Every California landlord renting residential property must give tenants a written AB 1482 notice to tenants — either a disclosure that the unit is covered by the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, or a notice of exemption using the exact language the statute prescribes. Which form you use depends on the property, but skipping the notice altogether is rarely an option, and getting it wrong can cost you an exemption you would otherwise have.
Which Notice Your Property Needs
AB 1482 sorts rentals into two buckets. Covered units are subject to the state rent cap (5 percent plus regional CPI, or 10 percent, whichever is lower) and the just-cause-eviction rules that kick in after a tenant has lived in the unit for 12 months. Exempt units are not, but most exemptions still require paperwork.
Before drafting anything, confirm which category applies. A single-family home owned by an individual is treated very differently from the same house owned by an LLC with a corporate member, and the difference shows up in the notice you give the tenant.
The Exemption Notice: Exact Language Required
Single-family homes, condominiums, and other units that can be sold separately from any other dwelling qualify for a conditional exemption from AB 1482, but only if two things are true. The owner cannot be a corporation, a real estate investment trust, or an LLC with at least one corporate member. And the landlord must give the tenant a written notice of exemption containing the statutory language word for word.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1947.12
The required text, prescribed in Civil Code Sections 1947.12(d)(5)(B)(i) and 1946.2(e)(8)(B)(i), reads:
“This property is not subject to the rent limits imposed by Section 1947.12 of the Civil Code and is not subject to the just cause requirements of Section 1946.2 of the Civil Code. This property meets the requirements of Sections 1947.12 (d)(5) and 1946.2 (e)(8) of the Civil Code and the owner is not any of the following: (1) a real estate investment trust, as defined by Section 856 of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a corporation; or (3) a limited liability company in which at least one member is a corporation.”2California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.2
Do not paraphrase this. Do not abbreviate or rearrange it. The statute is specific about the wording, and a version that “says the same thing” in different words does not satisfy the requirement. Pre-formatted templates from regional apartment associations and legal document services carry the language exactly, which reduces the risk of a transcription error.
The Covered-Property Notice
If your unit does not qualify for any exemption, you still owe the tenant a written disclosure telling them so. The statute does not prescribe a single verbatim sentence for covered-property notices the way it does for exemptions, but the notice should clearly identify the property address, name the tenant, and state that the unit is subject to Civil Code Sections 1946.2 and 1947.12.
Once a covered tenancy is in place, rent increases have their own notice rules under Civil Code Section 827. An increase of 10 percent or less requires at least 30 days’ written notice; a larger increase requires 90 days, though anything above the AB 1482 cap would be unlawful for a covered unit anyway.3California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 827
How and When to Deliver the Notice
Delivery depends on when the tenancy started or was last renewed.
- For tenancies that began or renewed on or after July 1, 2020, the notice must be part of the rental agreement itself. It can be a clause in the lease, an addendum, or an attachment, but a standalone document handed over separately does not satisfy the requirement.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1947.12
- For tenancies that already existed before July 1, 2020, the notice could be delivered as a separate written document. The original deadline for these was August 1, 2020. If you still haven’t served it, do so now; the property is treated as covered until the notice is delivered.
- For mobilehome tenancies, the corresponding dates are July 1, 2022, rather than July 1, 2020.
However you deliver it, keep proof. A tenant’s signed acknowledgment is the cleanest evidence. If you mail the notice, a certificate of mailing or certified mail receipt creates a record you can produce later. Hold these delivery records for the full tenancy and several years after it ends. If a rent-increase dispute or an eviction ever reaches court, the notice and its delivery record will be the first things you’re asked for.
What Happens If You Skip the Notice
For conditionally exempt properties (single-family homes, condos, and other separately alienable units), missing the exemption notice has one consequence: the exemption does not exist. The property is treated as fully covered by the rent cap and the just-cause-eviction rules until you properly serve the notice. Any rent increase above the cap during that gap period may be unlawful, and any attempt to end the tenancy without a just cause could fail if the tenant challenges it.
Serving the notice late does not fix the past. The exemption is not retroactive, so protections that applied during the uncovered period stay applied to that period. A tenant who overpaid during the gap may have a valid claim for the overage. If you realize you missed the notice, deliver it right away and hold off on any above-cap rent increase or termination until the notice is documented.
Properties That Need No Notice at All
A short list of property types is exempt from AB 1482 by their nature and requires no notice to establish the exemption:
- Housing with a certificate of occupancy issued within the past 15 years, other than mobilehomes. This is a rolling window; for 2026, buildings with certificates dated 2011 or later qualify.
- Deed-restricted affordable housing for very low, low, or moderate-income households.
- Dormitories owned and operated by a college, university, or K–12 school.
- Units where the tenant shares a kitchen or bathroom with an owner who lives in the property as a primary residence.
- Owner-occupied properties where the owner rents no more than two units or bedrooms, including ADUs.
- Owner-occupied duplexes, provided the owner lived in one unit as a principal residence when the tenancy began and continues to live there, and neither unit is an ADU or JADU.
- Housing already subject to a local rent ordinance that caps annual increases below the AB 1482 formula.
These categories are defined in Civil Code Sections 1947.12(d) and 1946.2(e).1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1947.122California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.2 No notice is required to claim any of them, though many landlords still provide one to avoid confusion with tenants who don’t know their unit is exempt.
If Your City Has Its Own Rent Control
Landlords in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, San José, and other cities with local rent stabilization ordinances have a second layer of rules to consider. AB 1482 sets a floor, not a ceiling. Where a local ordinance is stronger (a lower rent cap or broader eviction protections), the local rule controls. Where the local ordinance is weaker or covers fewer properties, AB 1482 fills in for the units it misses.
Properties already subject to a local ordinance that caps annual increases below the AB 1482 formula are exempt from the state rent cap under Section 1947.12(d)(3), but the just-cause-eviction protections of Section 1946.2 may still apply depending on how the local ordinance is written. Check both sets of rules before deciding which notice to give, and when in doubt, provide the covered-property notice — the risk of over-disclosing is lower than the risk of losing an exemption.
Sales and the 2030 Sunset
Buying a rental mid-tenancy does not reset the notice clock. The new owner inherits the disclosure obligation and should confirm the property’s status and either verify that a valid notice is already on file or serve one directly.
The rent-cap and just-cause-eviction provisions of AB 1482 are set to expire on January 1, 2030.4California Legislative Information. AB-1482 Tenant Protection Act of 2019 – Tenancy: Rent Caps Until then, the notice requirements stay in force, and the new-construction exemption keeps rolling forward one year at a time.