Landlord Atlas

Culver City, California: Rent Stabilization Ordinance and Tenant Protections Ordinance

Verified August 17, 2026 All California topics →

Culver City limits rent increases to 3.25% for the year running June 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, for apartments and other multi-unit rentals first occupied on or before February 1, 1995.

Cited to Culver City Municipal Code § 15.09.205 (definitions, including covered rental unit and the price index) and 19 more sources · Verified August 17, 2026

The limit tracks Los Angeles-area inflation but can never fall below 2% or rise above 5%, only one increase is allowed per 12 months, and the Housing Services Division now announces a single figure once a year rather than a new one each month. Single-family homes, condominiums, townhomes and buildings first occupied after February 1, 1995 sit outside the city limit, though most newer buildings fall under California's statewide limit of 5% plus inflation, capped at 10%, once they are more than 15 years old. Nearly every rental in the city, houses and condominiums included, can be ended only for one of the reasons the ordinance lists, and a no-fault eviction requires a relocation payment of three times the higher of the current rent or the federal small area fair market rent for the ZIP code, plus $1,000. Every rental unit must be registered with the city by July 31 each year, at $177 per unit for the year beginning July 1, 2026, and the fee cannot be passed on to tenants.

Current published figures

Figure Value Applies to Source
Maximum permissible annual rent increase 3.25% June 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 Official source
Rental unit registration fee $177 per unit Effective July 1, 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. Culver City has capped rent increases and limited evictions since October 30, 2020, when two permanent ordinances the City Council adopted on September 29, 2020 took effect: the Rent Control Ordinance and the Tenant Protections Ordinance, added to Chapter 15.09 of the Culver City Municipal Code. They replaced a temporary measure the Council had adopted on August 12, 2019. On January 12, 2026 the Council amended both, renaming the first one the Rent Stabilization Ordinance; those changes took effect on February 11, 2026 and moved the yearly rent limit from a monthly announcement to a single annual figure. Neither ordinance has an end date. The city's Housing Services Division runs the program.

The rent increase limit

One rent increase is allowed per 12 months for units under the cap, and the landlord must give the written notice California law requires for the size of the increase. The limit tracks the consumer price index for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area, measured as the change in the 12-month average and rounded to the nearest quarter percent, but it can never be less than 2% or more than 5%. The Housing Services Division announces the figure once a year, for a year that runs from July 1. A landlord who says the limit prevents a fair and reasonable return may apply to the Housing Services Division for a larger increase; the unit must be registered first, tenants must be sent a copy of the application, and the decision can be appealed to a hearing officer. Rent collected above the limit must be refunded in a lump sum or credited against rent over no more than six months.

What housing is covered

The rent cap reaches apartments and other multi-unit rentals first occupied on or before February 1, 1995. Outside the cap are buildings whose first certificate of occupancy came after that date, single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes that can be sold separately from any other unit, subdivided interests, units receiving federal, state or local housing subsidies including Section 8, licensed residential care facilities for the elderly, and anything state or federal law exempts. Two carve-outs to those exclusions: a mobile home rented out by its own owner, and a rental unit contained wholly within a separately owned house or condominium, both stay under the cap. The eviction rules reach much further than the cap does, covering nearly every rental in the city including houses and condominiums.

What happens on vacancy

When a tenant moves out voluntarily, or is evicted for a reason the tenant is responsible for, the landlord may set the new starting rent at any amount, and the cap then applies to the new tenancy. The rent may also be reset after a no-fault eviction, except that if the unit was taken back for the landlord or a relative to live in, the landlord or relative must have lived there continuously for three years first. There is no reset where the tenant left because of harassment, constructive eviction or a breach of quiet enjoyment, where the tenant was evicted within the first 12 months of the tenancy, or where the tenant chose to leave under a buyout after the unit became unlivable during construction. A capital improvement charge cannot be carried over to the new tenant.

Eviction and termination rules

Once at least one tenant has lived in a unit for more than 12 months, a landlord may end the tenancy only for a listed reason, and the rule reaches nearly every rental in the city, including houses and condominiums. It does not apply to a room without its own bathroom or kitchen where the tenant shares with the landlord or the landlord's family. Tenant-fault reasons are nonpayment after a 3-day demand, a material lease violation left uncured for 10 days, continued refusal of reasonable access, nuisance or illegal use, and the end of employment for a resident manager housed as part of the job. No-fault reasons are demolition or permanent removal from the rental market, occupancy by the landlord or a close relative, compliance with an affordable-housing restriction, and compliance with a government order to vacate. A landlord or relative moving in must take up residence within three months and stay three years, may use the reason only once per person across all their Culver City units, and cannot displace a tenant of 10 or more years whose household includes someone 62 or older or disabled, a terminally ill tenant, a low-income tenant, or a household with a school-aged child during the school term. Every termination notice must state the reason in reasonable detail, carry a plain-language notice of these protections, and be sent to the Housing Services Division by certified mail within 5 calendar days of service; a notice that misses any of these steps is void.

Registration and filings

Every rental unit in the city must be registered with the Housing Services Division each year by July 31, including units that are outside the rent cap but covered by the eviction rules, unless the division has approved an exemption. Registration must also be updated when ownership changes, when a new tenancy begins, and when housing services change, and it is only complete once ownership, property, year built and certificate of occupancy date, bedroom and bathroom counts, current rent and a description of housing services are all provided. A landlord may not demand or accept rent without first giving the tenant the registration certificate or posting it in plain view, and cannot apply for a larger increase or a capital improvement charge until the units are registered. The registration fee is $177 per unit for the year beginning July 1, 2026, it cannot be passed on to tenants, and it is not refunded. Landlords who miss the deadline get a grace period through August 31, after which a 20% penalty is added on the first of each month up to a maximum of 100%. Landlords must also post a city-issued notice about the ordinance at the building in English and Spanish.

Other requirements

A landlord who adds a qualifying capital improvement may recover half its approved cost from tenants, spread over the improvement's useful life, but the charge can never exceed 3% of the rent in place when the application is filed, it must appear as a separate line on the rent statement with its end date, it is not rent, and it stops once the approved total is recovered. Routine maintenance and replacements do not qualify, and interior work needs the tenant's written consent unless the law requires the work. Buyout offers must follow city disclosure rules: the tenant gets the proposed agreement at least 10 business days before signing, may cancel within 45 days, and the amount can be no less than the relocation payment the ordinance would require; the signed agreement goes to the Housing Services Division within 20 days. When substantial repairs, hazardous-material work, fumigation or a government order make a unit unlivable, the landlord must either keep the tenant safely in place or pay for temporary housing, meals, laundry, pet accommodation and moving costs both ways, give 30 days' notice before construction, and let the tenant return on the old terms; if the disruption is expected to last 30 days or more the tenant may choose to end the tenancy under a buyout instead. A long list of landlord conduct counts as harassment, including bad-faith failure to make repairs, abuse of the right of entry, threats, repeated buyout offers after the tenant says stop, and interference with tenants organizing. Retaliation is barred, and a tenant who exercised rights within the previous six months is presumed to have been retaliated against. Separately, an older city program gives tenants of most multi-unit properties the right to demand mediation of a rent increase within 15 days of the notice, and the increase cannot take effect until the landlord meets with the tenant in good faith.

Notes and caveats

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Culver City, California: Rent Stabilization Ordinance and Tenant Protections Ordinance (verified August 17, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/california/culver-city/" — 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.