Editorial standards

los-angeles.com is an independent information service operated by Digitali, an independent web publisher registered in Israel. The pages and tools are written and maintained by the los-angeles.com editorial team at Digitali, and every byline on the site credits that team rather than a named individual.

The site is not affiliated with, endorsed by or operated by the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) or any government agency. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

Each tool answers one question about a City of Los Angeles rule, such as whether a rent increase is within the cap, what a no-fault eviction owes a tenant, or whether an address can be listed as a short-term rental. The guides around each tool answer the questions the tool itself does not.

The rules a tool applies are written down as separate figures, each with a link to the document it came from and the date a person last checked it against that document. A tool reads those figures, so the number it shows you is the number that was checked.

Every guide opens with its answer, then explains it. Where a page links to another, it links to the page that actually answers the question, and a link to a page that does not exist fails the site's own checks before it can be published.

Address answers rest on official records: the LA Housing Department's rent stabilization list, the Los Angeles County Assessor's parcel records, and the City of Los Angeles address list and city boundary from the city's own GIS services. Where the city's address list does not find an address, the U.S. Census Bureau geocoder is tried.

Rules come from the ordinances and from the departments that administer them: LAHD's published notices for rent stabilization and relocation assistance, and City Planning for home sharing.

The How it works page lists each of these sources, which edition is loaded, how much of it, and the day a person last checked it.

A figure appears only after a person has checked it against its official source, and the page says when. A figure nobody has checked yet is not shown; the page says it is still being checked in the place the figure would be. A figure we looked for and could not find published anywhere official is also not shown, and the page says that too.

Answers about an address say how we know them. A confirmed answer rests on an official record, for example a building on the LAHD list. A preliminary answer is inferred from the county's record of a building's age and size, because the building is not on the list or the list could not be checked, and it says so and tells you to confirm with LAHD.

We do not invent figures, fines, statistics or news, and we do not date a page to look fresh: the date under each heading is the day that page's content last changed.

Some pages are also read for accuracy by a licensed professional: an attorney admitted in California where the page is about the law, and a Certified Public Accountant where it is about tax. A page that has been reviewed says so directly under its heading, with the reviewer's name, their credential and a link to a profile on this site that carries their license number and the regulator who issued it, so the credential can be checked against that regulator rather than against us.

Gregory G. Brown, Esq., Founding Partner, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP, Irvine, California, signed off on September 30, 2026. Scope: Accessory dwelling units (ADUs): the California and Los Angeles property rules behind them.

Gregory G. Brown, Esq., Founding Partner, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP, Irvine, California, signed off on October 6, 2026. Scope: Los Angeles and California rent increase law: the Rent Stabilization Ordinance, AB 1482, rent increase notice requirements and just cause eviction.

Gregory G. Brown, Esq., Founding Partner, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP, Irvine, California, signed off on October 16, 2026. Scope: The SB 9 lot split and duplex checker: the charter-city litigation caveat, the historic and environmental exclusions, the fire and fault conditions, the unit counts, the lot split size rules, the owner-occupancy affidavit and the development standards.

Gregory G. Brown, Esq., Founding Partner, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP, Irvine, California, signed off on October 16, 2026. Scope: The Los Angeles home-sharing checker: the City's eligibility criteria, the housing restrictions beyond rent stabilization, the reach of enforcement, the separate business tax and Police Commission permit obligations, and the published fee schedule.

Gregory G. Brown, Esq., Founding Partner, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP, Irvine, California, signed off on October 12, 2026. Scope: The decision logic of the Am I rent controlled? coverage checker: the order of its gates and the verdict each combination of answers reaches.

Mark M. Higuchi, Partner, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP, Irvine, California, signed off on October 7, 2026. Scope: Los Angeles relocation assistance: the payment schedule and tenant categories, the Ellis Act, owner move-in evictions, the Mom-and-Pop reduced schedule, the removal of the economic displacement provision, and RSO tenant buyouts.

Ryan Kimmel, CPA, Certified Public Accountant, California, signed off on October 16, 2026. Scope: The LA County property tax estimator: the Proposition 13 base year value and annual cap, the homeowners' exemption and the rate it comes off, the supplemental assessment and its proration, the rate assumption, and the reassessment triggers.

A review is a check on accuracy and nothing more. The reviewer is an independent professional in their own practice, not an employee of this site and not paid to reach a conclusion, and a review does not make this site a law firm, is not legal advice, and creates no relationship between the reviewer and a reader.

It also does not replace the way the figures are checked. Every percentage, deadline and dollar amount still carries the date a person verified it against the official source, which is the method above and the thing each page's verification line reports.

Every page without a reviewer line carries the editorial byline alone, and that difference is deliberate rather than an oversight. A review is a check somebody put their name to. A page that has not had one should look like a page that has not had one.

If something on the site is wrong, tell us. The contact form is the fastest route, or email info@los-angeles.com. A correction that names its source is checked first, and a corrected page shows its new date.

Some placements on the site are paid, and every one is labeled as sponsored. Sponsors never appear inside a tool's result and never influence what a tool or guide says.