Los Angeles, California: pet and assistance-animal laws

In a development publicly financed by or through the city, an applicant or tenant may not be rejected because of pet ownership or denied at least one pet per unit, so long as the pet is spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, licensed where required and kept in line with the city's animal rules. A pet deposit may be charged but must be reasonable and refundable and may be used only for expenses directly tied to the pet, such as repairs, replacements and fumigation of the unit; the section states no figure, and California's deposit cap of one month's rent, or two months for a small landlord, contains it. The section says nothing about monthly pet rent, breed, size or weight, and it expressly leaves untouched the laws requiring reasonable accommodations for a tenant with a disability who keeps an assistance, service or support animal. A pet can still be removed if its conduct or condition breaks the law or is a nuisance or a threat to health or safety. A tenant may sue to enforce the rule and recover actual damages or three times one month's rent, whichever is higher, plus attorney's fees, and may raise it as a defense in an eviction case about the pet; the city's financing rules also require landlords to give tenants a copy of the city's pet policies.

Los Angeles pet law at a glance

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Los Angeles, California: pet and assistance-animal laws (verified September 21, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/pets/california/los-angeles/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified and what the topic covers). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

What would change it

A 2026 California law requires every landlord to have a written pet policy or pet addendum from April 1, 2027, adding a statewide layer over this section. The article itself took effect on August 25, 2019 (Ordinance No. 186228), and that date decides which developments are covered.

Where a change in this status would appear: Los Angeles Municipal Code § 51.22 (Pet-Friendly Publicly-Financed Housing) — subsections A to F and the edition banner.

The instrument

Section 51.22 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, Pet-Friendly Publicly-Financed Housing, in Article 17 of Chapter IV, which Ordinance No. 186228 added (passed July 3, 2019, approved July 12, 2019, effective August 25, 2019). The section sets a pet-access right, conditions on the pet, a deposit standard, a duty on the city department to write pet policies, a savings clause for assistance animals and a removal ground. The article reaches developments publicly financed by or through the city on or after August 25, 2019, and its section 51.23 gives tenants a civil action to enforce it.

Who it binds

Only rental units in a housing development publicly financed by or through the City of Los Angeles on or after August 25, 2019, the article's effective date, plus a publicly financed development for which the city later provides a contractual modification or amendment or additional public financing, so a later touch of city money brings a building in. Public financing here means a city loan or grant, including federal, state and local money passed through the city, used to build new multi-family housing; a rental subsidy such as a Section 8 voucher does not count (section 51.21). It does not bind private landlords, and Los Angeles is the largest city in the country with a pet-in-housing rule that reaches almost no private tenancy. Any sentence that says Los Angeles requires landlords to allow pets is wrong.

Which leases it reaches

The rule attaches by the financing date rather than the lease date: it covers a development publicly financed by or through the city on or after August 25, 2019, the effective date of the article, and a development for which the city provides a contractual modification, an amendment or additional public financing on or after that date.

Pet deposit

A pet deposit is allowed in a covered development but is held to a standard rather than a number: it must be reasonable and refundable, and it may be used only to pay reasonable expenses directly related to the pet's presence, such as repairs, replacements and fumigation of the tenant's unit. The section states no figure. It also says the deposit is administered consistently with the state and local rules on holding a security deposit, paying interest on it and returning it, so the California ceiling applies: a pet deposit sits inside the state cap of one month's rent, however the charge is labeled, or two months for the small-landlord class the state rule defines, rather than on top of it.

Pet rent

The section says nothing about monthly pet rent, so the state page answers. California sets no cap on pet rent charged monthly; what it controls is money taken at the start of a tenancy, which is counted against the deposit cap.

Non-refundable pet fee

In a covered development a non-refundable pet charge is not available, because the section says any pet deposit charged to the tenant must be refundable and authorizes no other pet charge. California law points the same way for every tenancy in the state: an up-front pet charge may not be called non-refundable.

