Bernardi Proposes Rent Freeze While Pending Hike Is Studied

Councilman Ernani Bernardi on Friday proposed that rents on apartments in Los Angeles be frozen at current levels until the city completes a study on changes to its rent control law.

Bernardi, who represents the mid-San Fernando Valley, said the freeze is necessary to stave off an “unfair economic burden” that would be caused by the 7% annual rent increase scheduled to go into effect on May 1 for many tenants.

His proposal was routinely referred to the council’s Governmental Operations Committee, which will hold hearings on the issue before making a recommendation to the full council.

The council in late 1983 ordered a study to determine whether the current 7% maximum allowable rent increase, tied to a rate of inflation that existed when rent control went into effect in 1979, should be lowered to reflect the current inflation rate of about 4.5%.

Study Delayed a Month

That study, originally scheduled for completion in mid-March, has been delayed a month, said Doug Ford, head of the Community Development Department, which is supervising the study.

“The mid-April completion date places considerable doubt on the ability of the council to take any action to adjust the rent increase anniversary date for a large group of tenants,” Bernardi said.

“This extended delay has increased the unfair economic burden that the 7% rent adjustment figure imposed on many tenants of our city, a burden that can only grow during the months yet required for the study to be completed and the City Council to review the results and take any action.”

Ford said the delay in completion of the study was due to slowness in receiving data from the state Franchise Tax Board regarding “operating and expense figures of rent property owners.” That information is considered important because the new rent adjustment formula is supposed to be based in part on giving landlords a yet-to-be-defined reasonable profit on rental units.