HOW THE CITY HOUSING DEPT. HANDLES REDUCTION OF THE 2% UTILITY ALLOWANCE.
This article applies to those tenants in rent controlled units where the landlord pays for the utilities, roughly 123,000 apartments, and the building is master metered.
“The City of Los Angeles has an estimated 624,000 to 650,000 rental units regulated under its Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO). Key Details About LA’s Rent-Controlled Units. Governing Rule: These properties are tracked by the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD). Age Requirement: The RSO primarily covers multi-unit residential properties built on or before October 1, 1978. Building Count: These units are distributed across roughly 118,000 individual properties throughout the city. Market Share: These rent-stabilized apartments make up about 74% of the city’s multi-family rental housing stock. Source Google AI.
Around December 12, 2025 (Posted 12/14/2025 and effective 2/2/2026), the Los Angeles City council posted ordinance 188795 (council file no. 23-1134). That ordinance states in pertinent part, “Any annual rent increase not previously noticed and served during the period beginning June 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, shall comply with this subsection. Any such rent increase shall not exceed three percent and shall not include any additional increase based on the landlord’s payment of utilities.” (Editor note: the previous increase was 1% rent increase for each utility paid by the landlord.)
So I filed an online RSO (rent control department) complaint 2/28/2026. In part I stated, “This is a rent controlled building receiving section 8 assistance. I believe this applies to units 9, 5, 8, and 17. I am not sure of the other tenants since many are Section 8. We (my unit) received a rent increase in December 2025 effective February 2026. That was paid around February 1. Around Feb 2 I read the LAHD website that as of Feb 2, landlords can no longer charge the 2% if they pay the utilities. This rental agreement the utilities are paid by the landlord. The landlord receives the 2% for the electric and gas. After we paid the February 2026 rent, I faxed the owner and left voicemails regarding the decrease in rent due to the 2% council passed ordinance. The owner did not respond. I paid the regular rent amount for March 1 which does not include the reduction. The owner has accepted and at this point endorsed the rent checks. This complaint is against Hi Point 1522 LLC and its agent Power Property Management Inc.” City case number CE 328163.
As the city requested, I provided (numerous) rent increase notices as well as the pertinent notice for December 18, 2025, which falls within the time period of the 188795 ordinance. City employees Agassi Topchian and Adrid Bender closed the case in writing August 27, 2026, and wrote in part mentioning the period prior to February 2, 2026 and said that the notices of rent increase for 2024 and 2025 were in compliance. (Editor note: these were not the subject of the complaint I filed). Further Topchain , Manager of Mayor Karen Bass, states, “moving forward, any future rent increase you receive can no longer include an additional increase based on the landlords payment of utilities, unless the LA municipal code is further amended.”
Topchain essentially ignores that I have provided to him the rent notice of increase of December 18, 2025, which would fall under the 188, 795 ordinance. I’ve asked Topchian by email and voicemail to issue a corrected notice and take into account the notice of rent increase that was served on December 18, 2025. There has no been no response from Topchian.
The rent increase notice of December 18, 2025 to me was clearly served between the period June 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. Is this not clear to Topchian?
The contact information for Hi Point 1522 LLC is thru Power Property Management Inc. Fax 310-661-8195. I have asked them to comply with the ordinance and they have not responded.
City employees Topchian and Astrid Bender can be reached at 213-808–8977.
Due to the landlord illegal rent increase, the estimated loss to the tenant myself (and potentially others based on their rent amount) is $34.00 per month moving forward, and going back to February 2, 2026, owed 8×34.00 =$272.00.
If 18 units were owed that amount, the total would be 18x$272.00 or $4,896.00 owed to tenants from the landlord.
LA Rent Control (RAC) and Permits (LADBS) 