AB 1482 rent increase rules and the rent history to keep

How much can you raise rent under AB 1482?

AB 1482, the Tenant Protection Act, put a statewide cap on rent increases. The rule sits in Civil Code section 1947.12; the current version took effect on April 1, 2024, after SB 567. Over any 12 months, the rent on a covered unit can’t rise more than 5% plus the change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower.

The percentage applies to the lowest gross rent charged for that unit at any time in the 12 months before the increase takes effect. Discounts, concessions or credits the tenant accepted don’t count when you work out that lowest rent. The gross monthly rent and any discount must be listed separately in the lease or any amendment to it.

If the same tenant stays for the whole 12 months, the rent can go up in no more than two steps. Together, the steps still have to fit under the cap. When every tenant from the last tenancy has moved out, AB 1482 lets you set the new starting rent freely. The cap applies to the increases after that. A declared emergency can still limit the starting rent, as covered below.

This isn’t legal advice, and cities can add their own rules, covered below. The cost-of-living figure changes every August 1 and depends on where the unit is. The Attorney General’s chart of maximum increases, which it calls informational only, listed these when we checked in October 2026:

• Los Angeles and Orange counties: 8.7% for increases starting August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027 (8% the year before).
• Riverside and San Bernardino counties: 8.1% (7.5% the year before).
• San Diego County: 8.2% (8.8% the year before).
• Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties: 8.8% (6.3% the year before).
• All other counties: 8.6% (7.7% the year before).

References: California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 1947.12 (opens in a new tab) · California Legislative Information: AB 1482 (2019), Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (opens in a new tab) · California Attorney General: Limits on Rent Increases (opens in a new tab) · California Legislative Information: Penal Code section 396 (opens in a new tab)

Working out the ceiling for one unit

The math is simple once you have the right numbers. Three things decide it: the right starting rent, the right year’s percentage, and any increase the tenant already had.

For example, say you manage a month-to-month two-bedroom in Riverside County. The rent has been $1,800 for over a year, and you want a new rent from December 1, 2026. The Attorney General’s figure for that area and date is 8.1%, so the rent can rise at most $145.80, to $1,945.80.

Now change one fact. The tenant paid $1,750 until March 2026, when you raised it to $1,800. The lowest rent in the 12 months before December 1 is then $1,750, so the ceiling is $1,891.75. It would also be this tenant’s second and last increase until March 2027.

Work it out per unit, not per building, since neighbors often have different histories. In order:

• Find the lowest gross rent charged for the unit at any time in the 12 months before the new rent takes effect. Leave out any discounts or credits the tenant accepted.
• Find the area. The law uses federal figures for the Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and San Francisco areas. Everywhere else uses the California figure from the Department of Industrial Relations.
• Match the percentage to the date the new rent takes effect, not the notice date. From August 1, use the change from April of last year to April of this year. Before August 1, use the previous year’s change. It’s rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent.
• Add 5% to that change. If the total is more than 10%, use 10%.
• Multiply the lowest rent by that percentage and add it on. That’s the ceiling, and it already counts any earlier increase in the 12 months.
• Check that this tenant hasn’t already had two increases in those 12 months.
• Check for a local rent cap or an emergency declaration that sets a lower limit.

References: California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 1947.12 (opens in a new tab) · California Attorney General: Limits on Rent Increases (opens in a new tab)

Which units are exempt, and the proof to keep

Section 1947.12 lists the rentals the cap doesn’t cover. Each exemption rests on a fact you may have to show later, so keep the proof with the unit. The cap does cover tenants with a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, the Attorney General notes. The Act’s other half, the just-cause eviction rules in Civil Code section 1946.2, generally applies once a tenant has lived in the unit for a year.

Two exemptions need care. The 15-year exemption is a rolling 15 years, counted from the certificate date. A building whose certificate of occupancy was issued in March 2012, for example, stays exempt only until March 2027. Record the date coverage starts, so the first capped increase isn’t a surprise.

