When the cap actually applies
Most California landlords know the headline. The Tenant Protection Act of 2019 — everyone calls it AB 1482 — caps annual rent increases at five percent plus local CPI, with a hard ten-percent ceiling. It took effect January 1, 2020, and it's currently extended through January 1, 2030.
The part that gets people sued is everything around the cap. A single-family home owned by a person, not a corporation, is exempt — but only if a specific notice is in the lease. A multi-unit building completed in 2011 was exempt last year and isn't anymore. A property inside Santa Ana that looks like AB 1482 territory is actually capped at three percent under the city's own ordinance. None of that is on the formula card.
This page is the working version. For the just-cause eviction side of AB 1482, see the eviction rules guide.
Doing the math (and the part landlords miss)
The formula card is one line. Applying it correctly takes three pieces of information you have to look up every year: the current CPI for your metro, the rolling 12-month total of every increase you've already served, and whether any other charge — utility passthrough, parking bump, capital improvement fee — counts as rent under your local rules. Skip one and you're guessing.
"Local CPI" means the April-over-April Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the metro area where the unit sits, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The four California metros that map most rentals:
- Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim: all of Orange and LA counties
- Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario: Inland Empire
- San Diego–Carlsbad: San Diego County
- San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward: the Bay Area
Assume the applicable April-over-April CPI for your metro is 3.0%.
Max allowed: 5% + 3.0% = 8.0%
Rent at $2,400/month → ceiling of $2,400 × 1.080 = $2,592
Pull your metro's current CPI from HCD's spring AB 1482 release or directly from BLS before you serve a notice. The figure changes every year, and last year's number won't satisfy the statute. Don't rely on third-party "rent control calculators" — most go stale within weeks every spring.
Hypothetical local CPI = 6.5%.
Formula says 5% + 6.5% = 11.5%. The ceiling says 10%.
Lawful max = 10%. The ceiling wins.
The rolling 12 months — not the calendar year
The cap runs on a trailing 12-month window. Raise rent 5% in March and try again in November of the same year and the second raise is measured against the cumulative total in the prior twelve months, not against zero. If the combined figure tips over the local cap, the second raise is unlawful in full. Each individual notice can look modest and the stack can still be illegal.
Where the official CPI lives every spring
HCD publishes the AB 1482-applicable CPI figures each spring — usually April or May — covering the April-over-April window the statute requires. The raw metro CPI-U series sits at bls.gov. Use the April-over-April figure for the most recent completed 12-month period; that's the window the statute names, and a court will read it literally.
Who's covered, who isn't, and the trap in the middle
Not every California rental sits under the AB 1482 cap. There are several clean exemption categories, plus one ugly one that catches owners every year: the single-family carve-out, which only works if you served the right notice. Run a unit through the tree before you write a single increase letter.
AB 1482 coverage tree
Covered, in detail
- Multi-unit apartment buildings finished 15+ years before the notice date
- Single-family homes or condos owned by a corporation, LLC, REIT, or any other entity
- Single-family homes or condos owned by a real person who never served the §1946.2(e) exemption notice
- Mobile or manufactured housing in a park (excluding the owner-occupied parcel)
- Subsidized units where market rent applies — the just-cause side may apply differently from the cap
Exempt, in detail
- Single-family homes and condos owned by a natural person with a properly served §1946.2(e) notice
- New construction completed in the last 15 years (rolls forward each year)
- Owner-occupied duplexes
- Units already under a local rent ordinance in effect before January 1, 2020
- Hotels and transient lodging
- Deed-restricted affordable housing
- Dorms and school-operated student housing
- Condos in projects where each unit was sold to an individual buyer (not a bulk-corporate block)
Serving notice in a way that holds up
A lawful increase served sloppily is an unlawful increase. Civil Code §827 governs how rent-change notices have to be delivered, and California courts read it strictly. Underpay on the notice period or skip a required element and the tenant owes the old rent until you re-serve correctly. The clock doesn't restart on a defective notice — it never started.
