Rental housing providers in Los Angeles County remain subject to limits on rent increases and restrictions on certain evictions, after the county’s Board of Supervisors voted to extend wildfire-related price-gouging protections through March 29.

The extension, approved Tuesday, Feb. 24, continues rules under California’s anti-price gouging law and the county’s local ordinance that generally cap rent increases at no more than 10% above pre-emergency levels. The rules also prohibit landlords from evicting a residential tenant and re-renting the unit at a higher price during the protected period.

The board also retained a previously authorized exception for units that were not rented and not offered for rent within one year before the emergency declaration. Those units may be rented at up to 200% of the fair market rent established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, rather than the lower threshold otherwise permitted under state law.

Ahead of the vote, the California Apartment Association urged the board to amend the motion to include a definitive phase-out timeline and clear termination date, warning it would oppose the extension without one. In a Feb. 23 letter, CAA cited county vacancy rates above 5% and a softening rental market as evidence that the conditions that originally justified the emergency extensions no longer exist.

“This emergency declaration was intended to be temporary,” CAA writes. “Instead, it has become routine for emergency housing regulations to become indefinite.”

Matt Buck, CAA’s vice president of local public affairs, testified at the meeting that the extension was not supported by a county report released the same day. “There is a softening of the renters’ market,” Buck said, as reported by the Pasadena Star-News.

The board approved the motion, brought by Third District Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, without floor discussion. Second District Supervisor Holly Mitchell abstained, and Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger was absent.

The protections, which originated with the state of emergency declared Jan. 7, 2025, following the Palisades and Eaton fires, have been extended repeatedly — first through state executive orders and then by the board alone. The Feb. 24 vote is the latest in a series of extensions dating to March 2025.