City of Los Angeles: Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO)
Rental units in the City of Los Angeles whose first certificate of occupancy was issued before October 1, 1978, in buildings of two or more units. A detached single-family home that is the only dwelling unit on its parcel, and a building first occupied after October 1, 1978, are generally not RSO, but most are still covered by the city's Just Cause Ordinance (JCO) and by state law.
Every figure we hold
Applies July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027
Set each year inside a 1–4% band tied to CPI for the 12 months ending September 30. One increase per 12 months, and it is not cumulative or retroactive: you cannot bank a year you skipped. The security deposit may be raised at the same time and by the same percentage. Confirmed against §151.06.D itself (Ord. No. 188,795, eff. 2/2/26), read in the city's code library on August 9, 2026: the formula is 90% of the September-to-September CPI change, never below 1% or above 4%; increases not previously noticed and served between June 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 are capped at 3% with no utility add-on.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Applies from February 2, 2026
Bulletin #3, in its own words: "Effective February 2, 2026, the RSO annual rent increase must not include any additional percentage increase for utilities." The older 1%-for-gas / 1%-for-electric adders no longer apply. LAHD's tenant-facing rent registry FAQ still describes the old adders; the bulletin is the current rule.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Applies January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026
Simple interest, set each calendar year by the Rent Adjustment Commission, on every deposit held at least one year. An owner may instead pay the actual interest the bank paid on the deposit, and must then hand the tenant the bank statement showing it. During the tenancy you pay the accrued interest either as a direct payment or as a credit against rent: LAMC §151.06.02(C) says you choose one of the two and must tell the tenant your choice in writing, and you may pay monthly or yearly. When the tenancy ends, §151.06.02(D) sends any unpaid accumulated interest back at the same time and in the same manner as the deposit itself. The RSO does not require deposit interest on mobile home park spaces. §151.06.02(D), read verbatim in the city's code library (2026 Rev. 8 compilation) on August 9, 2026, sends unpaid accumulated interest back ‘at the same time and in the same manner as required for return of security deposits in California Civil Code Section 1950.5(f)’. That cross-reference is stale in the code's own text: since January 1, 2026 (AB 414) the 21-day return-and-itemize provision is §1950.5(h), and (f) is the pre-move-out inspection. The rule is unchanged: same time, same manner as the deposit. Only the subdivision letter moved.
Source: LAMC 151.06.02 via LAHD Bulletin #44: Interest Payments on Security Deposits (rev. 01/13/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Unchanged since January 1, 2020.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
What the RSO fee becomes if payment is not received by the last day of February.
Source: LAHD Billing and Fee Schedule Verified August 9, 2026
50% of the registration fee you actually paid may be passed through to the tenant, monthly. Not as a lump sum. LAHD is explicit that the surcharge is not rent: it is not reported to the rent registry, and a tenant paying it is not receiving a rent increase.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Systematic Code Enforcement Program. Unchanged since January 1, 2022.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
What the SCEP fee becomes if payment is not received by the last day of February.
Source: LAHD Billing and Fee Schedule Verified August 9, 2026
50% of the SCEP fee you actually paid, passed through monthly, not as a lump sum. Like the RSO surcharge, LAHD does not treat it as rent and it is not reported to the rent registry.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
LAHD's rent registry page states that the $1.61 and $2.83 monthly surcharges are not rent, should not be reported to the registry by either side, and that "the landlord may collect these fees with a 30 day notice." Confirmed in the code itself, read at codelibrary.amlegal.com (2026 Rev. 8 compilation) on August 9, 2026: §151.05.F (Ord. No. 186,448, eff. 12/30/19) lets a landlord who timely paid the fees and completed the rent registry collect one-twelfth of 50% of the annual fee per month ‘after serving the tenant with a 30-day written notice as described in Civil Code Section 827’, served per CCP §1162.
Source: LAHD Tenant Rent Registry Verified August 9, 2026
Applies to every residential unit in the city not subject to the RSO. Effective 2025.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
What the JCO fee becomes if payment is not received by the last day of February.
Source: LAHD Billing and Fee Schedule Verified August 9, 2026
Counted from the date on the statement, and filed on LAHD's Administrative Penalty Appeal Form. The regular fees have to be paid before the appeal is reviewed. LAHD states that failing to receive an annual bill does not relieve the owner of the obligation to pay the annual fees and is not a basis for waiving any penalty.
Source: LAHD: Appealing a Penalty Fee Verified August 9, 2026
LAHD does not accept the postmark date as an indicator of a timely payment (the money has to be received by the due date) and recommends mailing all payments at least 10 days before it. A check posted on the last day of February is a delinquent payment.
Source: LAHD: Other Payment Methods (paying the annual bill by mail) Verified August 9, 2026
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Applies from February 2, 2026
Effective February 2, 2026: 10% more rent, and 10% more security deposit, for each added tenant who is not a dependent. No increase at all is allowed when the added person is a dependent. When that additional tenant moves out, a matching rent reduction is required. You may approve or disapprove a prospective tenant, but approval must not be unreasonably withheld.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Applies from February 2, 2026
Bulletin #3: the landlord "must notify the tenants of the rent increase within 60 days of obtaining actual or constructive knowledge of the new tenant." This is a deadline that runs from the day you learn of the added tenant: it is not 60 days of advance notice before the increase, and the ordinary 30-day increase notice still applies.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
LAMC §151.05.A, in its own words: "On or after April 30, 1983, no landlord shall demand or accept rent for a rental unit without first serving a copy of a valid registration or annual registration renewal statement on the tenant of that rental unit." This is not a fine: it is the rent roll. It is why the February registry deadline is the most expensive date on the LA City calendar. Read directly in the city's code library (codelibrary.amlegal.com, “2026 Rev. 8 (current)” compilation) on August 9, 2026, in a browser session: the quoted sentence appears verbatim in §151.05.A, and Subsection A's most recent amendment is Ord. No. 157,572, effective 4/1/1983. No later amendment exists. The same substance is stated on LAHD's Annual RSO/JCO/SCEP Bill page and in LAHD's RSO Registration bulletin.
