Los Angeles County (unincorporated): Rent Stabilization & Tenant Protections Ordinance (RSTPO)
Rental units in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, not inside any city. Places like Altadena, East Los Angeles, Ladera Heights, View Park–Windsor Hills, Marina del Rey and Hacienda Heights are unincorporated.
Every figure we hold
§8.52.030: a "Fully Covered Rental Unit" is a rental unit in an unincorporated area of the County in a property of two or more dwelling units for which a certificate of occupancy or equivalent permit for residential occupancy was issued on or before February 1, 1995, plus a mobilehome in a mobilehome park offered for rent by the mobilehome's owner, whatever its permit date. Anything permitted after February 1, 1995, and anything separately transferable from the title to any other unit (a single-family residence, a condominium, a stock cooperative) is a "Partially Covered Rental Unit" instead. §8.52.050 is titled "Permitted Rent Increases for Fully Covered Rental Units" and its caps apply only to those. A partially covered unit keeps the ordinance's eviction protections and has no county rent cap; its cap is AB 1482's, or none.
Source: Ordinance amending LA County Code Ch. 8.52 (Board of Supervisors supporting document 198531): the §8.52.030 definitions and §8.52.050 text, read first-hand Verified August 9, 2026
Applies July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027
60% of CPI for the 12 months ending September, capped at 3%.
Source: DCBA Rent Stabilization Bulletin: Annual Allowable Rent Increase (rev. 3/2/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Applies July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027
The general cap plus 1%. You only get it if you file the county's small-property-landlord self-certification. Most owners who qualify never file it.
Source: DCBA Rent Stabilization Bulletin: Annual Allowable Rent Increase (rev. 3/2/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Applies July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027
The general cap plus 2%.
Source: DCBA Rent Stabilization Bulletin: Annual Allowable Rent Increase (rev. 3/2/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
Applies July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027
Source: DCBA Rent Stabilization Program Verified August 9, 2026
§8.52.050.A: an increase may be imposed only after at least thirty days' written notice to the tenant, given pursuant to California Civil Code §827.
Source: LA County Code §8.52.050: Permitted Rent Increases for Fully Covered Rental Units (Municode) Verified August 9, 2026
The county's notice is given pursuant to Civil Code §827, and §827(b) makes that notice "subject to Section 1013 of the Code of Civil Procedure if served by mail", which adds five calendar days. Post it thirty days out and it is late.
Source: California Code of Civil Procedure §1013 (service by mail) Verified August 9, 2026
§8.52.050.B: a landlord may impose an annual rent increase only upon registering the unit in the County's Rent Registry System, paying the annual registration fees required by §8.52.080, and being in compliance with federal, State and local laws and requirements. An increase taken without all three is unlawful, and §8.52.050.K lets the tenant raise that as a defence. DCBA's rent increase bulletin adds two more conditions to the same list: the tenant must have been given the Notice of Tenant Rights (§8.52.120), and the increase notice must carry the small property landlord or luxury unit statement where either higher cap is being used.
Source: LA County Code §8.52.050: Permitted Rent Increases for Fully Covered Rental Units (Municode) Verified August 9, 2026
§8.52.050.F.
Source: LA County Code §8.52.050: Permitted Rent Increases for Fully Covered Rental Units (Municode) Verified August 9, 2026
§8.52.050.J: an annual increase you do not take (or the unused part of one) is waived for the remainder of the tenancy. A year you skip is gone, not saved up.
Source: LA County Code §8.52.050: Permitted Rent Increases for Fully Covered Rental Units (Municode) Verified August 9, 2026
§8.52.050.D.1: the small property landlord's extra 1% requires an annual self-certification filed with DCBA under penalty of perjury and a statement of it in the rent-increase notice. §8.52.050.E: the luxury unit's extra 2% requires a statement in the notice. Leave the statement out and you are not entitled to the higher cap.
Source: LA County Code §8.52.050: Permitted Rent Increases for Fully Covered Rental Units (Municode) Verified August 9, 2026
Source: DCBA Rent Registry Verified August 9, 2026
Source: DCBA Rent Registry Verified August 9, 2026
DCBA's rent registry page says a 10 percent late fee may be assessed on a registration submitted after the September 30 deadline.
Source: DCBA Rent Registry Verified August 9, 2026
We are not fully confident in this number. DCBA publishes the 10% but does not publish what it is charged on, or whether it repeats. Treat it as the floor of the cost of being late, not the whole of it.
We read the full text of RSTPO Chapter 8.52 and found no deposit-interest provision. DCBA's own security deposit page says state law does not require interest and that the county's rule for fully covered units is a bar on raising the deposit during the tenancy, not an interest requirement. Deposit handling otherwise follows Civil Code §1950.5, which has no interest requirement.
Source: LA County Code Chapter 8.52: Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections (Municode) Verified August 9, 2026
Applies from April 16, 2026
Effective April 16, 2026, unpaid rent must exceed two months of Fair Market Rent before a non-payment case can proceed. Informational only. Talk to an attorney about any eviction.
Source: DCBA Rent Stabilization Program Verified August 9, 2026
Recurring dates
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LA County rent registry annual filing due
File the annual rent registry for every covered unit and pay the registry fee.
A 10% late penalty applies after the deadline, and County Code §8.52.050.B lets you impose an annual increase only once the unit is registered, the fees are paid and you are in compliance. Unregistered, the increase is not yours to take.
Source: DCBA Rent Registry Verified August 9, 2026
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New LA County annual increase caps take effect
DCBA publishes the caps for the year running July 1 to June 30: general, small-property-landlord, luxury and mobile home space.
DCBA Rent Stabilization Program
Source: DCBA Rent Stabilization Program Verified August 9, 2026
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Small property landlord self-certification: file before you use the extra 1%
The +1% (2.919% instead of 1.919%) only applies if you have self-certified as a small property landlord with DCBA, under penalty of perjury, and said so in the rent-increase notice. It is an annual certification, and DCBA's form tells you to file it with your annual registration.
On a $2,500 rent that extra 1% is about $300 a year per unit that you are otherwise not allowed to collect.
About this date: DCBA publishes no separate due date for the self-certification. Its form says to provide a copy when you submit the annual registration for the property, so we place the reminder on the September 30 registration deadline. If you plan to use the higher cap before then, file it first.
Small Property Landlord Self-Certification form
Source: DCBA Small Property Landlord Self-Certification Form (rev. 11/21/2024) Verified August 9, 2026
What we do not hold
- Our coverage test reads the certificate-of-occupancy date off the year the building was built, because that is the fact an owner and the assessor's file both hold. The two usually agree and the ordinance's test is the permit, not the construction. A building put up either side of February 1, 1995 should have its certificate of occupancy checked before anyone relies on which side of the line it falls.
- DCBA does not publish a standalone due date for the small-property-landlord self-certification. Its form directs you to file it with the annual registration, so our reminder sits on the September 30 registration deadline and the calendar entry says so.
- DCBA publishes a 10% late fee for registering after September 30 but does not publish the base it is charged on. We carry the 10% with that stated on the figure.
- Chapter 8.52 is hosted on Municode, which blocks automated reading. We verified the subsection text of §8.52.050 against the County's own adopting ordinance and DCBA's rent increase bulletin instead.
Today's LA County RSTPO increase figure is 1.919%. These figures move, and no one writes to tell you.
Source: DCBA Rent Stabilization Bulletin: Annual Allowable Rent Increase (rev. 3/2/2026) Verified August 9, 2026
One address. No account, no card.
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