New Blog — TENANTS OF CALIFORNIA

NON-RENT STABILIZED

If you DO NOT live in a building under Rent Stabilization then rent increases depend on the type of rental agreement you have with your landlord.

• Lease of more than month-to-month: Landlord CANNOT increase rent during the term of the lease, unless the lease explicitly allows for rent increases.

• Periodic rental agreement (a month-to-month or shorter): Landlords can increase your rent as often as they like, but:

• California law requires 30-day advance written notice of the increase, and such an increase cannot be retaliatory. The written notice tells you how much the increased rent price is and when it goes into effect.

Landlords MUST give at least:

• 30-day advance notice for rent increase of up to 10% of the previous rent charged at any time in the last 12 months

• 60-day advance notice if the rent increase is greater than 10%

RENT STABILIZATION & RENT INCREASES

HOW DO I KNOW IF I LIVE UNDER RENT STABILIZATION?

• If you live in the City of Los Angeles AND your unit was built as housing before October 1, 1978 (i.e. Certificate of Occupancy issued before this date), then you are probably protected by these laws.

• The cities of West Hollywood and Santa Monica also have rent stabilization laws, which differ somewhat from L.A. (See Chap. 3)What is Rent Stabilization?

The L.A. Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) is a law that restricts how much a landlord can increase your rent.

• Through June 30, 2018*, landlords cannot increase rent more than 3% per year (or 5% if they also pay utilities). In general, under RSO, landlords cannot increase rent past 8%.

• Increases can only occur every 12 months.

• Rent Stabilization does not limit how much money a landlord can charge at the start of a rental agreement, only how much the rent can increase once the unit is occupied by the same tenant.

LIMITS THE LEGAL REASONS FOR EVICTION.

You can only be evicted for the reasons listed in the RSO, and in some cases you MUST be compensated.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

The L.A. Tenants Union knows that many landlords use the failure to make repairs as a way to evict tenants. When tenants complain to their landlords about the lack of repairs, or about the quality of repair, many landlords tell tenants to move out if they are unhappy. That is illegal.

Under California law, ALL Tenants (with or without Rent Stabilization) have the right to live in a unit that is both safe and sanitary.

This means that your landlord is legally required to repair or address: