Learn about rent increases

There is no limit on how much rent a landlord may first charge a tenant when renting an empty unit that falls under rent control laws.

Once they have rented the unit, the landlord may only increase the tenant’s rent by a certain percentage once every 12 months.

The Rent Board recalculates the allowed rent increase percentage each year. 

Landlords may not raise the rent by more than the current year's allowed percentage.

No additional rent increase is allowed solely because a tenant has added an additional occupant to an existing tenancy, including a newborn child. This constitutes an unlawful rent increase, even if the lease or rental agreement specifically permits a rent increase for additional occupants.

Effective July 1, 2022 (or March 1, 2023 for condominiums and buildings with 1-9 residential units), a landlord must obtain a rent increase "license" before imposing annual allowable and/or banked rent increases on a tenant. 

This year, the allowed rent increase percentage is 2.3%. The percentage is effective March 1, 2022 through February 28, 2023.

See previous years' allowable annual rent increase amounts.

Landlords must calculate the rent increase on the tenant’s base rent only. 

Rent increases cannot be rounded up to the nearest dollar.

A landlord may increase a tenant’s rent by the allowed amount once a year provided they've obtained a current rent increase license by complying with the City's Housing Inventory requirements. 

A landlord may impose the first annual increase 12 months after the date the tenant’s lease began. 

Once a landlord has increased a tenant’s rent, the date of the increase becomes known as the tenant’s “anniversary date.” They may not increase the rent again until at least 12 months later. 

If the landlord increases the tenant’s rent more than 12 months later, the effective date of the increase becomes the tenant’s new anniversary date. The landlord must wait at least 12 months to increase the rent again.

If the landlord does not increase a tenant’s rent on their anniversary date, the landlord can save (or “bank”) the increase and add it later. 

Learn how banked rent increases work.

Learn about the different claims a landlord may file to increase a tenant's rent in addition to the annual allowable amount.

The landlord must give the tenant a: 

• 30-day written notice of the proposed rent increase
• 90-day written notice if the increase (either by itself or combined with another increase in the same year) is more than 10%

If the notice is mailed, the landlord must give the tenant 5 more days.

The rent increase notice should include the:

• Dollar amount of the increase
• Percentage amount of the increase
• Date the increase will go into effect

The landlord should use the percentage that will be in effect on the date of the increase, not the percentage in effect on the date they serve the notice.