Santa Monica : 3% Rent Increase Approved

The Santa Monica Rent Control Board has reversed itself and increased the amount by which landlords can raise their rents.

Voting 3 to 2, the board last week rejected its own earlier decision to authorize a 2% rent increase and instead will allow rents to go up by 3%.

Some members of the board, hearing bitter complaints from landlords, apparently became convinced that a 2% increase was unfair and proposed the higher rate. Board Chairwoman Susan Packer Davis and member Wayne Bauer stuck to the 2% raise but were outvoted.

The increase will take effect in September. Under Santa Monica’s stiff rent control law, landlords are permitted to raise rents once a year by the amount the board decides based on a formula.

A 2% raise would have been the lowest in the 10-year history of the city’s rent control. Increases have averaged at 4.5% annually for the last decade.