There is no single rent cap in Los Angeles. There are at least four, they apply to different buildings, and the difference between them this year runs from 1.9% to 8.7%.
The first thing to establish is which regime your building sits in. It comes down to two facts: the year it was built, and the jurisdiction.
City of Los Angeles, built on or before October 1, 1978
This is the Rent Stabilization Ordinance, and it covers most of the older apartment stock inside city limits. There is no minimum unit count — a duplex qualifies. It also covers condos, townhomes, two or more houses on one parcel, ADUs, and units replacing demolished RSO units built after July 15, 2007.
The allowable increase is 3% for July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. One increase per twelve months. The next change lands July 1, 2027.
The formula changed, and it matters more than this year's number. Effective February 2, 2026, the City moved from 100% of average CPI to 90% of average CPI, and changed the band from a 3% floor and 8% ceiling to a 1% floor and 4% ceiling. The Council passed it 12-2 in December 2025. Roughly 650,000 units are affected.
Read that carefully. The old rule let allowable increases reach 8% in an inflationary year. The new one caps them at 4%. With the August 2026 CPI running 3.4% and operating costs — insurance especially — rising faster than that, RSO buildings now face structurally negative real income growth. That is a permanent change to the asset class, not a one-year event.
Two surcharges were eliminated in the same ordinance, both effective February 2, 2026:
- The utility surcharge for owners who pay gas or electric is gone. Annual increases may no longer include any additional percentage for utilities.
- The 10% increase for an additional dependent added to a tenancy is gone.
City of Los Angeles, built after October 1, 1978
Your building falls under state law — AB 1482, the Tenant Protection Act — plus the City's Just Cause Ordinance for evictions.
The AB 1482 cap for the Los Angeles region is 8.7% for August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027. The formula is 5% plus the change in cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower. This year that is 5% plus 3.7%.
Note the difference: 3% if your building predates October 1978, 8.7% if it was finished after. Two buildings a year apart in vintage, nearly three times the allowable increase.
The 15-year rule rolls. AB 1482 exempts housing issued a certificate of occupancy within the previous fifteen years. That window moves forward continuously, so a building finished in 2011 came under the cap in 2026, and every building ages into coverage on its fifteenth birthday. If you own 2010s-vintage product, check your date.
AB 1482 is currently set to expire January 1, 2030. A 2025 bill, AB 1157, would have tightened the cap and removed that sunset; it failed in committee in January 2026.
Unincorporated LA County
Different ordinance, considerably tighter. The County caps increases at 60% of CPI, not to exceed 3%. For July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027:
| Category | Allowable increase |
|---|---|
| General units | 1.919% |
| Small Property Landlords | 2.919% |
| Luxury units | 3.919% |
The County also uses a February 1, 1995 build-date cutoff rather than the City's 1978. So a 1988 building that is completely unregulated inside City limits is rent-stabilized if it sits in an unincorporated pocket. Owners with buildings near a city boundary should verify jurisdiction rather than assume it.
Other cities
Most South Bay cities have no local rent control, which leaves AB 1482 as the governing rule. Inglewood is the notable exception, and its structure is unusual — it is more generous to small properties:
- Five or more units: the greater of 3% or CPI, capped at 10%
- Four or fewer units: 5% plus CPI, capped at 10%
Inglewood publishes its CPI figure in May and requires increases to be logged in a city registry after a 30-day notice. Verify the current figures and effective dates with the City directly.
Elsewhere in LA County with their own ordinances: Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Pasadena, Pomona, Baldwin Park, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, and Maywood. If your building is in one of those, the local rule governs and it is not the one described above.
The number that dwarfs all of these
Annual increases are not where the money is. Vacancy is.
Under Costa-Hawkins, when a tenant in an RSO unit moves out voluntarily, you may set the next tenancy's rent at market with no cap. The unit then re-enters control at that new base.
On a unit renting at $1,250 against a $2,200 market, one voluntary turnover accomplishes what 22 years of 3% increases would. This is the central economic fact of LA multifamily, and it is why we read rent rolls by tenancy date rather than by total.
Three limits owners get wrong:
- Owner-terminated tenancies do not qualify. If you ended the tenancy by notice, you do not get the reset. A no-fault eviction followed by a market re-rent is not a Costa-Hawkins reset.
- Outstanding code violations block it. If serious health, safety, fire or building code violations were cited at least 60 days before the vacancy and remained unabated when the tenant left, no reset.
- Sublessees are their own rule. Where original occupants no longer live there, you may reset as to a lawful sublessee who did not reside there before January 1, 1996 — but not while any original occupant remains in lawful possession.
Costa-Hawkins has been attacked repeatedly and has never been repealed. Statewide ballot measures failed in 2018, 2020, and again in November 2024, when Proposition 33 lost roughly 60-40. Two bills to narrow it died in the last two sessions. As of September 2026 there is no rent control measure on the November California ballot. It is intact.
What ends a no-fault termination costing
If you terminate without cause — owner move-in, Ellis Act withdrawal, major remodel, government order — the City requires relocation payments. For July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027:
| Tenant | Under 3 years | 3+ years or low income | Mom & Pop property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eligible Tenant | $11,000 | $14,400 | $10,550 |
| Qualified Tenant | $23,150 | $27,400 | $21,250 |
A Qualified Tenant is 62 or older, disabled, or has minor dependent children. Everyone else is an Eligible Tenant.
On a twelve-unit building with several long-tenured senior households, a full vacate can run well over $250,000 in relocation alone. That number belongs in any redevelopment analysis from the first day, not the last.
New in 2026, worth knowing
- AB 628: landlords must provide a working refrigerator and stove. Failure renders the unit legally uninhabitable. This matters for older LA stock historically rented without appliances.
- SB 610: landlord responsibility to remediate disaster-related hazards including smoke, smoke residue and odor, ash, and water damage.
- The Economic Displacement relocation requirement was removed from the City's required renter notice, following appellate precedent holding that rent-increase-triggered relocation payments conflict with state law. A genuine owner win.
- The required renter protections notice was reissued July 1, 2026. Make sure you are serving and posting the current version.
Rules change and figures reset annually. This reflects our reading as of September 2026; confirm current numbers with LAHD or the relevant jurisdiction before acting.
Sources
- LA Housing Department, renter protections
- LA County DCBA, rent increases
- California Civil Code section 1954.53, Costa-Hawkins
- City of Inglewood, allowable rent increases
- LA Housing Department, relocation assistance bulletin