LA-Area Landlords Illegally Hike Rents 20% After Fires

It’s official. Landlords in the Los Angeles market have illegally gouged renters scrambling to find homes after historic wildfires this month torched entire neighborhoods.

Overall, rents jumped by 20 percent across Los Angeles County after the wildfires that began Jan. 7 burned an estimated 10,000 homes, killing at least 28 people, according to the Washington Post, citing figures from RentCast.

In nearly 30 cities and Los Angeles neighborhoods, the median rent for homes listed within two weeks after the fires started spiked well past the legal limit of 10 percent, compared with those listed within two weeks before the blazes that burned from Altadena to Pacific Palisades.

They include Encino, where prices rose 130 percent. And in Hermosa Beach, where rents doubled.

Parts of Sherman Oaks and Valley Village, in the San Fernando Valley, saw more than threefold increases, according to the Post’s analysis of ZIP codes.

And that’s on top of the already tight housing market before the firestorms across L.A. County.

The Post analyzed the prices of about 1,700 rental homes posted in the two weeks before the wildfires and nearly 3,000 units listed after. They were located in Los Angeles County, including in the city of Los Angeles.

Single-family homes had the largest jump, at 24 percent, followed by a 15-percent increase for condominiums and a 14-percent increase for both townhouses and apartments, according to the Post.

An executive order signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom after the fires began made it illegal to jack up the cost of hotels, housing, gas and other goods by more than 10 percent.

The California attorney general’s office has issued more than 500 warning letters to hotels and landlords accused of price gouging violations.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced charges last week against La Cañada-Flintridge real estate agent Mike Kobeissi for allegedly attempting to price-gouge a couple who lost their home in the Eaton Fire.

An investigation found that the couple tried to rent a home but after their application was received, they were told that the price was increasing by 38 percent. The charge could carry a fine of up to $10,000 and a year in jail.

“These predators are looking at the disaster with dollar signs in their eyes,” Bonta told reporters.

Rafael Carbajal, who heads the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs for the county, said his office has received more than 600 price-gouging complaints in just a few weeks, compared to fewer than 400 complaints in 2020.

Chelsea Kirk, who started a spreadsheet Jan. 10, collected more than 1,400 price gouging reports.

The Post’s own analysis found price hikes ran from extravagant mansions to more modest rentals, with some showing recent price reductions after soaring 30, 40 or 50 percent.

A two-bed, two-bathroom rental listed on Zillow rose almost 40 percent on Jan. 10, then was taken down two days later. The same address also appeared on a website for Nest Seekers International, a real estate firm.

When a Post reporter called Nest Seekers to ask if the property had been leased, and if the figures on Zillow were accurate, a representative said, “Do yourself a favor and jump in the lake,” followed by an expletive.

— Dana Bartholomew