30 days, 90 days, and the line between them
- 30 days — cumulative raise across the trailing 12 months is 10% or less. Standard case on covered units in normal years.
- 90 days — cumulative raise across the trailing 12 months exceeds 10%. On a covered unit, a lawful raise won't cross 10%. If you're in 90-day territory, something upstream is already wrong.
What goes on the notice
- Tenant name and the address of the unit
- Current rent (in dollars)
- New rent (in dollars, not "an X% increase")
- Effective date — at least the full statutory window after service
- Date the notice was prepared and the date it was served
- For exempt single-family or condo property: the §1946.2(e) exemption language, verbatim
- For covered units: optional but recommended — show the CPI you used and the math. Not required. Saves you in a dispute.
How to deliver it
- Personal service. Hand it to the tenant or any adult at the unit. Clock starts that day.
- Substituted service plus mail. Leave with a responsible adult and mail a copy. Adds 5 days.
- Post and mail. Only after reasonable personal-service attempts fail. Adds 5 days.
- Certified mail. Acceptable for rent increases. Adds 5 days.
When the city is stricter than the state
AB 1482 is a floor, not a ceiling. About a dozen California cities — some of them in counties most landlords don't expect — have their own rent-stabilization ordinances that go further. Where a local ordinance applies, the local rule wins. If you own a covered unit in any of the cities below, you have to know both regimes and follow the stricter one.
Santa Ana — the OC one that surprises people
Santa Ana enacted its Rent Stabilization and Just-Cause Eviction Ordinance in late 2021, effective 2022 — one of very few Orange County cities with local rent control. It covers residential units in multi-unit buildings of two or more where the Certificate of Occupancy issued on or before February 1, 1995. The points that matter:
- Annual cap: 80% of CPI, with a 3% absolute ceiling. The cap can land lower than 3% in years where 80% of CPI runs below that; in elevated-inflation years the 3% ceiling controls. Either way, it sits well below AB 1482's 5%+CPI in normal years. Verify the current allowable percentage at the City of Santa Ana rent program page before serving.
- Just cause required from day one of tenancy on covered units, not after 12 months.
- Relocation assistance mandatory for no-fault terminations, scaled by tenure.
- Rent Registry: annual registration and per-unit fee; the city enforces this.
- Anti-harassment civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation.
Los Angeles City RSO — the big one
The LA City Rent Stabilization Ordinance is one of the oldest in the state and one of the most actively enforced. It applies to most residential rentals in the City of LA with a CO issued on or before October 1, 1978. Highlights:
- Annual cap set yearly by the LA Housing Department, with a separate add-on for units where the landlord pays gas or electric. The number changes annually and has fluctuated over the past several years. Don't rely on what the cap was last year — verify the current allowable increase at housing.lacity.gov before any notice goes out.
- Exemptions inside the RSO: post-1978 construction, single-family homes, individually-sold condos, new construction.
- Just cause applies from day one on covered units.
- Relocation fees tiered by tenure and tenant vulnerability — senior, disabled, minor in the household.
- Annual registration with LAHD, actively enforced.
Other California cities worth actually looking up
- Unincorporated LA County — county-level stabilization since 2020 for unincorporated areas; cap is the lower of 3% or CPI.
- Inglewood — pre-1995 multi-units; 5% cap.
- Hawthorne — pre-1979 multi-units covered.
- West Hollywood — stringent stabilization tied to CPI; typically lands in the 1–3% band.
- Beverly Hills — stabilization for multi-units; CPI-tied formula.
- Culver City — 2020 ordinance covering pre-1995 multi-units.
- San Jose — Apartment Rent Ordinance, 5% cap on covered units.
- Oakland — just-cause plus the Rent Adjustment Program.
- Berkeley — Rent Stabilization Board; usually allows 2–3% annual.
- San Francisco — strict stabilization on most pre-1979 units.
What overcharging actually costs you
California doesn't run AB 1482 enforcement through a state agency that mails a fine. It runs through private lawsuits. Your tenant — or a tenant's attorney on contingency — sues, and the exposure adds up fast.
