Rent Hikes in L. A. Again Limited to 4%

For the second straight year, rental increases on most residences will be limited to 4% for Los Angeles tenants under the city’s inflation-based rent control law, officials said Friday.

The consumer price index for the Los Angeles-Long Beach area rose 4.3% for the 1986-87 fiscal year ended in September, meaning rents may be increased 4% beginning next July on affected units, said Jim McGuirk, a spokesman for the city Rent Stabilization Board. The city rent control law calls for rounding off the CPI figure.

In contrast to annual rent control battles between tenants and landlords several years ago, adjustments have occurred relatively quietly since 1985, when the City Council agreed to base rent hikes on changes in the cost of living.

An estimated 484,000 rental housing units in the city fall under the law. The controls apply to units as long as a tenant remains. Landlords may increase rents as much as they like when units are vacated, but the limits on increases apply again as long as the new tenants remain.

No limits on rent increases apply to units built after October, 1978. All landlords may pass on specified additional costs, such as major building improvements.

Basic rent increases have ranged between 4% and 5% since 1985. Under an earlier, highly controversial version of the rent control law, devised during the days of double-digit inflation, a flat cap of 7% was placed on annual increases.

Written into the law is the requirement for the City Council next year to conduct a full review of the law’s effects, although the council may at any time consider revisions, McGuirk said.