California Rent Increase Notice Requirements: 30 Days, 90 Days and the Cap on Top

Most rent increases go wrong in a very ordinary way. An owner looks at the market in the spring, decides the rent on a Riverside three-bedroom is behind, and picks a number. Then the number goes out by text on the 3rd of the month, effective the 1st of the next one.

Two separate laws are sitting on that message. One decides how much notice the tenant gets. The other decides how big the increase can be in the first place. The text fails the first one on timing and method, and it may fail the second on size. Neither problem shows up until the tenant pushes back — and by then the increase has to be redone.

Across the homes we manage, rent increase notices are one of the most routine things we send and one of the easiest to get wrong. Here's how the two rules work together in California, with the 2026 numbers for the Inland Empire.

Key takeaways

• California has two rent increase rules that stack: Civil Code §827 sets the notice period, and Civil Code §1947.12 (AB 1482) caps the size of the increase on covered properties.
• An increase of 10% or less needs at least 30 days' written notice. Above 10% needs at least 90 days. The 10% is counted across all increases in the prior 12 months, not just this one.
• Mailing the notice adds five calendar days to the deadline for a California address, under Code of Civil Procedure §1013.
• For increases taking effect between August 1, 2026 and July 31, 2027, the California Attorney General lists 8.1% as the AB 1482 maximum in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
• A single-family home is only exempt from the AB 1482 cap if the owner qualifies and the tenant received the statutory exemption notice in writing. No notice, no exemption.
• Exempt or not, every month-to-month increase still needs proper written notice under §827.

Two rules, and you have to pass both

The notice rule and the cap rule come from different statutes, written at different times, and they answer different questions.

Civil Code §827 applies to month-to-month tenancies and anything shorter. It says the landlord can raise the rent by giving the tenant written notice, and it sets how far ahead that notice has to arrive. It applies to almost every rental in the state, including single-family homes that are exempt from rent caps.

Civil Code §1947.12, the rent cap part of the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB 1482), limits how much the rent can go up in any 12-month period on covered properties. It's set to remain in effect until January 1, 2030.

An increase has to clear both. A perfectly sized increase with short notice is defective. So is a well-noticed increase that's over the cap.

The notice periods: 30 days or 90 days

Under §827, the dividing line is 10% of the rent charged to that tenant.

The part that catches owners is how the 10% is measured. The statute counts the proposed increase together with any other increases in the previous 12 months. Two raises of 6% each, eight months apart, add up to more than 10%, so the second one needs 90 days even though it looks small on its own.

There's one narrow exception. Where an increase is caused by a change in the tenant's income or family composition under a required recertification, as in some subsidized housing programs, the 30-day period applies regardless of size.

How the notice has to be delivered

The statute names two methods: handing a copy to the tenant personally, or serving it by mail under Code of Civil Procedure §1013. A text message, a voicemail or a line in a group chat doesn't meet that standard. Neither does a sticky note on the door.

If you mail it, §1013 extends the notice period by five calendar days for an address inside California. That's the mistake behind a lot of late increases: the owner mails a 30-day notice exactly 30 days out, and the effective date quietly becomes invalid.

We work backward from the effective date and build in margin. A renewal increase going into effect on the 1st gets prepared well over a month ahead, so the mailing date never comes down to counting days on a calendar the night before.

The cap: what AB 1482 allows in 2026

On a covered property, §1947.12 limits an increase to 5% plus the percentage change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower. The cost-of-living figure comes from the Consumer Price Index for the property's metro area. When an April figure isn't published for that area, the statute uses March instead, which is what happens for the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario index.

Two more details matter:

• The increase is measured from the lowest gross rent charged at any point in the prior 12 months, not from whatever the tenant happens to be paying today.
• The rent can't go up in more than two increments over that 12-month period, even if the two together stay under the cap.

For increases taking effect between August 1, 2026 and July 31, 2027, the California Attorney General's rent cap chart lists the maximum at 8.1% for Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The same chart lists 8.7% for Los Angeles and Orange counties, so a portfolio that crosses county lines doesn't get one number.

Here's a hypothetical. Say a covered home in Corona has rented for $2,600 a month all year. The most the rent can rise under the 2026-27 cap is 8.1%, or $210.60, for a new rent of $2,810.60. Because that's under 10%, the owner needs 30 days' written notice, or 35 if it's mailed.

That leads to something useful for Inland Empire owners. With the cap at 8.1% this cycle, a lawful increase on a covered property here won't cross 10% in a year, so the 90-day notice rule mostly comes into play on exempt properties.

Which rentals are exempt from the cap

AB 1482 doesn't cover everything. The exemptions owners ask about most:

• Newer housing. A property that received its certificate of occupancy within the previous 15 years is exempt. It's a rolling window — a home built in 2011 that was exempt a few years ago may be covered now.
• Single-family homes and condos, meaning a unit that can be sold separately from any other dwelling, when the owner isn't a real estate investment trust, a corporation, or an LLC with a corporate member.

The second exemption has a condition people skip. The tenant has to receive written notice that the property is exempt, using the language the statute prescribes. For tenancies that began or renewed on or after July 1, 2020, that notice belongs in the lease itself. If the notice was never given, the exemption doesn't apply, and the home is capped like any other covered rental.

It's the most expensive mistake we see in leases owners bring us when they move a home into management. We check for the notice in the first week, because the fix is easy before an increase goes out and awkward after.

An exempt home still follows §827. Exemption from the cap doesn't mean exemption from the notice period.

Fixed-term leases and local rules

Section 827 governs month-to-month tenancies and shorter. During a fixed-term lease, the rent is what the lease says it is for the term, unless the lease itself provides for an increase. In practice, most increases on a one-year lease happen at renewal or when the tenancy rolls to month-to-month.

Cities and counties can also have their own rent stabilization ordinances. The Attorney General's guidance is that where a local cap produces a lower increase, the local rule applies. Local ordinances generally don't reach most single-family homes or buildings with a certificate of occupancy issued after February 1, 1995, but that varies, and the AG keeps a chart of local rules worth checking before you send anything.

Where rent increases tend to go wrong

These are the patterns we watch for at every renewal across the properties we manage:

1. Counting from today's rent instead of the lowest rent in the prior 12 months. It matters most where the rent changed mid-year.
2. A second increase in the same year. It can push the cumulative total past 10% and into 90-day territory on an exempt property, and on a covered property it uses up the second of the two increments AB 1482 allows.
3. Assuming a single-family exemption without checking the lease for the notice.
4. Mailing on day 30. Five calendar days are missing.
5. Informal delivery. If the notice wasn't personally delivered or mailed, it may not count.

None of these is complicated on its own. They go wrong because a rent increase happens once a year per property, and nobody remembers the details from last time.

Getting the number and the notice right

The legal limit is a ceiling, not a target. Whether a home should go up by the full 8.1%, by less, or not at all this year depends on where the rent sits against comparable homes and what a vacancy would cost. We cover that side in how much to charge for rent.

If you own a rental in the Inland Empire and want someone else tracking the dates, the cap and the paperwork, see how we work in Riverside property management and what it costs on our pricing page. You can also request a rental analysis below, or stop by our office at 6700 Indiana Ave #130 in Riverside.