Menu Close

AB 1482 is a law passed by the California legislature guaranteeing that from January 1, 2020 until 2030, California will have price control and just cause protections on all multi-unit buildings, as well as some single family homes constructed more than 15 years ago. 

Below is a guide to this law and how it affects San Francisco. This does not necessarily apply to other cities or counties in California. If you live outside SF, you should contact Tenants Together for info on your specific area.

This is also a work in progress and will be updated as we learn more about how the law will be implemented. To get more info or ask questions, please contact our counseling team.

NOTE: Tenants already under the SF rent control ordinance (living in buildings built before 1979) are not under 1482, so everything remains the same for them.

WHO’S COVERED UNDER 1482’S PRICE CONTROL?

For tenants who are not under the 1979 rent control law but live in a multi-unit building built after 1979 with a certificate of occupancy older than 15 years, they’re now under 1482. That means  buildings built for first occupancy before 2005 will be covered.

Tenants in a single family home (SFH) or condo owned by an LLC (Limited Liability Company) or a real estate investment trust or a corporation are also covered under 1482. If the owner of the SFH is a person, then the unit is exempt from 1482, but the owner must notify the tenant(s) of this exemption in writing. For all rental agreements entered into or renewed after July 1, 2020, this notice must be in the rental agreement.

The notice should read:

“This property is not subject to the rent limits imposed by Section 1947.12 of the Civil Code and is not subject to the just cause requirements of Section 1946.2 of the Civil Code. This property meets the requirements of Sections 1947.12 (d)(5) and 1946.2 (e)(8) of the Civil Code and the owner is not any of the following: (1) a real estate investment trust, as defined by Section 856 of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a corporation; or (3) a limited liability company in which at least one member is a corporation.”

An SFH is exempt if the owner lives with the tenant (lodger). A duplex may be exempt from the law if the owner continually occupies one of the units as the owner’s principal place of residence and has lived there since the beginning of the tenant’s tenancy. Another situation in which the unit may be exempt is if the owner/occupant rents or leases no more than two units or bedrooms, including, but not limited to, an accessory dwelling unit.

The notice the landlord must give to be exempt from 1482 in the case of an SFH is as follows: 

“This property is not subject to the rent limits imposed by Section 1947.12 of the Civil Code and is not subject to the just cause requirements of Section 1946.2 of the Civil Code. This property meets the requirements of Sections 1947.12 (d)(5) and 1946.2 (e)(8) of the Civil Code and the owner is not any of the following: (1) a real estate investment trust, as defined by Section 856 of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a corporation; or (3) a limited liability company in which at least one member is a corporation.”

UNITS NOT COVERED

  1. Hotels or hostels or other short-term stay housing
  2. Non-profit hospital, religious facility, extended care facility, licensed elderly care facility, or adult residential facilities provided by State social services
  3. Student dormitories
  4. Single Family Home or Duplex where the landlord lives on the property. (This includes Accessory Dwelling Units and in-law units)
  5. Affordable housing, subsidized housing, (including THC, TNDC, CHP, Mercy, etc.) HUD housing, or deed-restricted housing
  6. Mobile homes

PRICE CONTROL

AB 1482 limits rent increases to 5% + CPI (Consumer Price Index) for SF, but caps them at 10%. The increase at this time (January-April 1, 2020) is 9%. If you need to, you can find the CPI here: www.dir.ca.gov/OPRL/CAPriceIndex.htm. After going to that site, use the Consumer Price Index calculator.

Note that a landlord could give up to two rent increases a year, but the total of both added together cannot exceed 10% or 5% plus the CPI.

If a tenant received a rent increase of over 10% after March 15, 2019 and that increase went into effect before January 1, 2020 and the tenant paid it, then on January 1, 2020 the rent automatically rolls back to the amount it was on March 15, 2019. The landlord can then increase the rent by 5% + CPI. S/he does NOT have to reimburse the tenant for any overage or illegal rent increase paid before January 1, 2020, however.

