Selling Sunset’s Jason Oppenheim Accuses Landlords of ‘Price Gouging,’ ‘Taking Advantage’ Amid LA Fires

“There are price gouging laws in California. They’re just being ignored right now, and this isn’t the time to be taking advantage of situations,” the real estate agent and reality star told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, per The Daily Mail, “And it’s also illegal to take advantage of a natural disaster.”

According to Oppenheim’s research, “You cannot charge more than 10% pre-disaster market rates” during a natural disaster. He told the news program, “I think it should be exposed, but we’re having landlords taking advantage of the situation.”

The state’s anti-price-gouging-law, Penal Code Section 396, “limits rent increases to no more than 10% above pre-emergency levels after an emergency is declared,” according to California Apartment Association (CAA), and applies to “both existing tenants and new leases.” It also restricts price gouging of “essential goods and services.”

The organization notes that current rent cap protections triggered by the state of emergency declared for the Palisades Fire are set to expire February 6, 2025, unless it gets extended by executive order or local declarations.

“Rental property owners across the state should note that price-gouging protections apply wherever displacement increases demand for housing,” the organization notes on its website.

More than 153,000 Los Angeles and surrounding area residents are under mandatory evacuation orders as a result of the wildfires that have already taken 16 lives, with at least 13 more reported missing so far, according to NBC News Sunday morning.

As many of these people are scrambling to find places to live, even if only temporarily, this is when Oppenheim says these predatory landlords are waiting to take advantage. He even shared a story of one of his own clients who saw this firsthand.

“I had a client. We sent him to a house that was asking $13,000 a month. He offered $20,000 a month, and he offered to pay six months up front,” Oppenheim shared. “And the landlord said: ‘No, I want $23,000 a month.”

There are a total of four significant fires burning in the Los Angeles region, including the devastating Palisades and Eaton Fires, which CNN, citing Calfire, is calling among the five most destructive in California history. Officials report the Palisades Fire is 11% contained, while the Eaton Fire is holding at 15% containment.

Meanwhile, the Kenneth and Hurst Fires are also still active but much smaller in size and devastation. The Kenneth Fire is at 80% containment while the Hurst is at 76% containment. These fires have burned just under 2,000 acres combined.

All told, more than 38,000 acres in the area have burned as of Sunday morning, per CNN, destroying entire communities and more than 12,000 structures. Nearly 35,000 homes are currently without power.

Talking about the devastation in an area he’s come to know so well through his work as a high-end realtor, shared his shock and devastation with the BBC. “I can’t even put words to it,” he said. “I never could have imagined that this would have happened here.”

“And maybe that’s naivety on my part,” he conceded. “But communities like Altadena, you know, very hard working class areas and these people really lost not just their homes, but their belongings, their clothes.”

“Forget about the $50 to $100 billion of damage that’s caused, it’s emotional for everyone,” he argued. “I mean, I think everyone just has tears in their eyes all day long, not literally from the smoke, but also just because it’s emotional to see people struggling like this.”

Nevertheless, he remains confident that LA residents, who he described as “resilient,” will come back and “rebuild better and with stronger foundations.”

Many celebrities have lost their homes, including Ricki Lake, Paris Hilton, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, Cameron Mathison, Billy Crystal, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, Anna Farris, while others have taken to social media to reveal they’ve evacuated their neighborhoods.

You can read more of TooFab’s coverage from the Los Angeles wildfires below.