The single-family and condo exemption isn’t automatic. The owner can’t be a real estate investment trust, a corporation, or a limited liability company with a corporate member. The tenants must also get a written notice using the exact statement in section 1947.12(d)(5). For tenancies started or renewed on or after July 1, 2020, it goes in the rental agreement. Managing for several owners? Record each owner’s type.

Subdivision (j) also leaves out mobilehome owners who rent a space in a mobilehome park. The exemptions in subdivision (d), and the record that backs each one:

• Housing with a certificate of occupancy issued within the previous 15 years, unless it’s a mobilehome: a copy of the certificate and the date the exemption ends.
• Deed-restricted or subsidized affordable housing for very low, low or moderate income households: the recorded restriction or agreement.
• Dormitories owned and run by a college or a K–12 school.
• Units under a local rent law with a lower yearly cap than the state’s: the local rule and its current percentage.
• A single-family home or condo that can be sold on its own, with an eligible owner and the written statement given: the owner’s type and the signed notice or lease page. Mobilehome park management can’t use this one either.
• Two units in one building, with the owner living in one as their main home since the tenancy began, and neither unit an ADU or junior ADU: proof of the owner’s residence.

References: California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 1947.12 (opens in a new tab) · California Attorney General: The Tenant Protection Act, your obligations as a landlord or property manager (opens in a new tab) · California Attorney General: Limits on Rent Increases (opens in a new tab)

AB 1482 rent increase notice: 30 or 90 days

AB 1482 doesn’t set its own notice period. It points to Civil Code section 827, which covers week-to-week and month-to-month tenancies. The notice must be in writing, and either handed to the tenant or mailed.

How much notice depends on the size of the increase. Count it much like the cap: this increase plus any others in the 12 months before it takes effect.

For a fixed-term lease, the lease usually sets the rent until it ends, and the cap still applies to any new rent. Ask a lawyer how notice should work at renewal for your leases.

Build in a buffer. For a March 1 increase, a hand-delivered notice must reach the tenant at least 30 days before. If you mail it, send it at least five more calendar days earlier. Record the date and method, and keep a copy. The rules:

• 10% or less: at least 30 days before the new rent takes effect.
• More than 10%: at least 90 days before. The AB 1482 cap never tops 10%, so this mostly comes up for exempt units. If a discount or concession is ending, ask a lawyer which notice period applies.
• Mailed notices: add five calendar days when the mailing and the address are both in California, and more from outside the state (Code of Civil Procedure section 1013).
• Longer periods win: if a law, a regulation, a recorded regulatory agreement or a contract requires more notice, follow it.
• Recertification: an increase caused by a required recertification of a tenant’s income or family size needs only 30 days, even above 10%.

References: California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 827 (opens in a new tab) · California Legislative Information: Code of Civil Procedure section 1013 (opens in a new tab)

Local caps and emergencies can set a lower limit

The state cap is a ceiling, not a target. Where a city or county rent law sets a lower yearly cap, the local rule applies. When we checked in October 2026, the Attorney General’s page listed many local caps well below the state figure. A few, like the City of Sacramento’s 8.6%, match it. They mostly cover older buildings. The Attorney General notes they don’t apply to buildings with a certificate of occupancy issued after February 1, 1995, or to most single-family homes and condos.

Cities and counties can also have rules beyond caps, like mediation or a relocation payment before some increases. Check with yours each year, since many local percentages change on their own dates.

Emergencies add one more limit, even for units AB 1482 exempts. Penal Code section 396 applies once the President, the Governor or a local government declares an emergency. It bars raising the rent for an existing or prospective tenant by more than 10%. It lasts 30 days, or as long as the declaration is extended, and covers housing with an initial lease of a year or less. The law allows more only in limited cases, such as repairs or additions beyond normal maintenance, or an increase the tenant agreed to before the declaration.

Three examples from the Attorney General’s chart:

• Oakland: 2.3% for August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027, for units with a certificate of occupancy issued before January 1, 1983.
• San Francisco: 1.6% for March 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027, for units with a certificate of occupancy issued before June 13, 1979.
• City of Los Angeles: 3% for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, for units with a certificate of occupancy issued before October 1, 1978.