Breed, size and weight

The section reaches pets and says nothing about breed, size or weight, so a covered development's own limits on those are not addressed by it. The conditions the section does impose are on the animal rather than its breed: a pet must be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and, where required, licensed, and kept in line with the animal chapter of the city code. The parallel state rule for subsidized housing has breed, size and weight text of its own and is the broader rule where both apply.

What the lease must, or may not, say

In a covered development an applicant or a tenant may not be rejected because of pet ownership and may not be denied the ability to own or otherwise possess and maintain at least one pet per rental unit, provided the pet is kept in line with the animal chapter of the city code. One pet per unit is the floor and the section sets no ceiling. The city housing department, working with the Department of Animal Services, writes pet policies, and its public financing rules require landlords to give tenants a copy of them. Removal is preserved: nothing in the article stops the removal of a pet whose conduct or condition breaks a state or local law or is a nuisance or a threat to the health or safety of other occupants.

Assistance animals

The article carries an express savings clause: nothing in it limits or otherwise affects other statutes or laws requiring reasonable accommodations for an individual with a disability who maintains an animal that provides assistance, service or support. So the section's one-pet floor and its conditions on the animal do not set the ceiling for an assistance animal, and they do not authorize a deposit for one. What a landlord must allow and may ask for an assistance animal is answered by the California page and the federal rules.

Who enforces it and how

A tenant can enforce the article in court. Under section 51.23, a tenant may bring a civil action, and a person who violates the article or aids a violation is liable for actual damages or three times one month's rent for the unit, whichever is higher; the court may also award attorney's fees and costs. Any person may sue the landlord for an injunction or other equitable relief to secure compliance, and the article may be raised as an affirmative defense in an eviction case about keeping the pet. These remedies are not exclusive. The city housing department's public financing rules are a second lever: they must require a landlord in a covered development to give tenants a copy of the pet policies. Whether the city code's general penalty clause for municipal code violations reaches the article was not read, so nothing is claimed about it.

How this fits with California law

California does not preempt this section. The state's preemption on animals is narrow, reaching only breed-specific dog-control programs, and the section says nothing about breed; no California provision preempts or authorizes local pet-in-housing rules at all; and the section is in any event a condition the city attaches to its own money through its financing rules rather than a rule imposed on private leases. Where state law does bind is the deposit: the section itself says a pet deposit is administered consistently with state law on retention, interest and return, so Civil Code section 1950.5 supplies the ceiling and the mechanics, and a pet deposit counts inside the state cap rather than being added to it. California also has its own pet-friendly mandate for subsidized housing at Health and Safety Code section 50466, with breed, size and weight text the city section does not have, and a city-financed development may sit under both; the state rule is the broader one.

Notes and caveats

• It binds city-financed housing, not private landlords — The rule covers rental units in a development publicly financed by or through the city, and a development that later gets a contractual modification, an amendment or more city money. A private tenancy with no city financing behind it is outside it.
• The article took effect on August 25, 2019 — The section reaches developments publicly financed by or through the city on or after the effective date of the article. Ordinance No. 186228, which added the article, was passed on July 3, 2019, approved on July 12, 2019 and took effect on August 25, 2019.
• A standard, not a number — The deposit rule is qualitative: reasonable, refundable and usable only for pet-related expenses. It is not a cap in dollars, and it is not a license to charge whatever a landlord likes. The state cap is what puts a number on it.
• California's own subsidized-housing mandate may also apply — Health and Safety Code section 50466 is a state pet-friendly mandate for subsidized housing with its own breed, size and weight text. A city-financed development may sit under both rules, and the state one is broader.
• Security deposits — A pet deposit counts inside California's deposit cap rather than on top of it, and the state rules on interest, retention and return apply to it. The security-deposits page carries the cap, the small-landlord exception and the return timetable.
• Assistance animals — The section expressly leaves the reasonable-accommodation laws untouched. The California page and the federal section of the 50-state page answer what a landlord must allow and what a landlord may ask for a service, assistance or support animal.
• The city's pet policies were not located — The section tells the housing department to write pet policies with the Department of Animal Services and to require landlords to hand them to tenants. No such document was found on the department's own site, so the operational detail is not on this page.
• Federal rules — The Fair Housing Act, the housing regulations under it, the rules for assisted and public housing and the status of the federal assistance-animal guidance are on the federal section of the 50-state page. A federally assisted development for the elderly or for people with disabilities has its own pet-ownership rule in federal law.
• Legislation — A 2026 California law (Chapter 1025, Statutes of 2026) requires every landlord to have a written pet policy or pet addendum from April 1, 2027. Nothing pending at the city level could be established, because the City Clerk's ordinance search would not return results.

