LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Monday that in hopes of easing the financial burdens caused by the pandemic, landlords would not be allowed to increase the rent for hundreds of thousands of apartments in the city.

Today I executed an emergency order suspending new rental increases on any of the 624K+ units that fall under the City’s rent stabilization ordinance, or RSO. During this emergency period, RSO tenants will not be subject to any new rent increase.

— Mayor Eric Garcetti (@MayorOfLA) March 31, 2020

The LA Times reports that the mayor provided a briefing on Monday afternoon, saying, “Rent will stay the same. This is a common sense action on top of the eviction moratorium that will help folks stay in their homes and make ends meet.”

The announcement covers about 624,000 apartments that fall under the city’s rent stabilization program, according to city statistics. 

Normally, that program allows owners of apartment buildings built on or before October 1978 to increase rents by about 3% or 4% every year. Single-family rentals and most newer apartments, neither of which are subject to rent control under state law, will remain unaffected by Garcetti’s executive order.

The freeze on rent increases covers the vast majority of apartments in L.A. and will last until the city’s state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic ends, Garcetti said. Any rent increases planned for April 1 at apartments covered by the order are void, a Garcetti spokesman confirmed.