My Landlord Is Selling in California: Just Cause, Notice, and Rent Rules

If your landlord is selling and you’re wondering what your rights are in California, the short version is that the sale changes the owner, not your tenancy. Your lease follows the property. The buyer inherits your rent, your end date, your deposit, and every other term you already have. Statewide rules under the Tenant Protection Act, plus any local ordinance where you live, decide what the new owner can do next.

Your Lease Follows the Property

A residential lease in California is tied to the unit, not to the person who happens to own it. When escrow closes, the buyer steps into the seller’s role and must honor every term of your agreement: the rent amount, the lease end date, parking, pets, storage, everything in writing.

If you’re on a fixed-term lease running through a specific date, the new owner cannot cut it short or rewrite the terms. You stay put at the same rent until it ends. If you’re month-to-month, the new owner has more room to eventually adjust rent or end the tenancy, but only through the legal channels described below.

Is Your Rental Covered by the Tenant Protection Act?

Almost everything a new owner can and cannot do turns on whether the Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482) applies to your unit. The TPA covers most residential rentals but exempts a few categories, and the one that matters most during a sale is the single-family home and condo exemption.

A single-family home or condo is exempt only if the owner is a natural person (not a corporation, REIT, or LLC with a corporate member) and the owner gave you a specific written notice stating that the property is exempt from TPA rent and eviction protections.¹ For tenancies starting or renewed on or after July 1, 2020, that notice has to appear in the rental agreement itself.² No notice, no exemption. Other TPA exemptions cover housing under 15 years old (measured from the certificate of occupancy on a rolling basis), owner-occupied duplexes where the owner has lived in one unit the whole tenancy, and deed-restricted affordable housing.

Check your lease and any addenda for the exemption language before assuming the new owner can act freely. If you never got that notice, the TPA rules below apply regardless of the property type.

Just Cause: Why a New Owner Can End Your Tenancy

Under the TPA, once you’ve lived in the rental for 12 continuous months, the owner needs a legally recognized “just cause” to terminate your tenancy, and that reason has to be written into the termination notice.³ A sale by itself is not a just cause.

The statute splits just cause into two groups. At-fault reasons involve something the tenant did: nonpayment of rent, a lease violation, nuisance, refusing lawful entry, or criminal activity on the property. No-fault reasons have nothing to do with your conduct. They include the owner (or a close family member) moving in, withdrawing the unit from the rental market, demolition or a substantial remodel, or complying with a government order.³

Cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Berkeley have their own just cause ordinances. Where local rules give you more protection than the TPA, the stronger rule wins.

Owner Move-In After a Sale

The no-fault reason buyers use most often is owner move-in, either for themselves or for a spouse, domestic partner, child, grandchild, parent, or grandparent. SB 567 tightened these rules and gave the process real teeth.

The termination notice has to name the person who intends to move in and state their relationship to the owner. You can ask for proof of that relationship, and the owner must produce it.⁴ The named person then has to actually move in within 90 days of your departure and live in the unit as their primary residence for at least 12 consecutive months.²

If they don’t, the owner must offer you the unit back at your old rent and lease terms and reimburse your reasonable moving expenses beyond any relocation assistance already paid.⁴ A willful violation exposes the owner to actual damages, attorney’s fees, and up to three times actual damages as a penalty.

Notice and Relocation Assistance

Even with valid just cause, the new owner has to give you written notice before your tenancy ends. If you’ve lived there a year or more, the notice period is 60 days. If it’s less than a year, 30 days is enough.⁵ A text, a phone call, or a mention during a showing does not count.

For a TPA-covered no-fault termination of a tenant who has lived in the unit over a year, the notice also has to spell out your right to relocation assistance equal to one month of your current rent.³ The owner can either pay you directly within 15 calendar days of serving the notice or waive your final month’s rent in writing before it comes due. If the notice omits the relocation piece, the notice itself is invalid.² Some cities with rent control require substantially more than one month, so check local rules.

Can the New Owner Raise the Rent?

