Landlord Atlas

Los Angeles, California: Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO)

Verified August 13, 2026 All California topics →

Los Angeles caps rent increases at 3% for the year running July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 for apartments, duplexes, and condominiums first occupied on or before October 1, 1978.

Cited to L.A. Mun. Code § 151.02 (definitions, coverage, and exemptions) and 11 more sources · Verified August 13, 2026

The cap comes from the city's Rent Stabilization Ordinance, whose formula — 90% of local inflation with a 1% floor and a 4% ceiling — took effect in February 2026. Newer buildings are outside the city ordinance, though most fall under California's statewide limit of 5% plus inflation (10% maximum) once their certificate of occupancy is more than 15 years old. Covered tenancies may be ended only on fourteen listed grounds, with relocation payments for no-fault evictions, and landlords must register covered units with the Housing Department every year.

Current published figures

Figure Value Applies to Source
Annual allowable rent increase (RSO units) 3% 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. The City of Los Angeles has limited rent increases under its Rent Stabilization Ordinance, Los Angeles Municipal Code Chapter XV, Article 1, since May 1979. The annual-increase formula was rewritten effective February 2, 2026 (Ordinance 188,795): increases are now set at 90% of local inflation with a 1% floor and a 4% ceiling, and the former utility surcharge was eliminated. A pandemic-era freeze held increases at zero from March 30, 2020 through January 31, 2024.

The rent increase limit

One rent increase is allowed per 12 months. The allowed percentage is 90% of the change in the Los Angeles-area consumer price index measured over the 12 months ending September 30, rounded to the nearest whole number, with a floor of 1% and a ceiling of 4%. The Housing Department publishes the figure by May 30 each year for increases taking effect July 1 through June 30, and unused increases may not be saved for later years. Larger increases require Housing Department approval through programs such as capital improvement passthroughs or a just-and-reasonable adjustment.

What housing is covered

Apartments, duplexes, condominiums, mobilehome spaces, and hotel or rooming-house rooms occupied 30 days or more, in buildings first granted a certificate of occupancy on or before October 1, 1978. Single-family homes are covered only when two or more dwellings sit on the same parcel. Buildings first occupied after that 1978 date are outside the ordinance — a line state law fixes in place — as are government-owned housing, hospitals and licensed care facilities, certain covenanted affordable units, and units holding a luxury exemption certificate.

What happens on vacancy

When a tenant leaves voluntarily or is evicted for a reason the tenant is responsible for, such as nonpayment, state law lets the landlord set a new starting rent at any amount, and the cap then applies to the new tenancy. The rent may not be reset after no-fault terminations such as an owner move-in.

Eviction and termination rules

A landlord may end a covered tenancy only on one of fourteen grounds listed in the ordinance, split between tenant-fault grounds (nonpayment, uncured lease violations, nuisance) and no-fault grounds (owner or family move-in, removal from the rental market, government order to vacate). No-fault terminations require a declaration filed with the Housing Department and relocation payments, with amounts that adjust annually, and every termination notice for a covered unit must be filed with the Housing Department within three business days of service. Rentals outside the ordinance are covered by the city's separate Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance.

Registration and filings

Landlords must register covered units with the Housing Department each year and serve or display the registration statement; rent may not be demanded or accepted without a current one. Registration carries an annual per-unit fee, half of which may be passed through to tenants in monthly installments, and rental properties citywide also pay the systematic code-enforcement inspection fee.

Other requirements

Security deposits may rise by the same annual percentage as rent. Tenant buyout offers must follow the city's disclosure and filing program, and properties placed in the city's rent escrow program for uncorrected violations cannot raise rents until they are cleared. A separate city law bars tenant harassment in every rental unit in the city, including single-family homes and condominiums. Harassment is a landlord's bad faith conduct aimed at a tenant that causes the tenant harm, where bad faith includes reckless or grossly negligent conduct; examples in the law include cutting services, failing to make timely repairs, abusing the right of entry, threatening physical harm, pressing a tenant to move with payment offers, misleading a tenant about having to move, eviction threats or notices based on facts the landlord has no reasonable cause to believe, refusing lawful rent or rental assistance payments, asking about immigration or citizenship status, interfering with tenant organizing, and imposing new material terms on an existing tenant unless the law allows it or the tenant accepts them in writing after being told in writing that they need not. A tenant may raise harassment as a defense in an eviction case, and a tenant, the City, or an organization representing tenants may sue within three years. A tenant who wins is awarded three times actual damages, including damages for emotional distress, plus attorney's fees and costs and a civil penalty of at least $2,000 and up to $10,000 per violation, with up to $5,000 more per violation where the tenant was older than 65 or disabled; the court may also award punitive damages. A violation is also a crime: as a misdemeanor it carries a fine of up to $1,000 for each offense, up to six months in jail, or both. For units under the rent ordinance, offering a tenant money to move out without giving the tenant written notice of their buyout rights on the Housing Department's form is also harassment, except for an offer made in a pending eviction case.

Notes and caveats

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Los Angeles, California: Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) (verified August 13, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/california/los-angeles/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified).

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.