California Tenant Protection Act of 2019: Rent Caps and Just Cause

The California Tenant Protection Act of 2019, passed as Assembly Bill 1482 and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, does two things for most renters in the state: it caps annual rent increases at 5% plus regional inflation (or 10% total, whichever is lower), and it stops landlords from ending a long-term tenancy without a valid reason. The law covers a broad share of California’s rental housing, though several categories are carved out, and it is currently scheduled to expire on January 1, 2030.

Which Rentals Are Covered

The law reaches most residential rental housing in California. Figuring out coverage matters first, because every other rule depends on it. The following are excluded:

Housing that received its certificate of occupancy within the last 15 years. This is a rolling window, so a building finished in 2012 became covered in 2027.¹
Separately titled single-family homes and condominiums, but only if the owner is not a corporation, a real estate investment trust, or an LLC with at least one corporate member, and only if the required written notice is given to the tenant.¹
Owner-occupied duplexes where the owner lived in one unit at the start of the tenancy and still does. Neither unit can be an ADU or junior ADU.²
Deed-restricted affordable housing for low- or moderate-income households.¹
Dormitories owned and operated by schools or colleges.¹
Units already governed by a local rent control ordinance that caps increases more tightly than AB 1482 would.¹

The Written Notice That Makes or Breaks the Single-Family Exemption

The single-family home and condo exemption is not automatic. The owner has to give the tenant a specific written notice stating that the property is not subject to the rent cap or the just cause eviction rules. For any tenancy that started or renewed on or after July 1, 2020, the notice must appear in the lease itself. Miss that step and the property loses its exempt status. Full AB 1482 protections apply.¹

Mobilehomes sit on the edge of the law. The rent cap does not apply to mobilehome spaces, but a mobilehome tenant renting the unit itself from a park may still be covered by just cause protections. Separate law under the Mobilehome Residency Law often governs these arrangements.

How Much Rent Can Go Up in a Year

For covered units, a landlord can raise the rent by no more than 5% plus the annual percentage change in the regional Consumer Price Index, or 10% total, whichever is lower.¹ Because the CPI figure varies by region, the actual cap differs slightly depending on where the property is. The statewide CPI number is published each year by the California Department of Industrial Relations.

The cap is measured against the lowest “gross rental rate” charged during the 12 months before the increase takes effect. The statute specifically excludes discounts, incentives, concessions, and credits from that baseline.¹ So if a lease says $2,500 a month but the landlord offered a $200 monthly concession in year one, the base for next year’s increase is $2,500, not $2,300.

A landlord cannot raise the rent more than twice in any 12-month period, and the combined increases still cannot exceed the annual cap.¹

Notice Before the Increase Takes Effect

A separate section of the Civil Code sets the notice a landlord must give. If the increase is 10% or less of the rent charged at any point in the prior 12 months, the tenant is entitled to at least 30 days’ written notice. If the increase is more than 10%, the notice period is at least 90 days.³ These rules apply to all rental housing, not only AB 1482 units. An increase served without proper notice is not enforceable on the stated date.

Just Cause Eviction

Once a tenant has continuously and lawfully occupied a covered unit for at least 12 months, the landlord cannot end the tenancy without stating a valid reason in the written notice.² Valid reasons fall into two buckets: at-fault (based on what the tenant did) and no-fault (based on what the owner needs). The split matters because no-fault evictions require a relocation payment and at-fault ones don’t.

At-Fault Reasons

The statute lists the tenant conduct that can support an eviction:

Failure to pay rent.
Breach of a material lease term after written notice to fix the violation.
Nuisance or waste on the property.
Criminal activity on the property, or criminal threats aimed at the owner or the owner’s agent.
Unauthorized subletting or assignment in violation of the lease.
Refusing the owner lawful entry to the unit.
Using the unit for an unlawful purpose.
Refusing to sign a lease renewal on similar terms after a written lease expires.

For a curable violation, the landlord cannot skip to an eviction notice. The law requires written notice identifying the specific problem and a chance to fix it. Only if the tenant fails to cure within the notice period may the landlord serve a three-day notice to quit.² Skipping the cure step is a common way landlords blow up their own case.

