Draft your Berkeley Rent Stabilization Ordinance pre-service worksheet Pick the calendar year, the building status (covered multi-unit pre-Feb-1-1995 vs Costa-Hawkins exempt), the registration status (in compliance vs deficient on any of the four AGA-denial conditions), and the tenancy-eligibility status (initial rent set before 2025 vs in 2025 = not eligible until 2027), enter the current rent and effective date, and get the AGA cap, the Cal. Civ. Code §827(b) 30-day vs 90-day notice math, the once-per-12-months next-eligible date, and the BMC §13.76.150 wrongful-increase exposure pre-computed before you serve.
Free preview — no sign-up, no card. Submitting opens a worksheet with the calendar year you elected, the AGA percentage that applies, the math you'd put on the §827(b) notice, and flags if the building is Costa-Hawkins exempt (single-family with post-1996 tenancy / condo / post-Feb-1-1995 multi-unit), if the unit is in AGA-denial status (unregistered / board-order non-compliance / habitability defects / unpaid deposit interest), or if the tenant's initial rent was first set in 2025 (deferred eligibility until January 1, 2027). Nothing about your tenant, unit, or rent is stored on the server until you explicitly purchase the $9 archived worksheet + compliance-log entry.
The Berkeley Rent Stabilization Ordinance is a price-control regime; the notice rules are state law.
BMC §13.76.110 caps the annual rent increase at the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board's annual AGA (1.0% for CY 2026), with NO statutory ceiling beyond the AGA itself and NO per-notice stacking ceiling like SF's §4.12 banking limits. Berkeley uses a rent-ceiling-accumulation model: the lawful rent ceiling automatically rises by the AGA each January 1, regardless of whether the landlord applies it. Cal. Civ. Code §827(b) governs the form and timing of the notice itself: 30 calendar days for any increase under 10%, 90 calendar days for 10%+. Costa-Hawkins exempts single-family homes (with post-1996 tenancies), condominiums, and post-February-1-1995 multi-unit buildings from the Berkeley cap (those units fall under AB 1482 at 8.8% in 2026 unless they meet AB 1482's own carve-outs). The four-condition AGA-denial gate under BMC §13.76.110(B)(2) is the most distinctive feature: any one of (registration, board-order compliance, habitability, deposit interest) blocks the AGA for that calendar year. The good-cause-eviction protections of §13.76.130 may still apply to Costa-Hawkins exempt Berkeley units.
What you'll get
The worksheet documents which calendar year applied, what was computed, and what AGA-denial or exemption layers were flagged.
- Calendar-year picker. CY 2025 (1.6% AGA) or CY 2026 (1.0% AGA). The worksheet stamps the elected year and the controlling Ordinance section.
- Building-status switch. Multi-unit pre-Feb-1-1995 buildings are covered — the Berkeley AGA controls. Single-family homes with post-1996 tenancies, condos lawfully separable, and post-Feb-1-1995 multi-unit buildings are Costa-Hawkins exempt — the worksheet stamps a yellow callout and notes that AB 1482 governs at the higher 8.8% (2026) statewide cap unless the unit meets AB 1482's own carve-outs.
- Four-condition AGA-denial check. If the unit has any of (a) lapsed registration, (b) open Rent Board order non-compliance, (c) substantiated habitability violations, (d) unpaid annual security-deposit interest, the worksheet flags the AGA as DENIED for the calendar year and prints the cure path. The Rent Board may still find the unit non-compliant on additional grounds; the worksheet defers to the Apparent Lawful Rent Ceiling Notice on file.
- Tenancy-eligibility check. If the tenant's initial rent for the current tenancy was first established between January 1 and December 31, 2025, the worksheet flags the unit as deferred — not eligible to receive the 2026 AGA until January 1, 2027 (BMC §13.76.110(B)(1) eligibility cutoff).
