Landlord Atlas

West Hollywood, California: Rent Stabilization Ordinance

Verified August 17, 2026 All California topics →

West Hollywood caps rent increases at 2.75% for the year running September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027, and at 2.25% for September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026, for rentals in buildings first occupied on or before July 1, 1979.

Cited to West Hollywood Municipal Code § 17.24.010 (exempt property) and 13 more sources · Verified August 17, 2026

The cap comes from the city's Rent Stabilization Ordinance, adopted in 1985 and codified as Title 17 of the municipal code, which sets the yearly figure at 75% of Los Angeles-area inflation from May to May, rounded to the nearest quarter percent, with a hard ceiling of 3% and no saving of skipped increases. Newer buildings and most separately sold houses and condominiums sit outside the city cap, though newer buildings fall under California's statewide limit of 5% plus inflation, 10% at most, once they are more than 15 years old. Every rental in the city, whatever its age, may be ended only on one of 19 listed grounds, with relocation payments of $9,763 to $32,547 for no-fault terminations in the year running July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, and owners must register each unit, re-register after every vacancy, and pay an annual per-unit fee or lose the right to raise the rent.

Current published figures

Figure Value Applies to Source
Annual General Adjustment (rent-capped units) 2.75% September 1, 2026 – August 31, 2027 Official source
Annual General Adjustment (rent-capped units) 2.25% September 1, 2025 – August 31, 2026 Official source
Security deposit interest rate 4.3% January 1, 2025 – December 31, 2025 (payable by January 31, 2026) Official source
Relocation payment for a no-fault termination, by unit size $9,763 studio; $13,787 one bedroom; $18,571 two bedrooms; $24,508 three or more bedrooms July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 Official source
Relocation payment for a no-fault termination, higher household amounts $25,847 for a tenant 62 or older, disabled, terminally ill or living with a dependent child, and for a moderate-income household; $32,547 for a lower-income household July 1, 2026 – June 30, 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

In force today. West Hollywood adopted its Rent Stabilization Ordinance in 1985, the year after the city incorporated, and it is codified as Title 17 of the West Hollywood Municipal Code. The Rent Stabilization Division runs the program day to day, and a seven-member Rent Stabilization Commission sets the yearly rent increase figure, the relocation payment schedule, and the security deposit interest rate. The ordinance has no end date. Its most recent change took effect through Ordinance 24-27, adopted October 7, 2024, which revised the rules on setting rent for a new tenant and the list of reasons a tenancy may be ended. The published code runs through Ordinance 26-08, adopted May 4, 2026.

The rent increase limit

One rent increase is allowed per 12 months, and none in the first 12 months of a tenancy. The Rent Stabilization Commission announces the allowed percentage, called the Annual General Adjustment, by July 1 each year, and it applies to increases that first take effect from September 1 through the following August 31. The figure is 75% of the change in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim consumer price index from May to May, rounded to the nearest quarter percent. It can never exceed 3%: if the index rises 4% or more, the ordinance caps the increase at 3%. If the index falls, the figure is 0% and rents are not reduced. An increase not taken during its September-to-August window is lost and cannot be saved for a later year. A landlord may take the increase only while in substantial compliance with the ordinance, with the unit registered and all registration fees paid, and must give the tenant 30 days' written notice, or 60 days for a Housing Choice Voucher tenant. Larger increases require an application to a hearing examiner, who must leave the landlord a just and reasonable return.

What housing is covered

The rent cap reaches rentals in buildings first occupied on or before July 1, 1979, a line state law lets the city keep because its exemption for new buildings predates 1995. Buildings first occupied after July 1, 1979 are outside the cap. So are separately sold single-family homes, condominiums and cooperatives where the current or previous tenancy began after January 1, 1996, and single-family homes and condominiums the owner lived in as a main home for two years or more. Also outside the ordinance are hospitals, convents, care facilities, nonprofit homes for the aged, fraternity and sorority houses and college housing; short-stay hotel, motel and rooming-house units; a room in the owner's own home where the owner shares a kitchen or bathroom; nonprofit-operated housing; units under a West Hollywood inclusionary housing agreement; a unit lived in by the owner or a close relative; units taken off the rental market for storage or similar uses; buildings after every unit has been withdrawn from the market; units an agency has found in writing unfit to live in; and free interim housing for people experiencing homelessness. Government-assisted housing is outside the cap, but a Housing Choice Voucher tenancy in a privately owned building first occupied on or before July 1, 1979 stays fully covered. Whatever the age or type of building, every rental in the city keeps the eviction rules, the ban on landlord harassment, and the protections during construction work; newer and separately sold units also keep the registration, posting and security deposit rules. An owner of a unit outside the rent cap must tell prospective tenants so in writing, in English, Spanish and Russian.

