Michael Storc and his family had just survived a devastating wildfire.
Now they have to face a daunting new challenge that he had hoped to never experience again – the Los Angeles housing market.
After losing the Altadena home that he owned in the Eaton fire, he was scouring for a new place to rent, and having little luck.
“What’s available is not nice at all and the rents have gone up a lot,” Mr Storc told the BBC. “I told my teenage daughter we had to accept we would live somewhere not very nice.”
The Los Angeles area already has one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. And with thousands now displaced by the Palisades and Eaton fires, Angelenos are anxious that the sudden surge in demand could make rents and home prices soar even higher.
California has an anti-price gouging law that prevents landlords from raising rents more than 10% after the governor declares an emergency. It applies to both existing and tenants and new leases.
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LA brain surgeon saves street from fires
Many Los Angeles County buildings are also covered by rent stabilisation laws, which prevent landlords from raising the rent for existing tenants above a certain percentage even in normal circumstances.
“It is illegal. You cannot do it,” California attorney general Rob Bonta said at a Saturday press conference. “It is a crime punishable by up to a year in jail and fines.”
Not everyone was certain that the law would be completely enforceable, however.
“We’re aware of that but my question is, how is that being regulated? And who’s monitoring that?” said Jessica Heredia, a realtor based in the high-end Brentwood neighbourhood for the last 20 years.

A Los Angeles brain surgeon who fought for almost a week to save the houses on his street from wildfires told the BBC he spent 15 years preparing for such an event.
Malibu resident Dr Chester Griffiths, 62, ignored evacuation orders to keep flames from the Palisades fire at bay with the help of his son and neighbour, until emergency services were able to reach them.
“We had always known that a fire would come someday – but we didn’t know when,” Dr Griffiths told the BBC’s Today Programme.
“We never fathomed it would be this catastrophic and apocalyptic.”

Months after mysterious black balls forced the closure of some of Sydney’s most famous beaches, small marble-like debris has begun washing up on the city’s shores again.
The balls – this time grey or white in colour – have prompted councils to shut nine beaches, including popular Manly and Dee Why, while authorities investigate.
Eight beaches including Bondi were closed for several days in October and a massive clean-up ordered after thousands of black deposits started appearing on the coast.
Testing by authorities determined those balls were most likely the result of a sewage spill.
Northern Beaches mayor Sue Heins said the latest balls “could be anything”, according to the Guardian Australia.
“We don’t know at the moment what it is and that makes it even more concerning,” she said.
“There’s something that’s obviously leaking or dropping… floating out there and being tossed around.”
In a post on Facebook on Tuesday, the Northern Beaches Council said they were alerted to the fresh debris by the New South Wales Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The agency and the council planned to collect the discoveries for testing and inspect other beaches in the area too.
Anyone who spotted the balls was urged to contact authorities, the council added.
Though widely reported to be “tar balls”, the debris in October was later found to contain everything from cooking oil and soap scum molecules, to blood pressure medication, pesticides, hair, methamphetamine and veterinary drugs.
Scientists said they resembled fat, oil, and grease blobs – often called fatbergs – which are commonly formed in sewerage systems.