AB 1482 (the Tenant Protection Act of 2019) is California's statewide framework for rent caps and just-cause eviction. Coverage is broad but not universal. The exemption analysis is unit-by-unit, with specific notice and ownership-structure requirements. Misapplication — issuing a rent increase above the cap, terminating without proper cause notice, or treating a covered unit as exempt — creates owner exposure that doesn't go away with a manager change. The exposure attaches to the unit and follows the owner.
See city-level rent control overlays →Annual rent increases on covered units are limited to 5% plus regional CPI, with an absolute ceiling of 10% in any 12-month period. The CPI component is the local Consumer Price Index figure for the metropolitan statistical area the unit sits in — not statewide CPI. Different metros have different prints, so a unit in Riverside metro is calculated against a different CPI than a unit in San Francisco metro.
The figure changes annually as new CPI prints come out. The cap percentage applicable to a renewal you're issuing in May 2026 may differ from the cap percentage applied to that same unit a year earlier. Always verify the current figure before issuing the notice. The official guidance is published by California, but verifying via the underlying CPI data prevents misapplication.
The cap applies per 12-month period, not per calendar year. Two increases in a 12-month window are allowed only if the combined increase is at or below the cap.
For tenants in continuous occupancy of 12 months or more (or 24 months if other adult tenants joined later in some configurations), AB 1482 limits terminations to statutory just-cause categories. The categories split into at-fault and no-fault.
No-fault terminations require payment of relocation assistance — typically the equivalent of one month's rent — delivered before the termination effective date.
Coverage is the default; exemptions are specific and require proper documentation. The main exemption categories:
The exemption analysis is fact-specific. Common misclassifications: assuming a single-family rental is exempt without the proper lease notice, treating a 14-year-old building as still exempt when the rolling window has caught up to it, treating LLC-owned single-family as exempt without checking whether the LLC structure qualifies.
SB 567 (effective 2024) tightened several of the no-fault categories that had been the most frequently abused:
For owners, the practical implication is that no-fault terminations under AB 1482 now require more documentation and follow-through than they used to. The lower-effort path of issuing a no-fault notice and re-renting at a higher rate no longer works without exposure.
Several California cities layer their own rent stabilization ordinances on top of AB 1482, with stricter caps and additional just-cause categories. When a local ordinance exists, both frameworks apply and the stricter rule controls.
Cities with material rent control overlays include:
See the rent control cities list for the current overlay map. Owners in these cities must verify each rent increase and termination action against both AB 1482 and the local ordinance.
The specific risks from getting AB 1482 wrong on a unit:
None of these go away when you change managers. The exposure attaches to the unit and to the owner of record at the time of the violation.
AB 1482 coverage status and rent-increase history travel with the property, not with the manager. NGC's records-audit phase during a switch confirms unit-by-unit:
If anything is misclassified or improperly noticed, you see it in writing before cutover. You can decide whether to absorb the exposure, attempt to remedy with the tenant, or restructure on renewal.
Send us your PMA and a current rent roll. We confirm coverage status on each unit, verify the cap was applied correctly on each prior increase, and flag any just-cause notices that don't meet statutory requirements — before the switch closes.
Schedule the call → Or generate the termination letterFree service for owners switching to NGC. We draft, send via certified mail, and handle the entire 30-day transition. You sign one form.
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