A new limit was placed on annual rent increases by California landlords beginning on Aug. 1, lasting for one year.
This year, landlords in Orange County and Los Angeles County cannot raise rent more than 8.9%, an increase compared to last year’s 8.8%.
Based on the 2020 CA Tenant Protection Act, AB 1482, the annual limit is adjusted every August, based on inflation, with the maximum increase being what is lower between 10% or “more than 5% plus the percentage change in the cost of living.”
These rent limits are decided by the annual Consumer Price Index or inflation rate in addition to 5%. The Tenant Protection Act (TPA) aims to prevent excessive annual rent increases and requires landlords to have a “just cause” to remove tenants from their rental properties.
The act does not apply to tenants who have resided in their rental units for less than a year, property constructed in the last 15 years and to affordable housing. A written notice is required prior to increasing rent, with a 30-day notice for increases of 10% or less and a 90-day notice for increases over 10%.
In the past, landlords have used these exceptions to increase rent more than the 10% limit. Casa Blanca Apartments resident Teresa Farias told NBC News that she saw a 30% increase in her July 2023 rent.
UCI School of Social Ecology conducted a poll in August and found that 51% of OC residents are actively considering leaving OC with housing and cost of living listed being the top two factors. A UCI-OC poll also found that affordable housing was one of the “most serious” problems for 69% of OC residents in 2023.
The median sale price for a home in Irvine is $1,710,000 with prices up 22.1% compared to last year. The median rent in Irvine is 124% higher than the national median.
20-year-old UCI student Sameeha Shaikh has been living in Irvine for two years.
“I lived in a townhouse off campus with three housemates, and I was in a double my first year so the rent wasn’t terrible,” Shaikh told New University. “I wasn’t too shocked [about rent prices] since housing near UCI is usually on the pricier side and along with that Irvine is a nicer city.”
The city of Irvine is currently adjusting to a state mandate that requires 23,610 new housing units by October 2029, 10,000 of which were designated as low-income housing.
“We just haven’t built enough housing in Orange County,” economic advisor for the Orange County Business Council Wallace Walrod told LA Times. “It’s very difficult to do, and we need to build more housing units at all ends of the spectrum.”
Malaika Sultan is a News Intern for the summer 2024 quarter. She can be reached at malaiks1@uci.edu.