Source: LAMC §151.05: Registration, Notification of Tenants, Posting of Notice and Payment of Fees Verified August 9, 2026
Where the rental unit is the land a mobile home sits on and a new tenant rents a mobile home already in place at the park, the increase is capped at 10% or the highest rent of a comparable unit, whichever is lower.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Increase history
| Period | Allowed increase |
|---|---|
| July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 | 3% |
| July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026 | 3% |
| July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025 | 4% |
Notices you have to post
We link to the official forms. We do not write notices or any other document for you.
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Renters Protection Notice: Must be posted in an accessible common area of every residential property, and given to tenants who begin or renew a tenancy on or after January 27, 2023. LAHD last updated the English notice on July 1, 2026. Post the current version. Failure to post is a misdemeanor (LAMC 151.09.C.9 and 165.05.B.5) and the tenant may raise it as an affirmative defense to a possession action.
Source: LAHD Renters Protection Notice page Verified August 9, 2026
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Tenants' Right to Counsel (RTC) Notice: Marked "Required to be posted on the rental property" on LAHD Forms Central.
Source: LAHD Forms Central (rental property owner documents & forms) Verified August 9, 2026
Recurring dates
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LA City annual rent registry report due
Report the current rent for every rental unit subject to the RSO, by the last day of February. Registration is complete only once every outstanding fee is paid and the rent, tenancy and emergency contact information is in. Rent Registry Ordinance #184529, effective October 4, 2016.
An unregistered unit cannot legally have its rent collected or increased. This is the deadline that costs the most to miss.
Source: LAHD Tenant Rent Registry Verified August 9, 2026
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LA City annual RSO/JCO/SCEP bill goes delinquent
LAHD bills the RSO, SCEP and JCO fees together on one annual bill. The fee is due in January and is assessed a delinquent fee if payment is not received by the last day of February. The fees are per unit and are not prorated.
Late roughly doubles every line: $38.75 becomes $58.13, $67.94 becomes $135.88, $31.05 becomes $46.58 per unit. Not receiving the bill does not waive the fee or the penalty, and a penalty can only be appealed within 45 days of the statement date.
About this date: Mailing a check? Send it 10 or more days early: postmarks do not count. LAHD's own payment-methods page states that the postmark date is not accepted as an indicator of a timely payment and recommends mailing at least 10 days before the due date, so a payment posted on the last day of February arrives delinquent.
Source: LAHD Annual RSO/JCO/SCEP Bill Verified August 9, 2026
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New LA City RSO annual increase percentage takes effect
LAHD publishes the allowable increase for the year running July 1 to June 30. The 2027–28 figure is not published yet.
This is the number your next increase notice depends on. We update the table and email you the new figure with its source.
LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
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New LA City security deposit interest rate published
The Rent Adjustment Commission sets the deposit interest rate for the new calendar year. LAMC §151.06.02(B)(1)(a) has the Commission adopt it by November 30 and publish it, and the rate it adopts runs January 1 through December 31. Your ledger switches to the new rate on January 1.
The rate moves every year: it fell from 4.32% in 2025 to 3.03% in 2026.
Source: LAMC 151.06.02 via LAHD Bulletin #44: Interest Payments on Security Deposits (rev. 01/13/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
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LA City deposit interest for last year: pay it, and put your choice in writing
LAMC §151.06.02(C), as Bulletin #44 restates it, gives you two choices to make and one of them has to be in writing: whether the accrued interest goes to the tenant as a direct payment or as a credit against rent, and whether you pay it monthly or yearly. If you pay yearly, this is the reminder to pay the year that just closed and to have told the tenant, in writing, which of the two methods you use.
Unpaid interest does not go away. When the tenancy ends it all comes due at once, with the deposit, in the same manner the Civil Code requires for returning a deposit, and by then the rate has moved every year and the arithmetic is a decade long.
About this date: This date is ours, not LAHD's. LAMC §151.06.02(C) lets you pay monthly or yearly and fixes no annual due date. We anchor the yearly option to January 31, the month the new rate is published, so the year that just closed gets settled before the new one starts.
Source: LAMC 151.06.02 via LAHD Bulletin #44: Interest Payments on Security Deposits (rev. 01/13/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
What we do not hold
- LAHD does not publish the month it mails the annual RSO/JCO/SCEP bill. We hold the due date (January) and the delinquency date (the last day of February), and the reminder is anchored to the delinquency date rather than to a mailing you may never receive.
- Bulletin #44 sets both the deposit-interest rate and how it has to be paid, and attributes the rule to LAMC 151.06.02. The city's live code host refuses automated requests, so we read the section in a 2020 compilation of Chapter XV: the payment-method rule is subsection C and the end-of-tenancy rule is subsection D. We cite the bulletin, which is current, and name the subsections from the compilation, which may not be.
- We hold no relocation-assistance figures for LA City. LAHD publishes them in its Relocation Assistance Bulletin and raises them every July 1, and the amount turns on the tenant's category, income, tenancy length and which of three Resident Protections Ordinance options an owner takes. We say relocation assistance applies and link to LAHD rather than print a number we would have to pick for you.
Today's LA City RSO increase figure is 3%. These figures move, and no one writes to tell you.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
One address. No account, no card.
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