Landlord Atlas

San Diego, California: Rent Control (none; just-cause ordinance only)

Verified September 16, 2026 All California topics →

San Diego has no rent control of its own: the city has never capped what a landlord may charge, and its Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance limits when a tenancy may be ended, not what it costs.

Cited to San Diego Municipal Code ch. 9, art. 8, div. 7, Residential Tenant Protections (just cause, relocation, buyouts, retaliation, remedies) and 15 more sources · Verified September 16, 2026

Rent is limited by state law instead. California Civil Code section 1947.12 allows an increase of no more than 5% plus the change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower, over any 12-month period and in no more than two steps, which works out to 8.2% for an increase taking effect between August 1, 2026 and July 31, 2027. The city ordinance is still the stricter law on evictions: just cause applies from the start of the tenancy rather than after 12 months as under state law, a no-fault termination costs the landlord two months of the tenant's rent, or three months for a tenant who is 62 or older or disabled, and a landlord who does not follow the ordinance has a void termination notice and faces damages of at least three times the tenant's loss.

Current published figures

Figure Value Applies to Source
Maximum rent increase under state law, San Diego 8.2% (5% plus a 3.2% rise in the San Diego-Carlsbad consumer price index for all urban consumers from March 2026 over March 2025, rounded to the nearest tenth of 1%; the law caps the total at 10%) increases taking effect August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027 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

San Diego has no rent control and no rent stabilization of its own. Its Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance does not limit the amount of rent a landlord may charge: that law, San Diego Municipal Code sections 98.0701 through 98.0710, controls when and how a tenancy may be ended, not what it costs. The ordinance has been in force since June 24, 2023, when Ordinance O-21647 replaced the city's 2004 Tenants' Right to Know law, and it was last amended by Ordinance O-21769, passed February 27, 2024 and effective March 28, 2024. What limits rent in San Diego is state law: since 2019 California Civil Code section 1947.12 has barred an increase of more than 5% plus the change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower, in any 12-month period, in no more than two steps. For San Diego the cost-of-living part comes from the consumer price index for all urban consumers in the San Diego-Carlsbad area, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. There is no vacancy control: once every tenant from the old tenancy has moved out, the landlord sets the new rent at any amount, and the limit applies only to increases after that. The state limit expires January 1, 2030 unless the Legislature extends it.

What housing is covered

The state rent limit covers most rentals in San Diego, but not housing issued a certificate of occupancy within the previous 15 years unless it is a mobile home, not deed-restricted or subsidized affordable housing, not dormitories, not an owner-occupied duplex, and not a single-family home or condominium where the owner is not a real estate investment trust, a corporation or a limited liability company with a corporate member and the tenant was given the written exemption notice the statute sets out. The city's just-cause ordinance covers any dwelling or unit meant for people to live in, including units in a mobile home park, and including homes where the tenant pays with a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher. It does not cover hotel and tourist stays, short-term rentals, deed-restricted or subsidized affordable housing other than Section 8, mobile homes under the state Mobilehome Residency Law, hospitals, religious facilities, extended care and licensed residential care facilities for the elderly, adult residential facilities, nonprofit transitional housing, school and college dormitories, a unit where the tenant shares a kitchen or bathroom with a landlord living on the property, an owner-occupied single-family home where the landlord rents out no more than two bedrooms, two accessory dwelling units or two junior accessory dwelling units, a two-unit building where the landlord lives in one unit from the start of the tenancy and stays, housing issued a certificate of occupancy within the previous 15 years unless it is a mobile home, or a single-family home, condominium or mobile home whose landlord is not a real estate investment trust, a corporation, a limited liability company with a corporate member or mobile home park management, where the tenant was given the exact written notice the ordinance sets out. There is no minimum number of units: a landlord with one covered unit is bound.

