After the la fires: rENT-GOUGING IN THE WAKE OF DISASTER
The Report
KEY FINDINGS
New listings are priced at 315% of Fair Market Rent, nearly double the legal limit.
Instances surged by 5,065% in just 11 days, with 120 new cases identified daily.
Rent gouging affects both affluent and working-class neighborhoods like Malibu and Koreatown, involving 1,152 distinct actors and 38 repeat offenders.
In the wake of the Palisades and Eaton fires on January 7, 2025, over 5,000 homes were destroyed, displacing thousands and intensifying pressures in an already strained rental market.
Exploiting this crisis, landlords engaged in widespread rent gouging, with our analysis identifying 1,343 instances of illegal rent increases totaling $7.7 million monthly.
By leveraging data scraped from Zillow, we provide the most comprehensive documentation of this predatory practice, highlighting its scale and impact across Los Angeles County.