Landlord Atlas

Berkeley, California: Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Just Cause Ordinance

Verified August 16, 2026 All California topics →

Berkeley limits rent increases for most apartments first occupied on or before June 30, 1980 to one Annual General Adjustment each year — 1.0% for January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026 — set by the elected Rent Stabilization Board at 65% of Bay Area inflation, never below 0% or above 5%.

Cited to Berkeley Mun. Code § 13.76.050 (applicability; partially covered and fully exempt units) and 10 more sources · Verified August 16, 2026

Newer buildings and most separately owned houses and condominiums have no local rent ceiling, but California's statewide limit of 5% plus inflation (10% maximum) reaches most of them once they are more than 15 years old. Nearly every Berkeley rental, capped or not, is under the ordinance's just-cause eviction rules, security-deposit interest rule, and annual registration with the Rent Board, and owner move-in evictions require relocation payments that adjust each January.

Current published figures

Figure Value Applies to Source
Annual General Adjustment (fully covered units) 1.0% January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2026 Official source
Owner move-in / Ellis relocation payment (standard; additional for qualifying households) $19,413; additional $6,471 January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2026 Official source

These figures change on a published cycle; each row states the window it applies to and links the source that published it. Confirm the current figure at the source before acting on it.

What is in force

In force today. Berkeley voters adopted the Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Good Cause Ordinance in 1980 (Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 13.76), and an elected Rent Stabilization Board administers it. Voters last rewrote it through Measure BB (Ordinance 7,950-N.S.), approved November 5, 2024 and in effect December 20, 2024, which renamed the law the Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Just Cause Ordinance, lowered the yearly increase ceiling from 7% to 5%, brought government-subsidized units under the ordinance, tightened the eviction grounds, added tenant-notice and tenant-organizing rules, and limited utility charges.

The rent increase limit

The Rent Board sets one Annual General Adjustment each year, effective January 1. It equals 65% of the change in the Bay Area consumer price index over the 12 months ending the previous June 30, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent, with a floor of 0% and a ceiling of 5%. The Board must publish the figure by about October 31, and landlords must give at least 30 days' written notice before applying it. A unit whose rent was set in the prior calendar year is not eligible until the following year. Unused adjustments may be saved and applied later, so a single increase to the lawful rent ceiling can exceed 5%. Increases beyond the rent ceiling require a Rent Board petition, and a landlord who has not registered, paid fees, returned deposit interest, or fixed cited habitability problems may not take the adjustment.

What housing is covered

The ordinance sorts rentals into three groups. Fully covered units — most multi-unit buildings first occupied on or before June 30, 1980, plus single-family homes whose tenancy began before January 1, 1996 — have a rent ceiling and every other protection. Partially covered units — buildings first occupied after June 30, 1980, most separately owned single-family homes and condominiums, and government-owned or subsidized units to the extent federal or state law bars local rent limits — have no rent ceiling but keep the just-cause eviction, security-deposit interest, and registration rules. Fully exempt units include hotel stays under 14 days, nonprofit co-ops, hospitals and care facilities, units sharing a kitchen or bath with an owner who lived there when the tenancy began, recognized fraternity and sorority houses, one permitted accessory dwelling unit on an owner-occupied single-family lot for tenancies after November 7, 2018, nonprofit shelters and transitional housing, a single owner-occupied home rented for up to 24 months while the owner is away, and two-unit properties owner-occupied on December 31, 1979 and still owner-occupied.

What happens on vacancy

When a tenancy ends, state law lets the landlord set a new starting rent, and that rent becomes the unit's new rent ceiling; the landlord must file a vacancy registration with the Rent Board within 15 days of the new tenancy. The Rent Board treats a new tenancy as starting only when all original occupants have left. A new rent may not be set after a landlord-initiated no-fault termination, and after an owner files an Ellis Act withdrawal notice no vacancy increase may be taken on the affected units for five years.

Eviction and termination rules

A landlord may end a tenancy in a fully or partially covered unit only on one of ten listed grounds: nonpayment (only when the unpaid rent is at least one month of the federal fair market rent for the unit size), an uncured breach of an agreed material lease term that caused the landlord substantial actual harm, substantial damage, disturbing other occupants, refusing lawful access, substantial repairs that require the unit to be vacant, demolition under permit, move-in by an owner of at least a 50% interest or the owner's spouse, child, or parent for at least 36 months, an owner returning to a temporarily leased home as the lease allows, or failure to leave temporary replacement housing after repairs. Owner move-in evictions carry relocation payments to households of one year or more, with a larger payment for low-income, elderly, disabled, minor-child, and pre-1999 households; the amounts adjust each January and must be deposited with the Rent Board within 10 days of the notice. Every termination notice must include the Rent Board's contact information, and copies of notices and eviction complaints must be filed with the Board within three business days of service.

Registration and filings

Every unit that is not fully exempt must be registered with the Rent Board, with a per-unit fee due each July 1 and a 100% penalty for late payment. Landlords must re-register within 15 days of each new tenancy, give each new tenant a written Notice of Tenant Rights within 15 days, and may not pass registration fees through to tenants without the Board's express prior approval. Fully covered and partially covered units pay different fee amounts, set by the Board each spring.

Other requirements

Landlords of fully and partially covered units must pay tenants interest on security deposits every December at a rate the Rent Board publishes each fall. For leases signed after February 6, 2024, tenants may be charged for utilities only if the charge is built into the base rent or the service is separately metered in the tenant's name. Tenants at larger properties have an enforceable right to form tenant associations that the landlord must meet with in good faith, and a separate city ordinance sets the procedure and the same relocation payments for Ellis Act withdrawals.

Notes and caveats

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Berkeley, California: Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Just Cause Ordinance (verified August 16, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/california/berkeley/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified).

Citations

This page records local law. Statewide rules — deposits, notice periods, late fees, entry, evictions — live on the California hub, and the state-level position on local rent regulation appears there with its own citations and verification date.