Rate tables › LA City RSO › Registration
LA City RSO registry and annual fees
The City of Los Angeles wants the current rent reported for every RSO unit by the last day of February, and the annual RSO, SCEP and JCO bill goes delinquent the same day. The RSO fee is $38.75 per unit per year and becomes $58.13 per unit per year once it does.
Source: LAHD Allowable Rent Increase Bulletin #3 (rev. 02/02/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
The figures behind this
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
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
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
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
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
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
What to do
-
the last day of February
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
-
the last day of February
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
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.
Once the fee is paid, part of it can be recovered from the tenant monthly. This works out how much.
Free. No account, no card.
Want a note before the last day of February?
We email you 60, 30 and 7 days before for your building, with the figure and the document it came from.
We do not sell or share your address, and we report nothing to any agency.