- Once-per-12-months next-eligible date. If you provide the effective date of the most recent prior increase, the worksheet computes the earliest date a NEXT increase may take effect. Catch-up to ceiling does NOT permit a second increase within twelve months.
- Cal. Civ. Code §827(b) notice window. The worksheet computes the earliest lawful effective date from the planned service date: 30 calendar days for any increase under 10% (which the 1.0% Berkeley AGA always is, even with multi-year ceiling catch-up under modest historical CPI conditions), 90 calendar days for 10%+. Adds 5 days if served by mail.
- BMC §13.76.150 wrongful-increase exposure. If your proposed new rent exceeds the lawful rent ceiling, the worksheet flags the excess in red and prints the Rent Board petition exposure: rent rollback, refund, ongoing overcharge findings, per-unit civil penalties, treble damages for willful violations (3x the unlawfully-collected portion), and attorney fees to the tenant. Berkeley's fee-shifting framework is more aggressive than SF's no-fee-shifting petition system.
- AB 1482 preemption note. For covered Berkeley units, the worksheet notes that the lower Berkeley AGA controls under AB 1482's stricter-local-rule clause (Cal. Civ. Code §1947.12(b)(1)(B)). For Costa-Hawkins exempt units, the worksheet pivots to AB 1482 framing.
- Versioned audit token. Every preview prints an audit token deterministic for the same inputs against the same rule version — proves which calendar year was elected and which rule was in effect when the rent was set, in the event of a tenant petition under §13.76.150.
Before you serve the notice
Five Berkeley-specific gotchas the worksheet won't catch.
- Service must be per Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §1013. Personal delivery is the gold standard. Post-and-mail (mailing first-class plus posting on the unit door if mailed) requires adding 5 calendar days to the §827(b) period. Substituted service requires good-faith efforts to deliver personally first. Email is not statutory service unless the tenant has affirmatively agreed in writing to electronic service.
- Initial-tenancy registration under §13.76.080. Within 15 days of any new tenancy, you must file the Rent Board's initial-tenancy registration form (units where this is missed are flagged as not in compliance and the AGA is denied for the calendar year). The annual rent-roll registration form is also required by the Rent Board's published deadline; missed annual registration is the most common AGA-denial reason. Registration also includes paying the annual unit fee (~$280 per unit per year, subject to Board adjustment).
- Capital-improvement and operating-and-maintenance hardship petitions are filed, not self-applied. If you incurred a major capital improvement on the building, you cannot self-add the amortized share to the tenant's rent — you must file an Individual Rent Adjustment (IRA) petition under BMC §13.76.110(F) and Rent Board Regulations 1257–1273. Self-help passthroughs above the AGA are unlawful and the tenant can petition for refund + treble damages.
- Annual security-deposit interest under §13.76.070. Berkeley requires a landlord to pay annual interest on the tenant's security deposit at a rate set yearly by the Rent Board (typically tied to short-term Treasury yields). The interest must be paid no later than December 31 of each year by direct payment, by check, or by reduction in the rent for January of the next year. Failure to pay deposit interest is one of the four AGA-denial conditions — this is the most-overlooked Berkeley compliance burden by out-of-state landlords. The worksheet flags but does not compute the deposit-interest rate; check the Rent Board's annual notice.
- Owner-move-in (OMI) and Ellis Act re-rental restrictions. If the unit was vacated under an OMI eviction (BMC §13.76.130(A)(8)) or an Ellis Act withdrawal (BMC §13.76.130(A)(13)), the Costa-Hawkins vacancy-reset to market is restricted: an Ellis-withdrawn unit re-rented within five years is subject to the prior tenant's last lawful rent (not market). Owner-move-in failures (owner doesn't move in within 3 months, or moves out within 36 months without a relative replacing) trigger civil penalties and rent rollback. The worksheet does not validate OMI or Ellis history; conservative practice is to confirm vacancy lineage with prior leases or Rent Board petition records before pricing the new tenancy at market.