In addition to local rent control, there is statewide rent control for most tenants in California. See our Guide to Rent Control in California.

What is rent control or rent stability?

If you live in a rent-controlled building (also called rent stabilized or RSO – an abbreviation of the Rent Stabilization Ordinance), your landlord is limited as to how much they can raise your rent each year. But being a tenant in a rent-controlled building also gives you a set of other rights as well, which are in addition to the rights for tenants in non-rent controlled buildings.

Under most rent control, when a tenant leaves or is removed from the unit (for valid reasons – see below), the landlord can then set the rent to market rate for the next tenant.

What cities have stronger rent control than the state law?

Where a local rent control ordinance applies to a particular property, the local ordinance will apply to the property instead of the new state rent control. For a property where the local rent control law does NOT apply, the state rent control law may apply (if the building meets the requirements set out above).

City rent control laws do not apply to all buildings. The buildings covered under each city law varies, but they never apply to buildings built after 1995.¹This is due to the state Costa Hawkins law, see below Here’s the basic rent control for each of these cities.

Note: Many rent control laws are based on inflation. Inflation is generally determined by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and is usually around 2-5% each year, depending on the region. So, if rent increases are capped at, say, 75% of regional inflation, and regional inflation is at, say 3%, the max rent increase is 2.25% per year.

Rent Control in Northern California

There are 12 cities in Nor Cal with rent control laws (If you’re not sure which city you are in, see What City Am I In?). Landlords may not raise the rent by more than:

• San Francisco: 60% of regional inflation per year.²San Francisco Administrative Code § 37.3
• San Jose: 5% per year.³San Jose Municipal Code §17.23.310
• Sacramento: 6% + inflation (10% max total) per year.⁴Sacramento City Code Sections 5.156.010 – 5.156.150
• Oakland: 100% of regional inflation per year.⁵Oakland Municipal Code § 8.22.065 et seq.
• Berkeley: 65% of regional inflation per year.⁶Berkeley Municipal Code §§ 13.76.110 – 13.76.120
• Mountain View: 2-5% per year, determined by a board of rent control each year.⁷Mountain View Code of Ordinances § 1707
• Alameda: 70% of regional inflation, but never less than 1% or greater than 5% per year.⁸Alameda, California Code of Ordinances §§ 6-58.70 – 6-58.135
• Hayward: 5% per year.⁹Hayward Municipal Code §§ 12:1.01 – 12:1.21
• Vallejo: 10% per year.¹⁰Proclamation of Emergency by the Director of Emergency Services of the City of Vallejo Concerning Rental Housing Price Gouging. Vallejo Municipal Code Chapter 7.300.
• Los Gatos: Either a 5% increase, or 70% of inflation, whichever is greater.¹¹Los Gatos Town Code §§ 14.80.010 – 14.80.315
• East Palo Alto: 80% of inflation, with an absolute max of 10% increase per year.¹²East Palo Alto, California Code of Ordinances §§ 14.04.040, 14.04.090 – 100
• Richmond: 100% of regional inflation.¹³Richmond Code of Ordinances §§ 11.100.010 – 11.100.130

Further Resources

See more about tenants rights at our Guide to Laws for Tenants in California.

For assistance with your case, see options at our page Get Legal Help in the San Francisco area.

Related Pages

Renters in SF

Homeowners

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