# RentCeiling

> RentCeiling is a deterministic legal-max rent calculator and statutorily-compliant tenant-notice generator for U.S. rent-controlled jurisdictions. Small landlords pick a jurisdiction, enter a unit's facts, and get back the lawful 12-month maximum increase, the formula and statute that produced it, and a downloadable PDF notice with the legally-required language. Every calc is timestamped and version-locked to the rule-set in effect — exportable as an audit log for tenant disputes.

The product is built around three jobs-to-be-done: (1) tell me the lawful cap for THIS unit; (2) generate a notice I can serve without a lawyer; (3) keep a receipt I can show a judge. We model statutes literally, cite the controlling section on every output, and refuse to produce a notice that would result in an overcharge.

The rule-set is open at /rules/{slug}.json — every cap, exemption, banking rule, and citation is plain JSON. If a jurisdiction's number is wrong, point at the line.

## Coverage (10 jurisdictions live)

- [California (AB 1482)](https://rentceiling.com/california): statewide cap is the lower of CPI + 5% or 10%; CY 2026 cap = 8.8%. Exempts buildings <15 years, SFR/condo when post-1996 tenancy, deed-restricted affordable, school dorms, owner-occupied SFR. Cal. Civ. Code §1947.12.
- [Los Angeles RSO](https://rentceiling.com/los-angeles): 4% statutory floor + 1% utility passthroughs (each gas/electric); CY 2026 cap = 4% no-passthrough / 6% with both. LAMC §151.06.
- [San Francisco](https://rentceiling.com/san-francisco): 60% × CPI-U for SF MSA; RY 2025-26 = 1.4%, RY 2026-27 = 1.6% (Mar 1 reset). Banking under §4.12 with 7%/yr + 10%/notice ceilings. Costa-Hawkins flip-side: SFR/condo/post-Jun-13-1979 multi-unit fall under AB 1482 instead. S.F. Admin. Code Ch. 37.
- [Berkeley](https://rentceiling.com/berkeley): 65% × CPI-U for SF-Oakland-Hayward MSA Jul-to-Jun reference; CY 2025 = 1.6%, CY 2026 = 1.0% (lowest cap in catalogue). AGA-denial gate at §13.76.110(B)(2) drops cap to 0% if registration / orders / habitability / deposit-interest non-compliant. Eligibility deferral for tenancy that began during the AGA's reference year. Rent-ceiling-accumulation banking with no per-year/per-notice ceilings. Costa-Hawkins distinguishers: Feb 1 1995 multi-unit cutoff; SFR/condo decontrol turns on whether tenancy began on or after Jan 1 1996. BMC Ch. 13.76.
- [Oregon (SB 611)](https://rentceiling.com/oregon): statewide cap is lower of 7% + CPI or 10%; CY 2026 cap = 9.5%. Banking allowed (12-month rule). New construction <15 years exempt. Subsidized housing exempt. ORS §90.323.
- [New York (NYC RSL)](https://rentceiling.com/new-york): RGB-set; 2025-2026 lease cycle: 2.75% on 1-year, 5.25% on 2-year. Coverage: pre-1974 6+ unit buildings + post-1974 421-a/J-51 program units. Banking forbidden. NYC Admin. Code §26-510.
- [Washington DC](https://rentceiling.com/dc): RAA = CPI + 2% (capped at 10%); RY 2025-2026 = 4.1% senior / 6.2% non-senior; RY 2026-2027 = 2.1% senior / 4.2% non-senior. Banking allowed (12-month rule). D.C. Code §42-3502.
- [Saint Paul MN](https://rentceiling.com/saint-paul): 3% standard / 8% capital-improvement-banked / 15% vacancy ceilings. Includes SFRs (only U.S. jurisdiction modeled here that does). Saint Paul Code Ch. 193A.
- [Montgomery County MD](https://rentceiling.com/montgomery-county): VRRA = lower of CPI-U for DC MSA + 3% or 6%; FY 2026 (Jul 2025 - Jun 2026) = 5.8%. Banking forbidden. Mont. Co. Code §29-53.
- [Washington State (RCW 59.18.355)](https://rentceiling.com/washington): statewide cap is lower of 7% + CPI or 10%; CY 2026 = 9.683% multi-unit, 5% manufactured-housing. Banking forbidden. New construction <12 years exempt. RCW §59.18.355.

