LA City Council Postpones Vote On First Rent Increases Since The Pandemic Struck

The Los Angeles city council postponed a vote scheduled for Wednesday on a hotly debated topic: rent hikes.

The council was scheduled to consider a proposal that would allow landlords to increase rents by 4% to 6% beginning on Feb. 1 in most of the city’s apartments. The author of that proposal — councilmember Bob Blumenfield — was absent during Wednesday’s meeting, and the vote was delayed until Tuesday.

The looming February deadline represents the first time landlords will be allowed to raise rents in rent-controlled L.A. apartments since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Increases have been banned since March of 2020 as part of L.A.’s COVID-19 rent freeze. Nearly three-quarters of the city’s apartments are under rent control and subject to the rent freeze. The city’s rules generally cover rental housing built before October 1978.

Tenants say the lack of rent increases has helped them afford housing costs at a time of high inflation.

Landlords have long complained that rising utility and maintenance costs, coupled with the inability to raise rents, have created financial hardships.

The next steps

If the council fails to pass Blumenfield’s proposal, tenants could soon receive rent increases of 7%, plus an additional 2% if their landlords cover gas and electric costs. Some councilmembers hoped to continue the rent freeze for six more months, giving lawmakers time to study and enact long-term changes to L.A.’s rent control policy. Others want to keep the Feb. 1 date, but with lower allowable increases of 4% to 6%.

In a separate vote this week, L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors set allowable rent increases at 4% starting on Jan. 1 for rent-controlled properties in unincorporated parts of the county.

L.A. County’s rent control rules generally apply to rental housing in unincorporated areas built before February 1995. You can check to see whether you live in an unincorporated area here.

What to watch

The L.A. proposal needs eight votes to pass the 15-member council.

Two councilmembers have already rejected the plan in committee, saying small landlords need higher increases to cover their increased property maintenance costs.

Other councilmembers are expected to recuse themselves from the vote because they're landlords.