first-time collectors looking for a way to remember this summer.

"This may be the only tangible thing from a World Cup unless you go to a game," he said.

Lisi, who also runs Planet Soccer on Substack, anticipates that the U.S. company Fanatics will further cater to the market at home.

" It'll even become more American and more baked into our culture," he said.

Sanchez, the college student from Astoria, dabbles in collecting other items, like vinyls and trading cards. But what he appreciates most about the Panini sticker scene is its supportive and rarely competitive nature.

" The community around the World Cup stickers is something like I've never seen before," he said. "The community is just so nice."

After countless hours of trading and visiting multiple convenience stores, Sanchez found his 980th and final sticker at the swap in Central Park. It was of the Iraqi team. He let out a gasp, followed by a smile that spanned ear to ear. "Let's goooo!"

With a mountain of duplicates left, Sanchez wasn't ready to move on just yet. His next step was to help his mother finish her album.

" I'm going to take a break," he said. "I'm going to celebrate today and then get back to it."

Topline:

The backstory: Once a year, dozens of sound artists converge on the hill with views of the harbor below to perform their audio art, which can range from serene to “beautifully weird.”

What to expect: This year includes a performer bending a bar of tin with his bare hands to get it to emit what’s called a "tin cry" and synthesizer-based soundscapes that take inspiration from both the ocean and the industrial space below.

When to go: Soundpedro is free and lasts from 7-10 p.m. Saturday.

More info at the Soundpedro website.

You may know about Union Station as an L.A. landmark or as a transportation hub — but how much do you know about its rich architectural history?

To foster that interest and knowledge, Metro created a series of public tours of the station this spring.

“There's so much that you might just walk by without really having the opportunity to delve deeply into,” said Zipporah Lax Yamamoto, deputy executive officer of Metro’s art program. “[The tours are] a really wonderful opportunity to be able to spend time with the station, learn more about the historic landmark, which belongs to all of us.”

Union Station in Los Angeles

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Architectural style

It’s called Union Station because when it opened in 1939, it connected the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railroads with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway.

While it was designed by father-and-son team Donald and John Parkinson, the architects who gave us L.A. City Hall, its style is very different. Union Station’s interior and exterior mixes art deco, Spanish colonial and other styles into a hybrid dubbed Mission Moderne.

As you begin the tour, entering from Alameda Street, tour guides ask you to look up at the decorative elements in the high ceilings. The beams and geometric patterns may look like wood — but they’re actually just painted to look that way.

A community destroyed by development

Along the way, the tour gives background on pieces created more than 30 years ago. These include "City of Dreams/River of History" by artists May Sun and Richard Wyatt in 1995. Sun’s piece uses remnants of the Chinese American homes torn down to build the station, a reference to the high price that community paid for this building’s construction.

Detail from "City of Dreams/River of History," created by artists May Sun and Richard Wyatt at Union Station.

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“It was an enormous price. Chinatown ceased to exist in this area. … The families that lived here during that time are still around and maintain archives of that time period and the original Chinatown here, and we've worked with those families to have those objects on display,” Lax Yamamoto said.

Meanwhile, Wyatt’s large-scale mural includes the face of a Chinese man, along with nine other people of different races, ethnicities and ages; a nod to the diversity of the city since its founding in the late 1700s.

There are also stops to see new art installed for the World Cup.

A mural by Richard Wyatt at Union Station

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There are three tours left in the series but the RSVPs have reached their maximum; however, Lax Yamamoto said Metro will decide whether to continue them based on what people have thought about the tours.

Meanwhile, Union Station is set to swell with people in the next couple of months as L.A. hosts World Cup games. The station is the site of an official FIFA-sponsored Fan Zone from June 25-28.

When I first came to the states many years ago, if I’d mentioned Arsenal, people would have thought I was referring to the U.S. military or something. But all that has changed. You can now watch U.K. premier league games in sports bars, most kids play soccer, and Ted Lasso is must-watch TV.

To which I say — welcome. We English are proud of the fact that soccer began with us more than 150 years ago. And every World Cup, we think, surely this will be the year that the trophy returns home — the year that we’ll win!

Queen Elizabeth II awarding the Jules Rimet World Cup Trophy to Bobby Moore after England won the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley.

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I mean it did happen … once… back in 1966. It’s such a long time ago the game was televised in black and white and shillings were still being used. My mother was nine months pregnant with my brother, and got so excited jumping up and down she went into labor and had him the next day. World Cup Willie they called him. Actually his name is David, but never mind.

Since then, every four years everyone in the U.K. watches the games with bated breath. And then something stupid will happen, and we’ll lose, like that time in 1998 when David Beckham (who played for England before he came to L.A. Galaxy) lost his temper and was sent off, and we’ll sit there, gloomy and despondent. I know because I was there in my friend’s living room in London, gloomy and despondent, thinking just once, just once, maybe could we please have a win?

David Beckham's infamous 1998 red card in the England vs. Argentina game.

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The last World Cup, I went to Ye Olde Kings Head in Santa Monica to watch England play. At 7 a.m. it was full of people already on their third pint of beer. And when the team got through to the next round, the gentle men of England ran outside the pub, whipped off their shirts and started weaving through traffic, singing football chants and acting like hooligans. I really couldn’t decide if I was embarrassed or if it felt like home.

Anyway, this time, since I’m now an American citizen, it’s in my contract that I need to support Team USA. I’m a dual citizen, though, so I’ll also be cheering for England. If by any chance Team USA and England play each other, my two selves will be watching, with a cup of tea in one hand, and a cold brewski in the other, and the polarities will explode, or something. But what will probably happen is that both teams will be eclipsed by Brazil or France playing the beautiful game… beautifully. Cheers.