Fresno, CA — landlord and rental rules

The Tenant Protection Act caps annual rent increases at 5% plus CPI, with a hard ceiling of 10%, on housing built more than 15 years ago.

The 15-year window rolls forward, so a building drifts into coverage with age rather than being fixed by its construction date at purchase.

Annual cap

10%

Construction

Built before 2011

In effect since 2020-01-01.

Costa-Hawkins exempts post-1995 construction and single-family homes and condominiums from *local* rent control, and preserves the landlord's right to reset rent to market on vacancy.

It does not help at the affordable end, because affordable stock is old stock: the buildings a small investor can actually buy are usually the ones Costa-Hawkins does not exempt.

Vacancy decontrol

Yes — rent resets on vacancy

Construction

Built after 1995

All residential rental properties must be registered with Fresno's Rental Housing Improvement Program, including properties that may be exempt from routine inspection.

Registration begins with one rented dwelling; owner-occupied and other programme exemptions affect inspection rather than erasing the stated registration duty.

Unit counts

1+ units

Fresno's Rental Housing Improvement Program conducts baseline and compliance inspections of registered rental housing; owners must register before claiming an inspection exemption. This local programme does not replace California's exterior-elevated-element duties. An ordinary rental apartment building with three or more multifamily dwellings follows SB 721 when qualifying wood-supported elements sit more than six feet above ground: the first report was due in 2026, repeats every six years, and passes to a later buyer. Health and Safety Code section 17973(n) excludes common-interest developments; a condominium project with three or more attached multifamily dwellings instead follows Civil Code section 5551, with association responsibility, a first inspection due in 2025, and a nine-year cycle. Ask for the applicable owner or association report.

Owner-occupied property, mobilehome parks, vacant units, specified institutions, units less than ten years old, and property inspected by another government programme can have stated exemptions or alternative treatment.

The published baseline inspection fee is $100 per inspected unit as of the verification date. Check the live fee schedule and any exemption approval rather than assuming the assessor's occupancy establishes programme status. This local programme does not replace California's exterior-elevated-element duties. An ordinary rental apartment building with three or more multifamily dwellings follows SB 721 when qualifying wood-supported elements sit more than six feet above ground: the first report was due in 2026, repeats every six years, and passes to a later buyer. Health and Safety Code section 17973(n) excludes common-interest developments; a condominium project with three or more attached multifamily dwellings instead follows Civil Code section 5551, with association responsibility, a first inspection due in 2025, and a nine-year cycle. Ask for the applicable owner or association report.

Fee per unit

$100

Unit counts

1+ units

FAIR Plan policies are up 139% since 2021, habitability claims are now commonly excluded, and earthquake cover is excluded from every standard policy.

Get a bindable quote before removing contingencies. An insurance assumption carried over from another state is the single largest silent error in a California pro forma.

Fair plan increase since2021

139%