References: California Attorney General: Limits on Rent Increases (opens in a new tab) · California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 1947.12 (opens in a new tab) · California Legislative Information: Penal Code section 396 (opens in a new tab)

What happens if an increase goes over the cap

Under section 1947.12(k), an owner who demands, accepts, receives or keeps rent above the maximum can be sued by the tenant. A court can order the owner to stop and award the overcharge as damages, plus attorney’s fees and costs at its discretion. If the owner acted willfully or with oppression, fraud or malice, damages can reach three times the overcharge.

The Attorney General, and the local city attorney or county counsel, can also enforce the rule in court. A tenant can’t sign these rights away; any waiver is void. A claim can be brought up to three years after it arose. To show an increase was within the cap, you also need the 12 months of rent before it. So keep each unit’s full rent history for the whole tenancy and at least three years after it ends.

As written today, the cap ends on January 1, 2030, unless the Legislature changes it, so re-check the law each year. If you find a past increase that may have gone over, talk to a landlord-tenant lawyer before you send the next notice.

References: California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 1947.12 (opens in a new tab) · California Attorney General: The Tenant Protection Act, your obligations as a landlord or property manager (opens in a new tab)

The rent history to keep for each unit

Every rule above turns on dates and amounts per unit. For example, a manager with 60 units for eight owners in Alameda and San Joaquin counties works with two state caps. Add a few older Oakland units under the city’s lower cap, and single-family homes that may or may not be exempt.

A spreadsheet can handle a handful of units if one person keeps it up. Past that, the rolling look-back gets hard to keep right: someone has to scroll through each unit’s history before every notice. If you use a property management app, see whether it stores the exemption, the area and notice dates, and warns you before an increase goes over. If it does, keep it. Our comparison of custom and off-the-shelf software walks through that choice.

The same unit record can hold the rest of the tenancy: the deposit ledger from our security deposit records guide, maintenance requests and vendor work orders. For rent increases, keep:

• Unit facts: address, county and cap area, certificate of occupancy date, and the date any 15-year exemption ends.
• Owner facts: the owner’s type, such as a person, trust, corporation or REIT, or a limited liability company and whether any member is a corporation. Note if the owner lives in one unit of a two-unit building.
• Exemption: which one applies and the proof. For single-family homes and condos, the date the written statement was given and a copy of the signed page.
• Local rule: whether a city or county cap applies, its current percentage and the dates it covers.
• Rent history: every rent amount with its start date, the gross rent and any discount on separate lines, and the date each tenancy began.
• Each increase: old and new rent, the percentage from the lowest rent in the prior 12 months, the cap used, and whether it was this tenant’s first or second step.
• Each notice: the date it went out, how (by hand or by mail), the earliest date the new rent could start, and a copy of the notice.
• Reminders: each August 1 when the percentages change, each 15-year exemption ending, and every notice deadline.

References: California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 1947.12 (opens in a new tab) · California Legislative Information: Civil Code section 827 (opens in a new tab)

What to write down before you talk to anyone

This isn’t legal advice. Confirm your process with your city or county or a landlord-tenant lawyer. Re-check the official text each year, since the percentages change every August 1.

If you’re weighing software for these records, we build custom business software that can keep rent history, exemptions and notice dates per unit and flag an increase above the ceiling. It can connect to QuickBooks Online; for a rent app we don’t usually connect to, we check before we quote. A focused fix, like one rent-ceiling report or one notice form, is typically $750–$3,000 over 1–⁠2 weeks. One business system is $6,000–$18,000 over 6–⁠10 weeks. These are our prices as of October 4, 2026; what custom software costs explains what moves the number.

Our first call is free, and you get a fixed price in writing within 48 hours of it. Whoever you talk to, bring a page of notes:

• How many units and owners you manage, and in which counties and cities.
• Which units you believe are exempt, and why.
• Where rent history and notices live today, and how you find the lowest rent in the last 12 months.
• Every app you use, like QuickBooks Online or a property management app, with its monthly cost.