Tired of apartments with no fridges? California bill would require landlords to supply them
Tired of scouring Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for a decently used refrigerator because your new apartment didn't come with one?
This headache could become a thing of the past with a new bill in the California Legislature that, if approved, would require landlords to provide refrigerators and stoves in their rentals.
The simple answer is landlords don't have to provide a refrigerator.
Existing California law requires any building with a dwelling unit to maintain "certain characteristics in order to be tenantable," which includes maintenance of adequate heating and hot water systems.
Even though cooking and storing food might seem like a necessity in order to live in any kind of housing situation, legally the appliances are categorized as amenities.
The number of Californians who have entered new leases without such luxuries is far greater than any other state, according to a Times analysis in 2022.
Read more: Why do so many L.A. apartments come without fridges? Inside the chilling mystery
Research showed that Los Angeles and Orange counties "offered the fewest number of apartments with refrigerators among nearly two dozen large metropolitan areas nationwide."
It's the added cost of purchasing the appliance.
The average monthly rent in the city of Los Angeles is $2,347, higher than the national average of $1,995, according to Zillow.
But the highest average rent in the surrounding area is $4,500, in Ladera Heights.
When entering a lease, you're providing the landlord with the first month's rent and a security deposit. If a refrigerator isn't provided, you're looking at spending on either a new appliance or searching online for a used one.
Product analysts say the average price of a new refrigerator is between $600 and $2,300, the basic one is between $200 and $600 and the high-end one is between $2,300 and $5,000.
If you're in the market for a used refrigerator, the cheapest listing The Times found on Facebook Marketplace is $25 for a two-door Whirlpool. The seller described it as not "looking so good on the outside but perfect for a garage or even outside."
When Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Hawthorne), whose 61st District covers communities from Inglewood to Marina del Rey, introduced Assembly Bill 628, she realized refrigerators and stoves were legally labeled as amenities. She decided to make it a necessity with the new bill.
The bill, if passed, would add a stove and refrigerator in good working condition and capable of safely generating heat for cooking and storing food, respectively, as a requirement of landlords starting Jan. 1, 2026.
Read more: The Times podcast: Why L.A. has fridge-less apartments
McKinnor said she has regular town halls with her communities and the main topics of concern she's heard from constituents are affording rent, rising grocery prices and everyday bills.
"We know that people are really struggling out there with the high cost of food, gas, household goods, and on top of that, lots of people spend more than half their income on rent," she said.
She wants renters to have one less payment to think about when entering a new lease.
If the bill is approved, a landlord "cannot have you in a rental without a refrigerator just like they can't have you in there without hot running water or a heater" starting next year, McKinnor said.
There are some rentals that come with the appliance, but McKinnor wants everyone to have the much-needed item.
Similar to a heater in need of repair or replacement, McKinnor said the landlord will be in charge of fixing or replacing a refrigerator.
Read more: L.A. housing authority turning luxury Woodland Hills apartments into affordable housing
In the city of L.A., landlords can increase the rent once every 12 months by the allowable rent increase percentage required by the Rent Stabilization Ordinance.
Rentals that are not subject to the Rent Stabilization Ordinance include:
Single family homes
Affordable housing or luxury housing units exempted by the Los Angeles Housing Department
A rental built after Oct. 1, 1978
A converted commercial building that converted to rental units after Oct. 1, 1978
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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