Rent control widens lead in Larkspur, but many votes remain uncounted

Update No. 2: As of March 13, with about 20,000 mail-in ballots yet to be counted, the rent control measure in Larkspur edged closer to passing. The margin of victory is now just over 100 votes. Stay tuned for updates here.

Update No. 1: The story below includes only number of votes cast on Election Day. In Marin, there are thousands of votes yet to be counted. Some of them could be from Larkspur. So, for perhaps the next 12 days we will not know with certainty whether rent control/stabilization has passed in Larkspur. As of Election Day, it was winning by 12 votes. Stay tuned on this cliffhanger. Marin’s voting chief says her team is doing a ‘great job.’ We’ll keep you up to date as the results dribble in.)

Twelve votes. That was the difference in last night’s election in Larkspur on whether to implement rent increase restrictions on landlords in the town.

With all precincts reporting, the vote ended with 974 people voting in favor and 966 voting against. 

The ordinance establishes a prohibition on residential real property rental rate increases that exceed five percent plus Consumer Price Index or seven percent, whichever is lower, in a twelve-month period annually, and defining a base rent as the rent in effect on May 8, 2023, be adopted?

With only 12 votes in the balance, the issue remains highly controversial in the bucolic Marin city. Another city in Marin, Fairfax, will face the same issue in November.