What a tenant can collect
- Reimbursement of every dollar paid above the lawful cap, going back to the first illegal increase.
- Actual damages for any out-of-pocket loss tied to the overcharge.
- Punitive damages if the court finds fraud, malice, or oppression — most often when the cap violation rides alongside harassment or retaliation.
- Attorney's fees in retaliation cases under Civil Code §1942.5 and under several local ordinances (Santa Ana's is one).
- Injunctive relief — a court order rolling rent back to lawful and barring further violations.
What local ordinances add on top
- Santa Ana RSO: harassment fines up to $10,000 per violation; mandatory rent rollback to last lawful rent plus interest.
- LA City RSO: administrative penalties through LAHD; some claims permit treble damages on illegal increases.
- Oakland: Rent Adjustment Program enforcement; failure to register triggers separate penalties.
What we do about all of this at NGC
Calculating an AB 1482 increase isn't conceptually hard. It's procedurally annoying, and it's annoying for every unit, every year, forever. That's exactly the kind of work property management software earns its keep on — and the kind of work that gets missed when an owner runs a portfolio from a spreadsheet on a Saturday.
How it runs inside our system
- Spring CPI pull. When HCD posts updated figures (usually April or May), we pull the applicable CPI for each metro in the portfolio and stage it against every unit.
- Per-unit math. The system reads each unit's location (city ordinance vs. state AB 1482), build date (15-year rule), and ownership structure, then computes the legal max for that unit alone.
- Notice generation. Compliant notices print per unit with current rent, new rent, effective date, the correct 30- or 90-day window, and the §1946.2(e) exemption language where applicable.
- Service with a paper trail. Certified mail plus a personal-delivery attempt, both filed back into the tenant's record.
- Ledger update. Once the clock runs, the new rent posts automatically with a note pointing back to the statute and CPI used.
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Common questions, honest answers
What's the AB 1482 max increase right now?
Five percent plus the local April-over-April CPI, capped at ten. The CPI percentage changes annually and varies by metro. Pull the current applicable figure from HCD's spring AB 1482 publication or directly from the BLS metro CPI-U series before you commit to a number on any notice. Last year's figure isn't the right one for this year, and "rent control calculators" you find online go stale every spring.
I own a single-family rental. Am I exempt?
Only if you served the right notice. Single-family homes and condos owned by a real human — not a corporation, LLC, or REIT — qualify, but only when the Civil Code §1946.2(e) exemption language is in the lease and re-served with every rent increase. No notice, no exemption, and AB 1482 applies by default. This is the most common own-goal we see on outside portfolios that come over.
How much notice do I owe before raising rent?
Thirty days for any raise that keeps the trailing 12-month total at 10% or less. Ninety days if that total goes over 10%. Mailed service adds 5 days. On a covered unit under AB 1482 a lawful raise won't cross 10%, so 90-day territory is usually a sign something already went sideways.
Santa Ana RSO or AB 1482 — which one applies to me?
If you own a multi-unit building in Santa Ana whose Certificate of Occupancy issued on or before February 1, 1995, you're under the Santa Ana RSO, and the cap is 3% (80% of CPI, with a 3% ceiling). That's stricter than AB 1482 in normal years. Buildings with later COs or properties just outside city limits fall back to AB 1482 if they otherwise qualify. Always confirm at the city's rent program page before serving.
What does it actually cost me if I overcharge?
The state has no fixed fine. The cost shows up through private litigation — reimbursement of every overcharged dollar (up to three years back under CCP §338), actual damages, potential punitive damages where there's bad faith, and attorney's fees in several scenarios. A $200/month overcharge across three years is $7,200 in raw exposure before fees, before punitives, before the cost of defense.
Can I raise rent twice in one year?
Yes — but the trailing 12-month total controls. Each notice must be valid on its own, and the cumulative figure can't cross the applicable cap. Anything that pushes past the cap is unlawful in that portion no matter how cleanly each individual notice was served. Keep a per-unit ledger with the date of every raise; nothing else fixes this problem.