Los Angeles County Rent Gouging Ban Ending Soon

Los Angeles County landlords will soon get more pricing power in a rental market still reeling from the January 2025 fires.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors fell short of the necessary votes to extend emergency anti-price gouging protections that capped rent increases after the Palisades and Eaton fires displaced thousands of residents early last year, LAist reported. The countywide restrictions are now set to expire May 29, more than 16 months after the fires ripped through Los Angeles neighborhoods and tightened an already strained housing market.

The rules barred landlords from raising rents more than 10 percent above pre-fire advertised levels and also prohibited owners from charging more than 200 percent of fair market rent on previously unlisted units. Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis voted to continue the restrictions through late June, while Kathryn Barger, Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell abstained, effectively killing the extension.

Horvath argued the protections were still needed because roughly two-thirds of fire survivors remain in temporary housing and many have exhausted their insurance payouts.

“[Residents] have run out of financial displacement coverage from their insurance companies, which reinforces the need to continue price gouging restrictions, to protect these homeowners from drastic price increases,” Horvath said. “We continue hearing from residents who are struggling to recover financially and stay housed as they rebuild.”

Landlord groups, meanwhile, have spent months lobbying to end the emergency rules, arguing they had drifted far beyond their original purpose. Jesus Rojas of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles told county leaders during Tuesday’s meeting that the restrictions are “wrongfully being used to harm thousands of rental housing providers throughout the entire county.”

The county shut down post-fire price gouging restrictions on hotels in March. Survey data at the time showed that few displaced families were still staying in temporary lodging. Horvath said the rent-gouging ban should stay in effect until the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs could share more data on resident displacement and the rental market.

The Rent Brigade founding organizer Chelsea Kirk said tenant pressure helped keep the ban in place for so long, even if the rules were infrequently enforced. “Now that these protections are actually ending, any political will or resources towards getting this enforced no longer feels like a possibility,” Kirk said.

— Chris Malone Méndez