New California law requires 90-day notice for rent increases over 10%

The biggest news from the end of California’s 2019 legislative session was the passage of statewide rent and eviction controls under AB 1482. With all the news around that, you might have missed the signing of another bill — AB 1110 — that will affect units NOT covered by rent control.

The new law, which will take effect January 1, 2020, will require landlords to give tenants an extra month of notice when raising rents by more than 10%. The current requirement for such rent increases is 60 days and the new law will increase it do 90 days. The law will not affect the current 30-day notice requirement for increases of less than 10%.

With the new limitations coming into place with AB 1482, rent increases over 10% will only be an option to a limited number of landlords who are not subject to a local rent control ordinance and meet one of the exemptions from the state’s rent control, most commonly:

• Certificate of Occupancy less than 15 years old
• Single-family homes and condos (owned by a natural person)
• Owner-occupied duplexes (tenancy must have started after owner moved-in)

Landlords falling into one of these buckets will want to make sure they are in compliance with the new notice requirements on such rent increases unless they want to face further delays and potential legal challenges.