A landlord cannot bank on back rent increases under 1482. When the last tenant moves out, the landlord can raise the rent up to market. 

JUST CAUSE

Just cause only applies to all apartments covered by AB 1482 where the tenants have lived for 12 months or more. If a tenant moves in and then moves in a roommate during that first year, all the tenants have to live there for 12 months in order to be covered under just cause, or one of the tenants has to have lived there for 24 months.

IMPORTANT NOTE: SF passed a just cause law that covers almost all buildings in SF and supersedes 1482’s just cause and put all tenants who are now under 1482 under the local SF rent ordinance’s just cause, which does not have the above-mentioned one- or two-year residency rule. The law only applies to San Francisco. Watch these pages or call our counseling line (Monday through Thursday, 1-5pm, 415-703-8644) for updates or clarification on this. For the just causes that now apply in SF, click here.

THE 16 JUST CAUSES UNDER 1482 (THESE APPLY OUTSIDE SF)

  1. Failure to pay rent
  2. Breach of a material term of a lease that continues after a written notice of the right to cure. The written notice must provide at least three days to cure. If the tenant does not cure, then a non-curable notice of termination may be served.
  3. Maintaining, committing, or permitting a nuisance
  4. Destruction of property or creating a nuisance
  5. Failure to sign a lease with similar terms after the expiration of a lease
  6. Criminal activity on the property, or criminal activity or criminal threat directed at an owner or manager of the property
  7. Assigning and subletting in violation of the lease
  8. Refusal to provide the owner access to the unit
  9. Using the premises for an illegal purpose
  10. Failure of a licensee, agent or employee of the landlord to vacate after termination of the relationship
  11. Failure of a tenant to deliver possession after the tenant gives a notice to move out, or after the landlord and tenant agree in writing that the tenant will vacate
  12. Owner or relative move in only where the original lease or a new lease allows for an owner or relative to move in. The eviction must be done by an owner or the owner’s spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, parents, or grandparents. The original lease or new lease must reserve the right to move in an owner or the owner’s spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, parents, or grandparents
  13. Withdrawal of the unit from the rental market
  14. Where a city or county agency requires the unit to be vacated due to uninhabitable conditions
  15. Intent to demolish or substantially remodel a unit. “Substantially remodel” means the replacement or substantial modification of any structural, electrical, plumbing or mechanical system that requires a permit, or the abatement of hazardous material, including lead, mold or asbestos that cannot be reasonably accomplished in a safe manner with the tenant in the unit and that requires the tenant to vacate for more than thirty days. Cosmetic improvements alone, including painting, decorating, and minor repairs, do not qualify, nor does any work that can be done safely with the tenant in the unit.
  16. The tenant’s Good Samaritan Status (Section 37.2(a)(1)(D)) has expired, and the landlord exercises the right to recover possession by serving a notice of termination of tenancy under this Section 37.9(a)(16) within 60 days after expiration of the Original and any Extended Good Samaritan Status Period.

RELOCATION MONEY

For no fault evictions, a landlord must provide relocation money equivalent to one month’s rent at the time the notice was issued. It can either be in the form of a rent waiver for the final month or an actual payment. That money must be provided within 15 days of the notice.

The no-fault evictions reasons are as follows:

  1. Owner or relative move in (OMI)
  2. Removal from rental market (Ellis Act)
  3. Where a government agency requires that the unit be vacated because it’s uninhabitable
  4. Intent to demolish or substantially modify the structure.

GOVERNOR’S ORDER ON RENT INCREASES 

The governor has issued an order prohibiting rent increases over 10% until December 31, 2019. As far as we understand it, that means any rent increase any tenant receives that’s over 10%, but opinions differ about that. Please contact our office if you received one before December 31, 2019.

ENFORCEMENT

Unfortunately, there is no enforcement mechanism in AB 1482, so the default would be going to court. If a tenant has a complaint that’s under $10,000, he or she can go to Small Claims Court. For an illegal rent increase under 1482, a tenant can file at the Rent Board.