Santa Monica, CA — landlord and rental rules

Santa Monica's Rent Control Charter limits rents for covered units. Through 31 August 2026, the current general adjustment is 2.3%, with a $60 ceiling for maximum allowable rents at or above the published threshold. The separately adopted 2.6%/$70 adjustment does not begin until 1 September 2026.

Confirm the unit's controlled status and Maximum Allowable Rent in the Rent Control Agency records; a property can have an exemption or conversion history that the year alone does not reveal. The adopted 2.6%/$70 adjustment is future law on this verification date and begins 1 September 2026, not before.

Construction

Built before 1979

Owner-occupied exemption

Yes

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

Santa Monica's Rent Control Charter requires an authorised cause and the local process for terminating a covered controlled tenancy.

Confirm the tenancy, registered unit status and permitted ground with the Rent Control Agency before relying on a termination.

Controlled rental units are registered with the Santa Monica Rent Control Agency, which records tenancy information and the Maximum Allowable Rent and assesses an annual registration fee.

Registration follows controlled-unit status. A property of three or fewer units can qualify for the owner-occupied exemption only through the programme's stated procedure; confirm historical occupancy and the Agency decision rather than treating future buyer intent as proof. Search the Agency's address and document portals for registered rent, ownership, exemptions, decisions and any unit-specific fee waiver. A missing online row is not proof that an older or converted unit is exempt.

Construction

Built before 1979

Owner-occupied exemption

Yes

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%