A new owner who inherits a month-to-month tenancy might want to push rent up, but on TPA-covered properties, annual increases are capped at 5 percent plus the local rate of inflation, or 10 percent total, whichever is lower.⁶ Only two increases are allowed in any 12-month period, and the cap is measured against the lowest rent charged in the prior 12 months.

California’s vacancy-decontrol rule, which lets an owner reset rent freely for a new tenant, applies only when no tenant from the prior tenancy remains in the unit.⁶ Because you’re still there, the sale doesn’t unlock market-rate pricing. Local rent stabilization ordinances may cap increases even more tightly.

Showings While the Property Is on the Market

Your landlord can show the unit to prospective buyers, but the entry rules still protect your privacy. Normally, a landlord has to give reasonable written notice before entering, and 24 hours is presumed reasonable. The notice has to state the date, approximate time, and purpose, and entry is limited to normal business hours unless you agree otherwise at the time.⁷

Once the landlord has told you in writing that the property is for sale, the format loosens for buyer showings. The landlord or their agent can then give the 24-hour notice orally, in person or by phone, and still needs to state the date, time, and purpose. At the time of entry, they must leave a written record inside the unit confirming the visit. The written notice of sale has to have been given within 120 days of any oral entry notice for the exception to apply.⁷

Showings still have to happen during normal business hours, and the right of entry cannot be used to harass you into leaving. Repeated last-minute visits, entries outside the notice, or open houses used as pressure are grounds to push back in writing and, if it continues, to seek legal help.

Estoppel Certificates

During the sale, the landlord or buyer may hand you an estoppel certificate to sign. It asks you to confirm the basic terms of your tenancy: rent, lease dates, deposit paid, and whether you have any outstanding claims against the landlord. Buyers use it to verify what they’re buying.

You are not required to sign one unless your lease specifically includes an estoppel clause. If it does, refusing could be treated as a lease violation. Either way, read it line by line. Under California law, a signed estoppel is treated as conclusively true even if it contains errors, so a wrong rent figure or a missed deposit amount can lock you into the wrong number. Correct anything inaccurate before you sign, and keep a copy.

Your Security Deposit

The sale doesn’t put your deposit at risk, but it does move. The seller has to either return your deposit (minus any lawful deductions) or transfer it to the buyer, and if it’s transferred, the seller must notify you of the transfer amount, any claims against it, and the new owner’s name, address, and phone number.⁸

The new owner then owes you the deposit back, minus lawful deductions and with an itemized statement, within 21 calendar days after you move out.⁹ If the seller mishandles the transfer, both the old and new owner are jointly and severally liable, so you can pursue either one for the full amount.⁸ The new owner has to honor the full amount you originally paid.

Illegal Pressure and Cash-for-Keys Offers

No owner, old or new, can skip the formal eviction process by making the unit unlivable. California specifically forbids a landlord from shutting off utilities, changing the locks, removing doors or windows, or hauling away your belongings to force you out. If it happens, call the police to get back in and sue. You can recover actual damages plus up to $100 per day the violation continues, with a minimum of $250 per violation, and the court must award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party.¹⁰

A buyer who would rather pay you than evict may offer a cash-for-keys deal: a lump sum in exchange for you leaving voluntarily by an agreed date, usually with your full deposit returned on top. These are entirely optional. Treat the offer as a negotiation and price it against the real cost of comparable housing, moving expenses, and the disruption of an unplanned move. Get everything in writing, including the payment amount, move-out date, condition of the unit at handover, and treatment of the deposit. Have the money in hand or in escrow before you turn over the keys.

1
California Legislative Information. AB 1482 Tenant Protection Act of 2019
2
California Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General. The Tenant Protection Act – Your Obligations As a Landlord or Property Manager
3
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.2
4
LegiScan. California SB 567
5
California Courts Self Help Guide. Types of Eviction Notices Tenants
6
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1947.12
7
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1954
8
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1950.5
9
California Department of Justice. Know Your Rights – Security Deposits
10
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 789.3