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For the more than 200 families who lost their homes in the Ventura County wildfires, finding temporary housing can be difficult and sometimes expensive.
After a state of emergency was declared in the area, NBC Los Angeles received extremely high deposits and refunds from neighbors of evacuees in the burn area, despite California’s attorney general’s warning of possible price gouging. I heard that they are being asked to pay what appears to be an amount. For rental units.
But Janet Spriesler, a broker and owner of property management company Rent805, said there are laws that prohibit property owners from charging too much for security deposits.
“If an owner owns two different properties and those two different properties have four or fewer units, they cannot claim for more than one month,” Sprissler said. “If you fall within that exclusion, you can claim up to two months’ worth of deposit.”
Spriesler added that property owners should not require first and last month’s rent in addition to a security deposit.
Spriesler said bad actors will try to lure renters out when disasters like wildfires occur.
“The biggest scam is when they say, ‘We only accept cash,'” she says. “Be careful if someone is trying to push you into something too quickly. Sleep on it.”
Sprissler recommended working with professionals in the real estate community who can be verified with verified credentials.
It’s not just rentals. It is illegal to overcharge consumers for anything from products to services after a state of emergency has been declared.
“California law generally prohibits sellers from charging more than 10% more than the price they charged for the product before a state or local state of emergency was declared.”
The law applies not only to hotel accommodations and rental housing, but also to repair and reconstruction, emergency cleaning and storage services.
Violations of the state’s price gouging law result in criminal prosecution, jail time or a $1,000 fine, in addition to possible civil action, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
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