A Los Angeles, California-based TikToker spurred a discussion on tenant’s rights after posting a video claiming her landlord tried to increase her rent before her contract had expired.
User Anna Maria (@babyafromdatre) posted the video on TikTok earlier this week, where it quickly went viral. In the video, she lays out her exact predicament and asks TikTok for help.
Anna Maria’s video currently has over 363,000 views and has inspired several follow-ups.
@babyafromdatre I got a question for property management tiktok #landlord #propertymanagement #rent ♬ original sound – Anna Maria
In the first video, Anna Maria offers details on her situation before asking users on the platform for assistance.
“I moved to California. I signed a 12-month lease,” Anna Maria says. “I just got a notice on my door that next month, my rent is going to go up. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but a lease is a contract, right? And that 12-month contract locks me in a rate for 12 months, so that means they can’t change the rent before that contract is up, correct?”
As many TikTokers pointed out in comments, barring rare exceptions where rental increases have been included in the initial contract, a landlord cannot raise rent while your lease is ongoing.
As SFGate writes, “Your landlord can’t raise your rent if you have a fixed-term lease for more than 30 days unless the lease terms allow it. For example, if your lease is for a year, she would have to wait until the end of the year and negotiate a higher rent with you if you choose to sign another fixed-term lease.”
At that point, under normal circumstances, Los Angeles “landlords are allowed to raise rents on existing tenants in rent-stabilized apartments between 3% and 8% annually, depending on inflation,” per the Los Angeles Times. The article notes that rent-stabilized apartments account for “nearly three-quarters of L.A.’s apartment stock.”
However, these are not normal circumstances. As the Los Angeles Times reports in the same article, “in March 2020, Mayor Eric Garcetti issued an emergency order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that halted rent increases in such apartments until a year after the emergency order expires. That order is still in effect, so rent increases cannot begin any earlier than May 2023.”
With advice from TikTok and resources from her local library (which she shouts out in a later video), Anna Maria says she reread her contract and “sent [her landlord] the clause number and copy of said lease.”
After a few days, she got a happy update: her rent would not be increased after all.
@babyafromdatre Reply to @spreadlovenothate_yall ♬ original sound – Anna Maria
The letter detailing her continued payments calls the attempt to raise rents an “error.”
But Anna Maria and other TikTokers aren’t too sure about that.
“They tried to play ya girl!” she says at the end of her video.
“They got caught,” another user agrees in the comments. “I’m sure they gave it to someone else and that person quickly put them on check.”
Update 2:00pm CT, June 18: In an email to Daily Dot, Anna Maria reiterated her opinion that the price change was no error.
“I think they tried to pull one over on me hoping I wouldn’t check the fine print of my lease or look into California tenants’ rights,” she told the Daily Dot. “I received more than one notice and sent more than one email asking them to correct the change, even going so far to state the section numbers of my lease agreement. I received my first ‘notice of change of tenancy’ on 5/18/2022 and didn’t receive a correction about the increase until 06/15/2022.”
Thankfully, this event has inspired discourse about rent between her and her neighbors. “…My neighbors and I have actually started a group chat to discuss what’s been happening,” she revealed. “I know for a fact other tenants have also sent emails about the increase. We have been helping each other out during this time.”
As far as what she learned from the experience, Anna Maria again sings the praises of her local library and the people of TikTok.
“I learned that the local library actually has a really extensive collection of law books. The books I read on California tenants rights were easy to follow, so I knew exactly what language to use when I contacted management,” she said. “TikTok is also a great resource when you’re being gaslit because your followers will remind you, you’re not alone and you’re not wrong for standing up for yourself.”
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