In California, a landlord must give you written notice before raising the rent, and the required lead time depends on the size of the increase. If the new rent, combined with any other increases over the past 12 months, goes up by 10% or less, the rent increase notice in California must be delivered at least 30 days in advance. If the total increase over that 12-month window exceeds 10%, the notice period jumps to 90 days.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 827 – Change in Terms of Lease
Those minimums come from Civil Code § 827 and apply to month-to-month and other periodic tenancies. Local ordinances in some cities require longer notice, and when a local rule is stricter the landlord has to follow the longer timeline.
How the 10% Threshold Is Measured
The 10% figure isn’t just the single proposed bump. It’s the total percentage increase measured against the rent charged at any point during the 12 months before the new rent takes effect. That baseline rule matters for two reasons. First, if your landlord already raised the rent earlier in the year, a second increase can push the combined total over 10% and trigger the 90-day requirement even though the second raise on its own looks small. Second, a landlord can’t briefly drop your rent to a lower number and then use that dip as the baseline for a larger jump.
How the Notice Must Be Delivered
For rent increases, Civil Code § 827(b) allows only two delivery methods: handing the written notice to you in person, or mailing it under Code of Civil Procedure § 1013.2California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 827 – Change of Terms of Lease A phone call, a text, or an email doesn’t count.
Personal Delivery
If the landlord hands you the written notice directly, the clock starts on the day you receive it. A 30-day notice is 30 days; a 90-day notice is 90 days.
Service by Mail
When the notice is mailed, extra days get added to account for transit:
- Mailed within California: add 5 calendar days, so a 30-day notice is effectively 35 days and a 90-day notice is 95 days.
- Mailed elsewhere in the United States: add 10 calendar days.
- Mailed outside the United States: add 20 calendar days.
The notice has to be in a sealed, postage-paid envelope addressed to your residence and deposited with the U.S. Postal Service.3California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1013 – Notices, and Filing and Service of Papers Skipping the mailing days is one of the most common defects: the landlord counts 30 days from the postmark instead of 35, and the notice doesn’t legally take effect on the date the landlord thinks it does.
How Much the Rent Can Actually Go Up
Proper notice is only half the picture. Most residential rentals in California are also subject to a cap on how much rent can rise in a 12-month period under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB 1482). The annual limit is 5% plus the local Consumer Price Index change, or 10% total, whichever is lower.4California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1947.12 If local inflation ran at 3%, the cap is 8%. If it ran at 7%, the cap still tops out at 10%.
The cap is measured against the lowest gross rent charged for the unit at any point in the 12 months before the increase takes effect. A landlord can split an increase into two separate raises within a 12-month period, but the combined total still cannot exceed the annual cap.5California Legislative Information. AB 1482 Tenant Protection Act of 2019 AB 1482 is set to expire on January 1, 2030 unless the legislature extends it.
Which Rentals Are Exempt from the State Cap
The cap doesn’t cover every unit, and the exemptions are broad enough to catch many tenants off guard. The main categories are:
- Housing that received its certificate of occupancy within the previous 15 years. The exemption rolls forward, so a 2015 building becomes covered in 2030.
- Single-family homes and condos that can be sold separately from other units, but only when the owner is not a corporation, a real estate investment trust, or an LLC with a corporate member, and only when the owner has given the tenant a specific written exemption notice.
- Owner-occupied duplexes, where the owner lives in one of the two units as a primary residence.
- Deed-restricted affordable housing subject to a recorded income-based affordability agreement.
- Units already covered by a local rent control ordinance that caps increases below the AB 1482 formula.4California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1947.12
For the single-family home and condo exemption, the landlord has to give you a written notice with specific statutory language stating that the property is not subject to Civil Code § 1947.12’s rent limits or § 1946.2’s just cause eviction rules, and that the owner is not a corporation, REIT, or LLC with a corporate member. For any tenancy that started or renewed on or after July 1, 2020, that notice must appear in the rental agreement itself. Without it, the exemption doesn’t apply and the unit is treated as covered.
Local Rent Control Can Set Stricter Limits
AB 1482 sets a floor, not a ceiling. Dozens of California cities have their own rent stabilization ordinances that cap increases well below the state limit, and the California Attorney General publishes an updated list of local rent laws.6California Department of Justice. Local Rent Stabilization Laws: Permissible Rent Increases For 2025–2026, the annual caps in San Francisco and Oakland are 1.4% and 0.8% respectively; Los Angeles is 3%, Santa Monica 2.3%, San Jose 5%, and Sacramento 7.7%.
When a local ordinance applies, it overrides AB 1482 for that unit, and it usually carries its own notice rules, exemption categories, and registration requirements. If you rent in a larger California city, check with the local rent board before assuming the statewide rules are the ones that govern your unit.
What to Do If the Notice or Amount Is Wrongh2>
A rent increase isn’t automatically enforceable just because your landlord handed you a notice. The three common problems are a notice period that’s too short for the size of the increase, mail service without the added 5, 10, or 20 days, and an increase that exceeds the applicable cap.
Defective Notice
If the notice period was too short or the delivery method was improper, the increase has not legally taken effect. You can keep paying your current rent, but put your objection in writing so there’s no ambiguity about why you’re paying the old amount. Silence combined with underpayment is easy for a landlord to misread.
An Increase Above the Cap
An increase that exceeds the AB 1482 limit or a stricter local cap is void to the extent it exceeds the allowed amount. You only owe the legally permitted portion. Tenants have recovered excess rent paid on illegal increases, and some cases have produced treble damages under Penal Code § 496 when the landlord knowingly collected rent above the legal ceiling.
Retaliation Protection
Civil Code § 1942.5 prohibits a landlord from raising rent, cutting services, or threatening eviction in retaliation for a tenant exercising legal rights, including asserting the rent cap or notice rules. AB 1482 separately requires just cause to terminate a tenancy after 12 months of occupancy, so a landlord generally cannot evict you simply for pushing back on an improper increase.7California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.2 – Just Cause Eviction
If a notice looks wrong on its face, the practical first moves are a written response to the landlord identifying the defect and a call to your local rent board or a tenant rights organization for help evaluating the numbers.