What happens on vacancy

When a tenant leaves voluntarily, the landlord may set the starting rent for the next tenant at any amount, and the cap then applies to the new tenancy. The rent may not be reset when the landlord ended the previous tenancy with a no-cause notice or by changing the terms of the tenancy; when the unit was cited for serious health, safety, fire or building code violations at least 60 days before the vacancy and they were still unfixed; when the vacancy was caused by harassment, a constructive eviction, or a breach of the tenant's right to quiet enjoyment; or when the previous occupant had no genuine tenancy or stayed under six months mainly to create a vacancy increase. After an owner or relative move-in where the relative later leaves, the next rent is the last lawful rent plus the yearly adjustments since. After a withdrawal of the property from the rental market under the Ellis Act, no new starting rent may be set for five years. After a landlord ends a government rent-limitation contract, no new starting rent may be set for three years. A tenant who moves to another unit on the property as a disability accommodation keeps the same rent and lease terms. Once a starting rent is set, it may be raised only as the ordinance allows, and the landlord must re-register the unit within 30 days of the new tenancy.

Eviction and termination rules

A landlord may end a tenancy in any West Hollywood rental, including new buildings, houses, condominiums and subsidized units, only on one of 19 grounds listed in the ordinance, and that ground must be the landlord's dominant motive. They run from nonpayment of rent, an uncured material breach, nuisance, illegal use, refusing a like-term renewal, denying reasonable access and an unapproved subtenant, through to owner or close-relative move-in, correcting code violations, foreclosure on a house or condominium, and withdrawing every unit on the property from the rental market. Adding a spouse, registered domestic partner, parent, grandparent, sibling or non-dependent child, a new baby or adopted child, a medically needed live-in assistant, or a permitted pet cannot be a ground. An owner or relative move-in needs a good-faith plan to live there for at least a year and 60 days' written notice that does not start running until relocation money is paid and the notice is filed with and approved by the City. Withdrawing a property from the market needs at least 120 days' notice to the City under penalty of perjury and a notice recorded with the County. No-fault terminations require a relocation payment made at the same time as the notice, which the tenant cannot waive, plus a counseling fee paid to the City before the notice is served. For July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 the payment is $9,763 for a studio, $13,787 for one bedroom, $18,571 for two bedrooms and $24,508 for three or more; $25,847 where a tenant is 62 or older, disabled, terminally ill or living with a dependent child, or where the household is moderate income; and $32,547 for a lower-income household. Every termination notice must state the ground and cite the exact subsection, and a copy of it, and of any eviction summons and complaint, must be filed with the City within 5 days of service. Retaliation is barred and the ordinance is a defense in court.

Registration and filings

Owners must register every rental unit that is not exempt, re-register within 30 days each time a unit is rented to a new tenant, and file an amendment within 30 days of a change in ownership, management or contact details. Since January 1, 2023 this reaches units outside the rent cap as well: buildings first occupied after July 1, 1979 and separately sold single-family homes, condominiums and cooperatives, which the city handles through a separate registry. An annual per-unit fee set by City Council resolution is billed in June and due each July, with a late fee after the city's deadline; half of it may be passed to tenants as a monthly surcharge, but only after the owner has actually paid and completed registration, never as a lump sum or retroactively, and never to a Housing Choice Voucher tenant. The surcharge is not rent: it comes off the rent before a yearly increase is worked out, then goes back on. Certain senior or disabled owners may apply to pay in installments, and per-unit exemption applications are due July 1 each year. A landlord cannot take the yearly increase for an unregistered unit, and any increase taken while unregistered is an illegal overcharge that must be repaid, with the increase allowed only going forward once the owner is fully in compliance. Owners must also give every covered tenant a City notice at the start of the tenancy and again with each rent-increase notice, in English, Spanish and Russian, and post it in buildings of five or more units.

Other requirements

Security deposits cannot be raised during a tenancy, and for tenancies beginning on or after March 24, 2022 no extra pet deposit may be collected at any point. Landlords must pay tenants interest on deposits each year at a rate the Rent Stabilization Commission announces by September 1, paid or credited by January 31 of the following year; a tenant not paid on time may deduct the interest from a later month's rent. Before offering a tenant money to move out, a landlord must give a City disclosure form, hand over the proposed agreement at least 10 business days before signing, and include set warnings in bold type; the tenant may cancel within 30 days, and the signed agreement must be filed with the City between the 31st and 60th day. Landlord harassment is prohibited, with a long list of examples including cutting services, letting repairs slide, abusing the right to enter, threatening baseless evictions and misleading a tenant into leaving. Construction and remodeling work that would make an occupied unit unlivable, that affects more than one unit or the common areas, or that would leave every elevator out of service more than 72 hours needs an approved tenant habitability plan before any permit issues. Late fees are capped at 1% of the monthly rent for rent 5 or more days overdue. Landlords may not charge separately for a utility the utility company bills to the landlord, including ratio utility billing, and since March 24, 2022 may not charge a side fee for on-site parking or any other service tied to living in the unit. Adding an occupant cannot raise the rent above the lawful maximum, breed restrictions on dogs are prohibited, and the city offers free mediation for landlord-tenant disputes.

Notes and caveats

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, West Hollywood, California: Rent Stabilization Ordinance (verified August 17, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/california/west-hollywood/" — 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.