California Landlord-Tenant Laws
Local rent regulation in California
California cities and counties may adopt rent control, and many have, but state law limits how far local rules can reach — the Costa-Hawkins Act exempts newer buildings and single-family homes and lets landlords reset rent between tenancies, while a separate statewide cap of 5% plus inflation (max 10%) covers most other rentals through 2029 (Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1954.50–1954.535, 1947.12).
- Berkeley — Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Just Cause Ordinance
- Beverly Hills — Rent Stabilization Ordinance (Chapter 5 and Chapter 6)
- Culver City — Rent Stabilization Ordinance and Tenant Protections Ordinance
- Hayward — Residential Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protection Ordinance
- Inglewood — Housing Protection Ordinance
- Los Angeles — Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO)
- Los Angeles County (unincorporated) — Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections Ordinance
- Mountain View — Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act (Measure V)
- Oakland — Rent Adjustment Program
- Pasadena — Fair and Equitable Housing Charter Amendment (Measure H)
- Pomona — Rent Stabilization and Eviction Control Ordinance of 2025 (Ordinance No. 4359)
- Richmond — Fair Rent, Just Cause for Eviction and Homeowner Protection Ordinance (Measure L)
- Sacramento — Tenant Protection Program (Sacramento Tenant Protection Act)
- San Francisco — Rent Ordinance
- San Jose — Apartment Rent Ordinance (ARO)
- Santa Ana — Rent Stabilization and Just Cause Eviction Ordinance
- Santa Monica — Rent Control Law (City Charter Article XVIII)
- West Hollywood — Rent Stabilization Ordinance
Dozens of other California cities — Alameda, Antioch, East Palo Alto, Baldwin Park, Bell Gardens, and Berkeley's and Los Angeles's smaller neighbors among them — have rent stabilization ordinances of their own, and San Diego, San Diego County and others regulate evictions without a rent cap. The records above cover eighteen of the largest regimes, including unincorporated Los Angeles County, not the full list; a landlord elsewhere in California should check the city code, and the statewide cap covers most rentals either way.
Cited to Cal. Civ. Code § 1954.52 (Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act) , Cal. Civ. Code § 1954.53 , Cal. Civ. Code § 1947.12 (AB 1482 statewide cap) · Verified August 12, 2026 · Full California rent-increase rules →
California Security deposits
California caps security deposits at one month's rent for leases signed on or after July 1, 2024, whether the unit is furnished or not — with a narrow small-landlord exception allowing two months.
California Rent increase notice
California requires 30 days' written notice for a rent increase of 10% or less over any 12-month window, and 90 days' notice for anything larger — plus five extra days when the notice is mailed.
California Late fees
California has no statutory dollar cap or mandatory grace period for residential late fees, but that does not make them a free-for-all: a late fee must be in the lease and is enforceable only as 'liquidated damages' — a genuine pre-estimate of what the late payment actually costs the landlord.
California Entry notice
California landlords must give reasonable written notice before entering an occupied unit — 24 hours is presumed reasonable — stating the date, approximate time, and purpose, and entry must happen during normal business hours unless the tenant agrees otherwise.
California Eviction process
California evictions run through an 'unlawful detainer' lawsuit, and the famous three-day notices now count business days: the pay-or-quit and cure-or-quit notices exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and judicial holidays, while the no-cure three-day quit notice for waste, nuisance, unlawful use, or prohibited subletting still runs in calendar days.
California Application fees
California limits a rental application screening fee to the landlord's actual out-of-pocket screening costs and, on top of that, to a base of $30 per applicant that the landlord may raise each year in line with the Consumer Price Index, and it surrounds the fee with rules on when it may be collected, what must be refunded, and what the applicant must receive.
California mobile home park laws
California's Mobilehome Residency Law, Civil Code sections 798 to 798.88, governs tenancies in parks of two or more spaces where the resident owns the home and rents the space beneath it: management must give 90 days' written notice of a lot-rent increase, must offer every homeowner a rental agreement with a 12-month term, may end a tenancy only for one of seven listed reasons, and must give six months' notice of a closure once the local permits are approved, plus an impact report that can require paying a displaced resident the in-place market value of the home.
Lot-rent, closure, park-sale and home-sale rules with statute citations →
California Fair Market Rents (FY 2026) — HUD's benchmark rents for every California metro area and county.
Changes since last full verification
The Verified date above (July 7, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official state sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).
- Correction, August 18, 2026 — Submetering rule for California and Colorado restated: neither state requires a park to meter lots individually, but both regulate how a separately metered or submetered utility may be billed (California Civil Code §§ 798.40–798.41; Colorado § 38-12-212.4), so the cell now reads as a state rule rather than an absence, matching how the same question is answered for the other states.
How this record was verified: Web verification against leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (Civ. Code 1950.5, 827; AB 12 bill text) with corroborating county/city government sources (SF.gov, LA County DCBA, San Mateo County) for AB 1482 and Civ. Code 1954 operation.