California Rent Increase Notice Requirements
A rent increase on a periodic tenancy in California takes a written notice, served before the increase takes effect, and the notice has to identify the property, state the current rent and the new rent, and give the date the new rent starts. An increase announced by text message, by a conversation, or by a figure written on a receipt is not a notice, and the rent does not change because somebody said it would. During a fixed term there is no notice that raises the rent at all: the rent is what the lease says for the term, and it moves mid-term only where the lease itself provides for it.
How long the notice has to run depends on the size of the increase. There are two statutory periods, a shorter one for a smaller increase and a longer one once the increase passes a set percentage of the rent over twelve months. Serving by mail adds 5 calendar days to the notice period where the tenant's address and the place of mailing are both in California, under California Code of Civil Procedure section 1013(a). Where the tenant's address is outside California the addition is 10 days instead. So a 30 day notice runs 35 days when it is mailed, and a 90 day notice runs 95 days. Personal delivery adds none.
A defective notice does not make the increase unlawful by itself. What it does is stop the new rent from becoming due on the date the landlord wanted, which in a dispute over arrears is usually the whole argument. Whether the amount is lawful is a separate question, and the rent increase calculator answers it from the address.
What a valid notice has to say
Five things, and all of them in writing. The property the notice is about, so that a tenancy with more than one unit cannot be confused. The current rent. The new rent. The date the new rent takes effect. And the date the notice itself was written.
Say plainly that the rest of the tenancy is unchanged, and that rent stays due on the same day and payable in the same way. A notice that changes one thing and leaves the rest ambiguous invites the argument it was meant to avoid.
For a rent stabilized unit, the notice is also a statement that the increase is inside the allowable annual increase and that no other increase has been taken in the preceding twelve months. If either of those is not true, the notice is a written record of it.
How much notice, and how it is counted
Written notice is required before a rent increase takes effect on a periodic tenancy, which means month to month and anything shorter. During a fixed term the rent is what the lease says, and it changes mid-term only where the lease itself provides for it. An increase of 10% or less takes 30 days of notice. Anything above that takes 90 days. Work the percentage out against the lowest rent charged in the 12 months before the increase takes effect rather than against what you are paying today, so a second increase inside one year is added to the first when deciding which period applies. The periods track the size of the increase, not the cap, so a lawful increase can still arrive on a defective notice.
Los Angeles does not add a notice period of its own, so a rent stabilized unit takes the same rule. What changes is the arithmetic rather than the rule: the allowable increase for a stabilized unit is capped at a figure well below 10%, so an increase that stays within the cap is always in the 30 day band. A notice on a stabilized unit demanding more than that is a question about the cap before it is a question about the notice.
Serving by mail adds 5 calendar days to the notice period where the tenant's address and the place of mailing are both in California, under California Code of Civil Procedure section 1013(a). Where the tenant's address is outside California the addition is 10 days instead. So a 30 day notice runs 35 days when it is mailed, and a 90 day notice runs 95 days. Personal delivery adds none.
The period runs backwards from the date the new rent takes effect, not forwards from the date the notice was written. A notice written in good time and served late is a late notice, and the effective date moves rather than the deadline.
Serving it: how the notice reaches the tenant
Personal delivery to the tenant is the cleanest route and the easiest to prove. Handing it to another adult at the property and following up by post is the usual substitute where the tenant cannot be found.
Posting a copy at the property and mailing another is the last resort, and it is the route most likely to be challenged, so it is the one where a dated record matters most.
Whichever route is used, keep proof: who served it, when, how, and a copy of what was served. A notice nobody can prove was delivered is a notice that did not run.
Rent increase notice generator
For landlords. Enter the address, the rents and the date the new rent starts. If the increase is over the cap this will not write the notice, and it will tell you which ceiling it broke.
What makes a notice defective
Too short a period. This is the common one, and it is usually an increase that crossed the threshold into the longer period while the landlord counted on the shorter one.
An amount above the cap. An increase above the ceiling is not enforceable for the amount above it, whatever the notice says, and for a rent stabilized unit it is also a matter the LA Housing Department will take a complaint about.
A second increase inside twelve months on a stabilized unit. The ordinance allows one, so the second notice is not a smaller increase, it is an unlawful one.
Missing terms. No effective date, no current rent, no property identified, or an amount that does not match the figure actually demanded afterwards.
Adders that no longer exist. Any utility percentage, or an increase for adding a dependent, on a stabilized increase dated on or after February 2, 2026.
An amount worked out from the wrong base. On a unit under AB 1482 the cap is not a percentage of the rent being paid now. The percentage is not worked out against the rent you are paying now. Under California Civil Code section 1947.12(a)(1) it is measured against the lowest gross rental rate charged for the unit at any time in the 12 months before the increase takes effect, and any discounts, concessions or credits come out before that lowest figure is found. A landlord who dropped the rent for a few months, or gave a month free, and then measures the cap from the higher figure has worked out a larger increase than the statute allows.
If you have been handed a defective notice
Do not stop paying rent. The existing rent is still due, and withholding it turns a dispute about the increase into a dispute about arrears, which is a much worse position to argue from.
Put the objection in writing, keep it short, and say what is wrong with the notice and what you are paying in the meantime. Keep the notice itself, the envelope if it came by post, and every payment record.
For a rent stabilized unit in the City of Los Angeles, the LA Housing Department takes complaints about an increase above the allowable amount. The notice is the document that establishes both the amount and the date, which is why it is worth keeping even when it is wrong.
Works out whether an LA unit falls under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance or AB 1482, and what the cap allows.
Common questions
Does an email or a text message count as written notice?
Can a landlord raise the rent in the middle of a fixed term lease?
The notice was short by a few days. Is the increase void?
Does the generator on this page tell me the increase is legal?
Related guides
- Los Angeles Rent Control (RSO)Answer four things about your building and see which law covers your unit: the RSO, AB 1482, or the city's Just Cause Ordinance. What each one caps, and how to confirm it.
- How to find your building's year builtThree free public records carry the date that decides whether your unit is rent stabilized: the county assessor's record, ZIMAS, and the certificate of occupancy. Where each one is, and which one settles a dispute.
- AB 1482 exemptionsWhich properties fall outside the California rent cap, the written notice a landlord has to give to claim an exemption, and how to check a claim.
- Just cause eviction in Los AngelesEvery reason a landlord may legally end a tenancy in Los Angeles, at-fault and no-fault, what each one costs them, and what makes a notice defective.
The rules on this page are still being checked against the LA Housing Department and the municipal code. Nothing here quotes a figure that has not been confirmed.