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (September 21, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).

• Correction, October 2, 2026 — Los Angeles (correction): the pets page had said the city's pet rule for publicly financed housing carries no private right of action and that its effective date could not be stated. Section 51.23 of the same article lets a tenant enforce it by civil action for actual damages or three times one month's rent, whichever is higher, with attorney's fees, lets any person seek an injunction, and makes the article a defense in an eviction case about the pet. The article was added by Ordinance No. 186228 (passed July 3, 2019, approved July 12, 2019) and took effect August 25, 2019; public financing means a city loan or grant used to build new multi-family housing, and a rental subsidy does not count (section 51.21). On the Los Angeles rent page, the note on the end of the utility add-on now states that Ordinance No. 188,911, effective April 20, 2026, requires any annual increase taking effect on or after February 2, 2026 to follow the new formula.

Citations

• Los Angeles Municipal Code § 51.22 (Pet-Friendly Publicly-Financed Housing) · A, B, C, D, E, F (verified 2026) Official source
• Los Angeles Municipal Code § 51.22 (Pet-Friendly Publicly-Financed Housing): Ord. 186228, Article 17, Secs. 51.20-51.24, eff. August 25, 2019 · A, B, C, D, E, F (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Section 51.22 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code was read in full, subsections A through F, on the city's contracted publisher's own site, first on September 20, 2026, when the page banner read 2026 Rev. 9 (current), and again on September 21, 2026, when the same six subsections were read word for word and matched. The section page renders no credit line, so the enacting ordinance number, its adoption date and the article's effective date could not be read there; the City Clerk's document store did not answer on September 21, 2026 and the Clerk's ordinance search would not return results without a working form, so those three items are stated here as unread rather than guessed. The Los Angeles Housing Department's own site was searched for the pet policies the section requires and carries none. The California answers were taken from the state reading: Civil Code section 1950.5 for the deposit ceiling and mechanics, Health and Safety Code section 50466 for the parallel state mandate in subsidized housing, and Food and Agricultural Code section 31683 for the breed-specific limit on local dog programs.

What was read to state each absence on this page: Section 51.22 was read in full, subsections A through F, and contains no occurrence of breed, size, weight, pet rent, monthly charge or non-refundable, and no penalty clause of its own; the article's remedies are in section 51.23, which provides a civil action, equitable relief and an affirmative defense. The terms looked for in it were pet, pets, animal, dog, service animal, assistance animal, support animal, emotional support, breed, weight, size, deposit, fee, non-refundable, rent, spay, vaccinate, microchip and license. The city's ordinance search could not be made to return results on September 21, 2026 and the City Clerk's document store did not answer, so no citywide reading of Los Angeles ordinances was possible: the negative here rests on the section itself, not on the whole code, and is stated as partial. Two further Los Angeles items were left unopened and are not relied on for any value: an ordinance reported to protect tenants who brought a pet into a unit before January 31, 2023, and a time-limited protection for tenants housing people or pets displaced by the January 2025 wildfires.

This page records Los Angeles's own law on pets and assistance animals in rentals. The statewide position — California has no separate pet deposit: money taken at move-in for a pet is security like any other money, so it counts in full toward the deposit cap and has to be refundable — lives on the California pets and assistance-animals page with its own citations and verification date.