Is this LA County rent increase unreasonable?

Question

My younger brother lives in a one bedroom apartment in Hawthorne, CA. He's lived there for 18 months, paying $850 a month in rent - I believe utilities are included because he's never mentioned a utility bill. He's just been informed that his rent is going to increase to $925 - an increase of about 8.8%.

He's looking at moving, but struggling to pull together the moving expenses. He's asked me if I think it is worth it for him to move.

It's been many years since I rented an apartment, so I'm wondering if this is an unreasonable increase? If utilities are included, I can see higher energy costs contributing to this increase. Plus, I've heard that rental prices are increasing in some areas as more people lose their homes.

I'm just concerned that if he does move, he could find himself in the same situation in 12-18 months. Also, he's in a fairly decent area right now but I am concerned that he could end up in a bad one.

10 points for the most thoughtful answer! Thanks!

Answer 1

If you have looked at your power bill you will see that it has increased more then this in the past year.

The rent increase seems reasonable to me, but if he can find as nice of a rental for less money then he might want to think about it.

Answer 2

Each city has a maxium amount that they can increase your rent.  I use to work for a property management company in that area.  If they can show that improvement were made to the building, and cost of utilities have gone up, this might be a valid increase.

The normal increase is 2-6% without utilities being increase.