Rent Hikes Return In Most LA Apartments After City’s Nearly Four-Year Ban

For almost four years, the city of Los Angeles has prohibited landlords from increasing rent on most tenants. But starting Thursday, rent hikes are back.

As of Feb. 1, the city allows landlords to raise rents up to 6% annually in rent-controlled housing, which makes up about three-quarters of the city’s total apartment stock.

The increases arrive on the same day the city is requiring an estimated 93,000 households to pay back their remaining pandemic rent debts — or face potential eviction.

Landlords have lobbied against the city’s rent freeze for years, saying it prevented them from keeping up with rising property ownership and maintenance costs during a time of soaring inflation.

Tenant advocates and some elected officials have pushed for lower increases. U.S. Census Bureau data estimates that 54% of L.A. County tenants already pay rents considered unaffordable by federal government standards.

“This rent increase is set to go the same day that back rent is due from COVID-19,” said City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez before a vote that reduced the maximum allowable increases from 9% to 6%.

“We cannot keep up with the number of people falling into homelessness,” Hernandez said at the time.

Federal researchers have estimated that when cities see their median rents rise by $100 per month, homelessness tends to rise by about 9%. Homelessness in the city of L.A. increased 10% in last year’s count.

Who is affected by the increase?

Tenants covered by the city’s rent control rules can now see rent increases. Those rules generally apply to tenants living in rental housing built before October 1978.

Increases have already been allowed for L.A. tenants living in housing not covered by the city’s rent control ordinance.

Those living in apartments built more than 15 years ago, but after 1978, are covered by a state law that currently bans rent increases above 8.8%.

Tenants in more recently constructed housing, as well as many single-family homes, have no protections against large increases.

Landlords must first give renters a 30-day notice before rent increases can go into effect.

To check if your housing is covered by the city’s rent control rules, visit this city website.

Can my rent go up 6%? Or only 4%?

The city of L.A.’s rules allow landlords to increase rents up to 6%, but only if they cover both a tenant’s gas and electricity bills. Landlords who do not pay for either of those utilities can only raise rents up to 4%.

In years leading up to the pandemic, and before inflation took off, the city of L.A.’s allowable annual increases in rent-controlled housing rarely rose above 3% (or 5% in units where landlords cover utilities).

Allowable increases for the city’s rent-controlled units are currently capped at 4 to 6%, but future increases could rise as high as 8 to 10%, depending on inflation figures.

The city’s rules differ from regulations in many other parts of Southern California, where local rent hike limits currently tend to be around 3% or less, with no provision for further increases due to utility costs.

Landlords say ‘everything has gone up’

Fred Sutton, a spokesperson for a landlord advocacy group called the California Apartment Association, said no other city has banned rent increases due to COVID-19 as long as L.A.

“The city of Los Angeles has been unique in extending this far, far longer than anywhere else,” Sutton said.

During the pandemic, Sutton said, landlords have seen repair costs, insurance premiums and city trash hauling fees soar.

Many L.A. apartment buildings “need a lot of work and maintenance,” Sutton said. “The cost of everything has gone up. And in order for housing to be provided as a service, operators need to be able to account for those financial changes.”

Sutton said he expects the vast majority of landlords in the city to raise rents by at least 4%.

“When there have been four years of no rent increases, that's 1% per year,” he said. “In no world is that outrageous. It's outrageous that people are upset about it.”

Many L.A. tenants spend more than half their paycheck on rent

For L.A. tenants already putting most of their income toward rent, even a 4% increase could mean having to further cut back on other necessities like food, health care and transportation costs.

Researchers with the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute published a study this week using U.S. Census Bureau data to explore how many L.A. tenants are burdened by high rents.

They found that at least half of L.A. County renters in every ethnic group are paying more than 30% of their income on rent, a level the federal government defines as “rent burdened.” Some groups are more likely to be rent burdened, particularly Black and Latino renters.

The researchers found that 28% of Latino renters, and 35% of Black renters, are "severely rent burdened," meaning they spend more than half their income on rent and utilities.

“If you factor in other living cost increases, it's just not survivable,” said UCLA research analyst Jie Zong, a co-author of the study. “It might lead to some significant impacts on housing security.”

When rents rise and tenants can’t move

Sherry Gertz, a 76-year-old renter in Valley Glen, received notice she’ll need to pay a 4% rent increase on Feb. 1. She was surprised that her landlord also required her to increase her security deposit by 4%, a practice the city’s housing department allows.

“It doesn't really make sense to me, but they're trying to get money from everybody,” Gertz said.

Gertz relies mainly on Social Security to fund her retirement. She said rent takes up more than 40% of her budget, making it hard to keep up with rising prices in other areas of the economy.

“I can't go to work now, I'm too old,” Gertz said. After living in her current apartment for 13 years, she said finding cheaper housing in L.A. would be impossible. “There's nowhere to move. I don't even make enough to move,” she said.

Some tenants feel the city’s enforcement of the rent freeze has been spotty.

Previous LAist reporting found that L.A.’s housing department has allowed landlords to charge large rent hikes during the pandemic based on “discount” clauses buried in leases (a practice other cities prohibit). Complaints to the city about illegal rent increases have risen in recent years, despite the ban.