Landlords in fire-ravaged Los Angeles are raising rents, in some cases more than doubling, in violation of California law prohibiting price gouging, as thousands of residents seek shelter. There is.
By law, landlords are not allowed to increase home prices by more than 10% after a state of emergency is declared.
But when we looked into local listings and horror stories from real estate agents, we found that many opportunistic landlords were openly flouting the law after wildfires destroyed entire communities. From Malibu to the Pacific Palisades to Altadena, some 12,000 structures lie abandoned.
Samira Tapia is a real estate agent based in Los Angeles. told the New York Times She said she inspected more than 400 properties and found that nearly 100 had rent increases above the 10% threshold.
She told the magazine that one rental property in North Hollywood went up in price by $800 overnight, to $5,700 a month.
In an extreme case, a five-bedroom home in Santa Monica was listed last February 2024 for $12,500 per month, but was recently relisted for $28,000 per month. This is an increase of 124%. According to Inside Edition's Lisa Guerrero.
Laura Kate Jones, another Los Angeles-based real estate agent who is searching for homes for clients whose Pacific Palisades properties were destroyed by wildfires, said rents on some West Los Angeles properties dropped overnight. They found an increase of 15% to 20%.
One listing agent said he raised the rent by $3,000 during one tour.
“People are so panicked right now and desperately trying to get into their homes that they're just throwing money away,” Jones told the Times.
“People taking advantage of this. It's scary.”
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Chelsea Kirk, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Strategic Action for a Just Economy, said: Edited crowdsourced spreadsheet This includes the address, Zillow link, rent increase date, and exact price before and after the hike.
A standout among the properties is a 9,615-square-foot Tudor-style mansion in Bel Air. The home was listed in December for $29,500 a month.
But last week, the listing resurfaced at a new price of $39,000 per month.
Prices are soaring even for small, affordable properties. The 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom home in Woodland Hills was listed for $3,900 in November and is currently on the market for $5,900. According to Yahoo News.
California's exorbitant demand for housing comes even as Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency last Tuesday and invoked anti-price gouging laws to curb opportunistic rent increases.
Real estate experts and housing advocates called on state officials to aggressively enforce price gouging laws.
Jason Oppenheim, director of Netflix's Selling Sunset, publicly condemned the practice as “illegal and immoral” in a time of crisis.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta also vowed to investigate violations and impose penalties, including fines of up to $10,000 and jail time.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who has been heavily criticized for her response to the fires, announced Sunday that the city has launched a “new simple intake system” for reporting price gouging.
Bass posted on X: “Please call @MyLA311 to report illegal rent and price increases. We will not tolerate this.”
