LA’s rent freeze is putting small landlords out of business
To the editor: I am in a family of mom-and-pop, generational owners of historic apartments in Echo Park and Silver Lake. The city of Los Angeles rent freeze enacted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is putting us out of business. (“It’s time to end L.A.’s rent freeze,” editorial, Nov. 5)
Increased bills for insurance, utilities, maintenance, repairs and inspections make it very costly to keep our buildings safe, clean and up to code. This years-long rent freeze has forced us to postpone maintenance projects, cancel gardening services, abandon pest control services and keep the building at a minimum standard.
We do not want to sell, because we are part of the community and have pride in our ownership. If we do sell, these historic small multi units will almost certainly be purchased by large investment firms or developers, which will likely demolish and rebuild.
Raising the rent will not bring us more profit. It will only help us cover our rising expenses.
Please see our side of the equation.
Geza Tokes, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Your editorial spoke of rent increases on rent-stabilized units having being held off during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the difficulty owners have had paying for necessary upkeep.
Actually, those limits only applied to rent increases for ongoing tenants. Whenever a tenant moves out, an owner can raise the rent for the next tenant to whatever the market can bear. This type of increase has never been limited by the rent stabilization ordinance.
So, even under the current system, rents inevitably rise over time, following the long, ongoing march of prices in L.A. Our rent stabilization ordinance, which admittedly is a boon few cities have, really only makes that upward march more herky-jerky and perhaps slows it down a bit.
People move an awful lot in L.A., and every time someone leaves a rent-stabilized building, the owners have free rein to increase rents, which I’m sure helps these struggling owners keep up with their rising expenses.
Michael Scharf, Los Angeles