## Free calculator and notice generator

- [Homepage calculator](https://rentceiling.com/): one-screen calc, no sign-up, no log. Returns lawful max, formula breakdown, statute citation.
- [Draft notice — California](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/ca/): 3-step form generates a Cal. Civ. Code §827(b) notice with delta-driven 30-or-90-day window.
- [Draft notice — San Francisco](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/san-francisco/): includes RY-reset auto-pick, banking-engaged math, Costa-Hawkins exempt-flip yellow path.
- [Draft notice — Berkeley](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/berkeley/): includes AGA-denial cure path, eligibility-deferral computation, rent-ceiling-accumulation banking.
- [Draft notice — Los Angeles](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/la-rso/): 4% base + 1% per utility passthrough.
- [Draft notice — Oregon](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/or/): 90-day notice + first-CoC exemption check.
- [Draft notice — New York](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/ny/): 1-year vs 2-year lease split.
- [Draft notice — Washington DC](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/dc/): senior vs non-senior split.
- [Draft notice — Saint Paul](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/saint-paul/): standard / cap-imp-banked / vacancy split.
- [Draft notice — Montgomery County](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/montgomery-county/): VRRA computation with DC-MSA CPI anchor.
- [Draft notice — Washington State](https://rentceiling.com/draft-notice/washington/): multi-unit vs manufactured-housing split.

## Reference

- [Compare all 10 jurisdictions](https://rentceiling.com/compare): single-page side-by-side of caps, banking rules, notice-period windows, statute citations, and overcharge remedies.
- [How it works](https://rentceiling.com/how-it-works): three-step product walkthrough, FAQ, and openness commitments.
- [Pricing](https://rentceiling.com/pricing): Free / $9 per notice / $19 per month Pro.
- [Blog](https://rentceiling.com/blog/): long-form deep-dives on jurisdiction-specific math.

## Open rule-set (machine-readable)

- [Rule-set index](https://rentceiling.com/rules/index.json): one entry per jurisdiction, with cap, statute citation, and last-refreshed date.
- [California rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/california.json)
- [Oregon rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/oregon.json)
- [New York rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/new-york.json)
- [Washington DC rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/dc.json)
- [Saint Paul rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/saint-paul.json)
- [Los Angeles RSO rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/los-angeles.json)
- [Montgomery County rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/montgomery-county.json)
- [Washington State rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/washington.json)
- [San Francisco rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/san-francisco.json)
- [Berkeley rule-set](https://rentceiling.com/rules/berkeley.json)

## Legal

- [Privacy](https://rentceiling.com/privacy): no third-party analytics, no ad pixels, no session replay; tenant data lives only in the landlord's own compliance log; nightly encrypted off-site backup at 30-day retention.
- [Terms](https://rentceiling.com/terms): explicit no-attorney-client-relationship + no-UPL disclaimer; $9 final-sale (defect refund) and $19/mo 14-day-refund-if-≤3-notices windows; California governing law + SF Federal forum + 60-day informal-resolution-first.

## What we are not

We are not legal advice. We are not a property-management system. We are not an e-sign service. We do not integrate with AppFolio, Buildium, Yardi, RealPage, Stessa, or Baselane (their products do not compute per-unit caps and we do not write back to them). We do not store tenant data on third-party SaaS. We do not use Vercel, Netlify, Supabase, or Cloudflare; the entire stack is one Hetzner VPS + Caddy + SQLite + a tiny Node service.