No-Fault Reasons

The statute allows four:

Move-in by the owner or a qualifying family member (spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, parents, or grandparents).
Withdrawal of the unit from the rental market under the Ellis Act.
Demolition or a substantial remodel that requires permits and cannot be done safely with the tenant in place.
An order to vacate from a government agency or court, usually for habitability or safety.

⁴

Relocation Assistance for No-Fault Evictions

Every no-fault eviction requires financial help equal to one month of the tenant’s rent at the time notice is served. The landlord picks one of two options: pay the tenant directly or waive the final month’s rent in writing.²

If the landlord chooses a direct payment, it has to reach the tenant within 15 calendar days of serving the eviction notice. The notice itself must inform the tenant of the right to assistance. If the landlord waives the final month, the notice must state the dollar amount waived and confirm no rent is due for that month.²

Getting this wrong is fatal to the eviction. A failure to strictly comply with the relocation assistance requirements voids the entire termination notice, and the landlord has to start over.²

Tighter Rules on Move-In and Remodel Evictions

SB 567, effective April 1, 2024, sharpened two of the no-fault grounds because landlords had been fabricating them.

For an owner move-in, the eviction notice now has to name the person moving in and describe their relationship to the owner. The tenant can ask for proof. The named person must move into the unit within 90 days of the tenant vacating and live there as a primary residence for at least 12 consecutive months.⁴ If the person doesn’t move in within 90 days or leaves before 12 months are up, the landlord must offer the unit back to the displaced tenant at the same rent and lease terms and pay reasonable moving expenses.² The ground is also off the table if a similar vacant unit already exists on the property.

For a substantial remodel, the planned work must replace or significantly modify a structural, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical system, require a government permit, and force the tenant out for at least 30 consecutive days. Cosmetic upgrades don’t count. Since April 2024, the eviction notice must describe the work and attach copies of the required permits, and it must tell the tenant that if the remodel isn’t actually started or completed, the tenant has the right to re-rent the unit at the original rent and terms.⁵

How AB 1482 Interacts With Local Rent Control

The state law is a floor, not a ceiling. Cities and counties with pre-existing rent stabilization ordinances usually have stricter rules, and those local laws continue to govern the units they cover. AB 1482 specifically exempts housing already subject to a local ordinance that caps annual increases below the state formula.¹

In cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Oakland, tenants are typically governed by the local ordinance for rent increases, while AB 1482’s just cause protections may still apply to units the local law doesn’t reach. In cities without any local rent control, AB 1482 stands alone. Sorting out which rule applies to a specific unit sometimes means checking both the local ordinance and the state law, because their coverage doesn’t line up neatly.

Penalties for Violations

SB 567 gave the law real enforcement teeth as of April 1, 2024. A landlord who violates the rent cap or just cause rules can be liable for actual damages plus, at the court’s discretion, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. If the landlord acted willfully or with fraud, oppression, or malice, the court can award up to three times actual damages, plus punitive damages.²

For a rent cap violation specifically, damages equal the amount by which any payment exceeded the maximum allowable rent, and the treble damages provision applies to that overage. A court can presume the tenant suffers irreparable harm from a rent cap violation, which makes injunctive relief easier to get. The statute of limitations is three years from the date of the violation.¹

Enforcement isn’t limited to individual tenant suits. The California Attorney General, city attorneys, and county counsel can also seek injunctive relief against landlords who violate the law.

When the Law Expires

AB 1482 has a sunset clause and is scheduled to expire on January 1, 2030. As of 2026, no legislation extending it beyond that date has been enacted. Unless the legislature acts, the rent cap and just cause protections will stop applying on that date. Units covered by a local rent control ordinance will keep being governed by the local rules regardless.

1
California Legislative Information. California Civil Code CIV 1947.12
2
California Legislative Information. California Civil Code CIV 1946.2
3
California Legislative Information. California Civil Code CIV 827
4
California Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General. The Tenant Protection Act Your Obligations as a Landlord or Property Manager
5
California Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General. Landlord-Tenant Issues