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.
This article also appeared on the social media Next Door. There is a link to that posting in the Fairfax area. https://nextdoor.com/p/L87jNcTKTQBn?utm_source=share&extras=NDE4MDk1MTk%3D&utm_campaign=1789170756020&share_action_id=048793ba-70bd-423a-ae40-c00a43f3695f
Here are some of the comments that appeared on Next Door.
Tenants are being treated unfairly where I live. Housing services are being denied and the owner does not comply with building code requirements. The owner violates tenants right to privacy. The owner has also vandalized one tenant’s car because they complained. The landlord has engaged in illegal rent increases. Things break that the landlord will not fix (“slumlord”) . Under these circumstances, I believe two tenants vacated. Tenants will move when they have the time to organize the move, considering that their job, family and other considerations can be managed. Tenants will also move when they have the money. If a tenant does not have the $6,000 or more to move, they will stay put no matter what the conditions.
“Check Your Rent Notice: How to Force Your Los Angeles Landlord to Remove Invalid Utility Surcharges”
Shoshaun Williams
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Simple solution MOVE!!! Clearly your unhappy so MOVE somewhere that makes you happy.
And as a candidate I would assume you would talking about the companies charging these ridiculous prices not the person that’s not using the service.
Crying about $34.00 for your own trash is killing me.
Don’t like your landlord = Move
Don’t want to pay for parking =MOVE
Don’t want to pay for your utilities =MOVE.
Landlord won’t make repairs =MOVE
It’s plenty of rentals available on the market.
If you want to run the building buy 1 then see how quick you will be asking your tenants to pay for their own trash.
P.S. I could care less about “RSO, or the LAHD”
I sold my California property and bought where you could give notice and your out.
I sure there are people dying to pay your little rent and the $34.00.
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Shoshaun from gjj
I think the point of your entire response could be summed up in the phrase as you say that you do not care about the RSO or the LA HD. You may not agree with the purpose of the RSO or the LAHD, and I could probably share some of your opinions, it seems that you do not have respect for the entitlement to tenants that these two government bodies are supposed to provide. To that extent you do not have a respect for tenant rights. Further, if a tenant like myself is asking for housing services and asking for fair treatment and asking for entitlement and law, I don’t feel that the only answer to that question is to dress up and move. A tenant has a right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises and peaceful enjoyment should include the housing services that are promised by the landlord or promised bylaw. Further, you seem to not have a good understanding as to what the $34 is for. No where in my post do I say that the $34 is for trash. Sorry to hear that you have such a biased attitude towards things.
G Juan Johnson
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You state. “Crying about $34.00 for your own trash is killing me. Don’t like your landlord = Move. Don’t want to pay for parking =MOVE . Don’t want to pay for your utilities =MOVE.
Landlord won’t make repairs =MOVE.” Those statements sound very biased to me. I already paid for trash removal through my rent payment according to my rental agreement, whether I like the landlord I don’t like the landlord is not relevant. My rental agreement includes parking, and my rental agreement includes payment for utilities and repairs. So your arguments are not well placed.
LA Rent Control (RAC) and Permits (LADBS) 