With statewide rent control on horizon, some LA landlords start hiking rents

Property owners have been responding to recent temporary rent freezes from a flurry of municipalities

Assemblyman David Chiu, author of AB 1482 (Credit: iStock)
Assemblyman David Chiu, author of AB 1482 (Credit: iStock)

Landlords have begun pushing back against recent efforts by a flurry of Los Angeles municipalities to adopt stricter rent regulations, and from vows by legislators to enact statewide rent caps.

Some landlords in neighboring cities are responding by hiking rents before any potential regulation hits them, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

Rents in one Anaheim community, the Casa Grande Apartments, jumped $700 in one month, or 40 percent, on July 1, according to the Daily News report. The owners feared new rent control measures could soon permanently restrict them to below-market rents.

Similar rent hikes have hit places like Newport Beach and Long Beach.

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Anaheim, however, had already bucked the rent hike freeze trend that other municipalities have adopted, voting this summer to reject a six-month rent control ordinance that would have limited increases to 5 percent. But cities like Inglewood, Glendale, Long Beach and most recently Culver City, have all passed tighter — though temporary — rent regulation measures.

This week, a state Senate committee will review the proposed statewide bill, which would limit rent increases to 7 percent per year. It would apply to all rental properties older than 10 years. Earlier this summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he supports it, and would be in favor of even stronger regulations.

Rent control advocates are also working on a different version of the failed Proposition 10 ballot measure, which would cap rents on more properties and vacant units. [LADN] — Gregory Cornfield