Which local ordinance governs your property is the first thing to pin down. This directory is organized by county and by regulatory era, the same framework used in Chapter Two of Hold or Sell: A California Landlord’s Guide to Selling Tenant-Occupied Property, by Christian Walsh.
Try a city name, a neighborhood, or a ZIP code. ZIP codes are mail routes rather than city limits, so a ZIP returns the jurisdictions it touches — or the county it sits in — rather than a single answer.
Counties marked reviewed have been checked jurisdiction by jurisdiction. If a city in a reviewed county does not appear below, no local ordinance was found for it and the statewide Tenant Protection Act governs.
The statewide Tenant Protection Act, AB 1482, is a floor rather than a ceiling. It caps annual rent increases on covered units and requires just cause to terminate a tenancy after twelve months of occupancy. It also carries its own relocation assistance obligation for no-fault terminations.
One date causes more confusion than any other. Many ordinances state that they do not reach units built after February 1995. That is a Costa-Hawkins limit on what a city is allowed to regulate, and nearly every ordinance passed since 1995 contains it. It says nothing about when the ordinance itself was adopted. An ordinance from 2022 and an ordinance from 1979 can carry the same 1995 line for entirely different reasons, and the era it belongs to is set by the adoption date.
Coverage is not universal. Single-family homes and condominiums are often exempt when ownership and notice conditions are met, and buildings under fifteen years old are generally outside it. Local ordinances routinely reach units the state law does not — which is why the absence of a local ordinance is an answer, but the absence of a rent cap is not.
Unincorporated county territory sits directly alongside incorporated cities, and in Los Angeles County the two are interwoven block by block. A property one street over from a city line can fall under an entirely different ordinance, with different termination rules and a different value to a buyer.
Confirm your jurisdiction with the county assessor using your parcel number.
Mobilehome park space rent stabilization is a separate body of local ordinance, common in Riverside County and elsewhere, and it is not included here. If you own or are selling a mobilehome park, or a home on a rented space, that is a different analysis and a different specialist.
Rent cap percentages and relocation dollar amounts are also left out on purpose. They change annually, sometimes more often, and a number printed here would be wrong before you needed it. Every entry links to the jurisdiction's own portal, which is the only place those figures should be read.
Which era governs your property determines what you can do with the tenancy, how long it takes, and what the property is worth to a buyer. The regulatory environment is a pricing variable before it is a compliance issue. That analysis is the subject of the book.
This directory is reviewed and dated, and cities keep adding ordinances. Subscribe and you’ll hear when it changes, as part of my weekly newsletter on what’s moving in California landlord and tenant law. The directory stays free whether you subscribe or not.