What Does the Passing of the Tenant Protection Act Mean for Landlords?

What does AB-1482 (the Tenant Protection Act) mean for landlords in California? Let’s discuss.

The Tenant Protection Act (AB-1482) was just signed into California law, and this has many landlords wondering about the implications of this move. There are a couple of key changes to keep in mind.

The first is the new 5% annual rent increase cap. This cap does account for local inflation, which is about 3.8% in the Los Angeles area, so the “true” cap is actually closer to 8.8%. So long as your increases don’t exceed this limit (which is retroactively effective as of March 2019), you shouldn’t have any issues.

Landlords can still evict problematic tenants, but they will now need to present evidence to the court before doing so.

The second important change to keep in mind is the new “just-cause” eviction standards. This doesn’t mean that you will no longer be able to evict problematic tenants—just that you will need to present evidence to the court before doing so.

Another change to remember is that landlords now need to pay one month’s worth of a tenant’s rent to help them vacate the property whenever you’re doing remodeling projects.

Finally, landlords should realize that, under AB-1482, any Los Angeles properties that are more than 15 years old will be subject to rent control.

These points combined basically sum up what you need to know about the Tenant Protection Act, but if you have any other questions or would like more information, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.