Can your landlord raise your rent right now?

If you live in a rent-controlled apartment in the city of Los Angeles, your landlord will not be able to raise your rent for at least another year.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the mayor paused rent increases in rent-controlled buildings. But the freeze was due to expire 60 days after the end of a local emergency period that he declared back in March. The Los Angeles City Council voted today to extend the freeze for 12 months past the that expiration.

“When this emergency passes, millions of Angelenos will be left with more debt and fewer job opportunities,” said councilmember David Ryu, who has pushed for the extension. “The least we can do is ensure that they don’t face a rent increase while they’re trying to get back on their feet.”

The local emergency period does not have a stated expiration, so there’s no specific end date yet for the freeze, says a Ryu spokesperson.

Seven out of 10 renters live in units that are rent-controlled, according to the housing department (the official is term “rent-stabilized”). The rent stabilization law covers 624,000 apartments, townhomes, and other units in 118,000 buildings across the city.

Units that are not rent stabilized will not be impacted by the freeze, meaning landlords can hike rent in those units in accordance with leases and California’s new rent control law. City leaders have said that state law prevents them from stopping landlords from raising rents at buildings that are not rent-controlled. That state law is called Costa Hawkins, and there is a movement to repeal it.

In rent-controlled units, property owners are typically allowed to raise rents annually by an amount determined by the city, usually it’s about 4 percent. That’s now on hold.

Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles executive director Daniel Yukelson has called the freeze unfair. He says it benefits renters who might not be facing financial hardships right now.

“Property owners are not public ATMs,” Yukelson said in a statement. “At what point does the city of Los Angeles provide any level of assistance to mom-and-pop property owners in danger of permanently losing their livelihoods? We deserve help just like all other citizens of our city.”

Tenant advocates, on the other hand, say the freeze, while “good,” doesn’t go nearly far enough.

The temporary fix doesn’t do much to address the fact that many people are going to have trouble making their rent at its current rate too, says Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival.

“It’s far from what we truly need,” says Gross, who wants to see a full eviction moratorium and a total rent and mortgage freeze.