Greedy Landlords Are Massively Price-Gouging Rents After LA Wildfires

Is nothing sacred?

City of Shamegels

As Angelenos look to rebuild in the wake of the region's devastating wildfires, landlords are taking advantage of their misery.

As the Los Angeles Times and other outlets report, landlords are hiking prices tens of thousands of dollars — or 100 percent more than what they were asking in 2024 — even though officials have placed temporary restrictions on price-gouging in the wake of the fires.

Things are so bad that even the luxury real estate mogul at the center of the Netflix reality show "Selling Sunset" is calling out his fellow landlords.

In an interview with the BBC, real estate mogul Jason Oppenheim said he encountered the illegal price gouging when one of his well-heeled clients went to go see a property that had previously been listed at $13,000 a month.

"[My client] offered $20,000 a month and he offered to pay six months upfront," Oppenheim told the British broadcaster, "and the landlord said 'I want $23,000.'"

"There are price gouging laws in California, they're just being ignored right now," he continued. "This isn't the time to be taking advantage of situations."

Handling It

While Oppenheim's rich clients can no doubt afford to find shelter elsewhere, the more than 40,000 acres and 12,000 structures destroyed extend far beyond the city's ritziest homes in the Pacific Palisades.

The historic Black community in Altadena, an unincorporated town located outside of Pasadena, was hit particularly hard by the Eaton fire that took place in the San Gabriel Valley region. Many of the families whose homes were destroyed in the fires are now seeking new shelter — and unlike their wealthy counterparts to the west in Malibu and Brentwood, they can't afford to pay an arm and a leg.

As the city of angels reels from its latest wildfires, activists are sharing spreadsheets of allegedly price-gouged properties, complete with the contact information for the landlords that own them.

"Landlords are taking advantage of this moment," tenant organizer and list creator Chelsea Kirk told In These Times. "They're exploiting this moment."

While residents deal with this particularly heinous brand of landlord thuggishness, California's attorney general is pledging to hold them accountable.

As LAist reports, the Golden State's top cop, Rob Bonta, has created a task force to handle price gouging in the aftermath of the fires.

"We have boots on the ground conducting investigations as we speak, building the criminal cases against price gougers," Bonta said during a press conference. "And we will continue to pursue those cases and others and prosecute to the full extent of the law."

The AG's office has also launched a website and hotline to report alleged price gouging — a sign, if nothing else, that California is taking this disgusting trend seriously.

More on the LA wildfires: Grimes Defends Elon Musk While Fleeing Fire He's Blaming on Woke