What to do
Check when your building was built
The first step is to find out when your building was built. You can search your address on the Property Information Map.
If your unit was built before June 14, 1979, and is not used as a single family dwelling, it may have both:
- Rent control
- Eviction protection
Rent Control
Rent control means that landlords can typically only increase the rent by a certain percentage each year. For example, the allowed rent increase percentage for 2024 to February 28, 2025 is 1.7%.
- Some units are hard to classify. If you are unsure about your unit then you should speak with a Rent Board counselor.
- In some circumstances a landlord can increase rent over the allowable percentage. However, the landlord will need to follow rent increase laws.
- Some units may still be covered by the California Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482) even if it does not have rent control.
Eviction Protection
Eviction protection means that a landlord must have "just cause" to evict their tenants.
Examples of "just cause"
- The tenant fails to pay rent or is often late with payment
- The tenant breaks the terms of their rental agreement or uses the rental unit for an illegal reason
- The tenant interferes with others' comfort, safety, or enjoyment of the building
- The landlord plans to move into the unit or move an immediate family member in
- The landlord plans to convert the unit into a condo and sell it
- The landlord plans to perform work to improve the unit that will make the unit unlivable during construction (your tenant must be allowed to reoccupy the unit immediately after the work is completed)
- The landlord plans to remove all rental units in a building from the rental market under the state Ellis Act
Learn more about evictions, or speak with a Rent Board counselor.
Some units only have eviction protection
Some units have eviction protections, but do not have rent control protections:
- Units built after June 13, 1979
- Most single-family homes and condos (if you moved in on or after Jan 1, 1996)
- Units that have undergone substantial rehabilitation
- Units controlled or regulated by another government unit or agency
You can speak with a counselor if you have questions.
Special cases
Units without local rent control or eviction protections
Units without local rent control or eviction protections
Commercial units and the following types of residential units are entirely exempt from the Rent Ordinance:
- Units in hotels, motels, inns, tourist houses, rooming and boarding houses, where the unit has not been occupied by the same tenant for 32 or more continuous days, provided that the landlord has not recovered possession of the unit from the tenant in order to avoid the application of the Rent Ordinance;
- Dwelling units in non-profit cooperatives owned, occupied and controlled by a majority of the residents;
- Dwelling units solely owned by a nonprofit public benefit corporation governed by a board of directors, the majority of whom are residents of the dwelling units, and where the corporate bylaws require that rent increases be approved by a majority of the residents;
- Housing accommodations in any hospital, convent, monastery, extended care facility, asylum, residential care or licensed adult day health care facility for the elderly;
- Housing accommodations in dormitories owned and operated by an institution of higher education, a high school, or an elementary school;
- Certain dwelling units whose rents are controlled or regulated by another government unit, agency or authority (read more here);
- Commercial space where there is incidental and infrequent residential use; and,
- A residential unit where there is no longer residential use and there is a commercial or other non-residential use.
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Last updated November 13, 2024