LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles City Council took steps on April 29 to create an online public portal for tenants in rent-stabilization units to see information about their units and dispute the rent amount if needed.

Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who introduced the motion, said the majority of apartments in Los Angeles are covered by the city’s “rent stabilization ordinance,” which is a set of rental rules generally applicable to properties built on or before October 1, 1978, and allowing landlords to raise the rent no more than once every 12 months by certain allowable percentages.

“Why is this important? The majority of our city’s apartments are rent-stabilized—they’re covered by the rent stabilization ordinance—but studies have found that more than a quarter of people had rent increases that were higher than the allowable maximum and that more than a third didn’t know that they were living in rent-stabilized units,” Raman said.

The motion authorizes the Los Angeles Housing Department to amend its Rent Registry Program contract with Cask NX, LLC—a company specializing in online-service consulting and management—to have it create “a one-stop-shop for landlords and tenants” where landlords can report rent amounts and tenants can view registration information about their unit and dispute rent amounts if necessary.

The motion passed 10–0.

Joyce Kuo contributed to this report.