Rick19744 superuser comment above is correct, you cannot pick and chose when to take the PAL.
Your income must have gone down in the current tax year/ or you started materially participating in the rental activity.
"When your income is below $100,000 (MFS) ($150,000 for MFJ), you can take up to $25,000 of passive losses."
Source: https://www.therealestatecpa.com/2017/02/19/strategies-suspended-passive-losses-rental-real-estate/
Phaseout rule.
The maximum special allowance of $25,000 ($12,500 for married individuals filing separate returns and living apart at all times during the year) is reduced by 50% of the amount of your modified adjusted gross income that’s more than $100,000 ($50,000 if you’re married filing separately). If your modified adjusted gross income is $150,000 or more ($75,000 or more if you’re married filing separately), you generally can’t use the special allowance. This is because the special allowance is reduced to $0 since the modified adjusted gross income is over the $100,000 amount.
Source: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p925#en_US_2017_publink1000104575