Eviction and termination rules

San Diego requires just cause to end a tenancy, and it attaches sooner than state law. State law protects a tenant only after 12 months of continuous occupancy; the city ordinance has no waiting period at all, and applies to any tenancy giving the right to occupy for more than 30 days, other than a fixed term of three months or less. Twelve at-fault grounds are listed in Municipal Code 98.0704(a), including unpaid rent, breach of a material lease term, nuisance, waste, refusing to sign a substantially similar renewal, criminal activity on the property, and refusing lawful entry; where the problem can be fixed, the landlord must first give written notice describing it with a chance to fix it before serving a three-day notice to quit. Four no-fault grounds are listed in 98.0704(b), each of which must be taken in good faith: move-in by the owner or the owner's spouse, domestic partner, child, grandchild, parent or grandparent for at least 12 continuous months; taking the property off the rental market; complying with a government or court order, which for a habitability order must require the unit be empty at least 30 days; and demolition or substantial remodel. Owner move-in is available for a lease entered into on or after June 24, 2023 only if the tenant agrees in writing or the lease expressly allows it, cannot be used if the person moving in already occupies a unit on the property or a similar unit is already empty, must name that person and their relationship to the owner and tell the tenant they may ask for proof, and requires the move-in within 90 days and a stay of 12 continuous months; if that does not happen, the landlord must offer the home back at the old rent and terms and pay reasonable moving costs above the relocation money already paid. A substantial remodel means work on a structural, electrical, plumbing or mechanical system needing a permit, or abatement of lead paint, mold or asbestos, that cannot be done safely with the tenant there and forces the tenant out for at least 30 continuous days; cosmetic work does not count, the permit application must be posted at the property within three business days of filing, the permits must be in hand before the notice is served, and the notice must be certified under penalty of perjury with the permits attached. Every no-fault notice runs 30 or 60 days under California Civil Code section 1946.1, must be in at least 12-point type, and must describe the basis, state the relocation money and how it will be paid, and state the tenant's right to be offered the home again. On every no-fault termination, whatever the tenant earns and however long they have lived there, the landlord owes relocation money equal to two months of the actual rent in the lease on the date of the notice, or three months if the tenant is 62 or older or disabled, paid within 15 days of the notice or waived as rent for the final months. State law requires one month; San Diego requires two or three. If the home is offered for rent again within five years of an eviction for owner move-in, a government order, or demolition or substantial remodel, it must first be offered in writing to the tenant who was displaced, if that tenant asked in writing within 30 days of the termination notice and gave an address; the tenant then has 30 days to accept. For both at-fault and no-fault terminations the landlord must also notify the San Diego Housing Commission within three business days of serving the tenant, a duty that started 30 days after the Commission opened its filing portal and announced it. A landlord who does not comply with any provision of the ordinance has a void termination notice (98.0710). A tenant may sue for injunctive and equitable relief and money damages including punitive damages, and may raise a violation as a defense to an eviction: a wrongful eviction carries damages of not less than three times the tenant's actual economic damages, and failing to pay relocation money carries not less than three times that money plus actual economic damages, with attorney's fees and costs at the court's discretion. A landlord may not retaliate against a tenant for using or enforcing these rights.

Other requirements

San Diego has no rent board and no rental license, and no list of rents is filed with the city. Landlords do owe an annual Rental Unit Business Tax to the City Treasurer under Municipal Code 31.0305: $50 per property plus $5 per unit for a property with 1 to 10 units, $57 plus $9 per unit for 11 to 100 units, and $150 plus $8 per unit above 100 units, with a $4 state-mandated accessibility charge. A landlord must give every tenant of a covered home a written notice in at least 12-point type saying that California law limits rent increases and pointing to Civil Code section 1947.12, that local law requires a statement of cause in any notice ending a tenancy, and that seniors 62 and older and disabled tenants may have added protections, together with a copy of the Tenant Protection Guide the San Diego Housing Commission publishes (98.0705). Buyout offers are tightly controlled (98.0707). Before even discussing a buyout the landlord must give each tenant a written disclosure saying the tenant may refuse, may consult an attorney, and may not be retaliated against, stating the relocation money the tenant is owed, naming everyone authorized to negotiate, and signed and dated by both sides, with a copy back to the tenant within three days and the landlord keeping it five years; all tenants may refuse future offers in writing for six months at a time. The agreement itself must be written, given to the tenant at signing, and carry three warnings in bold type of at least 14 points next to the signature line, and must be provided in translation alongside the English version where the tenant negotiated mainly in another language. A buyout for less than the relocation money the tenant is owed is void, as is one that misses any of those requirements, and none of it can be waived. Since June 21, 2025 it has been unlawful both to sell or license to a San Diego landlord, and for a landlord to use, software that crunches two or more landlords' non-public data to recommend rents or occupancy levels, with civil penalties up to $1,000 for each violation, each month and each property counting separately, and attorney's fees to whichever side wins (Municipal Code 98.1101 through 98.1104). Since August 17, 2025 a landlord may charge a tenant no more than the landlord actually pays the city for that tenant's water, sewer, stormwater or trash service, must say so in the lease or give 30 days' written notice first, and must hand over the underlying bill or tax roll report and the allocation math within 10 days of a written request, with any third-party billing charge shown separately and documented (98.1201 through 98.1207). San Diego also bans discrimination based on a tenant's source of income, defined more broadly than state law to include rental help from any federal, state, local or nonprofit program (98.0801 and following).

Notes and caveats

Citations

This page records local law. Statewide laws — 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.