AB 1482 CPI calculator regional California's statewide cap is region-specific. Four BLS CPI-U areas, plus a West Region fallback. 2026 ranges 8.6% — 8.8% across the four MSAs. Each CA county maps to one area.

The §1947.12(a)(1) formula, in one paragraph

Cal. Civ. Code §1947.12(a)(1) caps the annual rent increase on covered units at the lower of (a) 5% plus the percentage change in the regional CPI-U over the 12 months ending April of the publication year, or (b) 10%. The bill's 5% additive (sometimes called the "5% kicker") gives every California region a floor of at least 5% in years where regional CPI is flat — it is NOT a multiplicative cap like Berkeley's 65% × CPI or SF's 60% × CPI. The 10% ceiling is a hard statutory cap regardless of inflation — even in a 7% CPI year, AB 1482 caps at 10%, not 12%. For 2026 every California region produced CPI growth between 3.6% and 3.8%, well below the 5% level that would push the cap to its 10% ceiling.

The cap is published each July by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for the AB 1482 calendar year that runs from August 1 of the publication year to July 31 of the following year. For the 2026 cycle, HCD's July 2025 publication set the four MSA caps and the West Region fallback against April 2024 — April 2025 BLS CPI-U data. The 2027 cycle will be published in mid-July 2026 against April 2025 — April 2026 data.

The four California BLS MSAs and their counties

California's 58 counties map to one of four BLS CPI MSAs, with rural counties falling back to the West Region:

LA-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA

Counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura. Note that the LA MSA does NOT include the Inland Empire — Riverside and San Bernardino counties have their own MSA. Population: approximately 13.2 million. The LA MSA is the largest population catchment in California, and the LA MSA cap is the most-cited AB 1482 figure because Los Angeles's 4 million+ rental population is governed by it. 2026 cap: 8.8% (3.8% CPI growth + 5%, ceiling-capped at 10%; the actual 3.8% growth is below the ceiling so the cap is the formula output, not the ceiling).

Local-overlay jurisdictions inside the LA MSA: City of Los Angeles RSO (§151.06.D, 3.0% through Jun 30, 2026 / 2.8% after Jul 1, 2026), Beverly Hills, Santa Monica (Charter Article XVIII), West Hollywood. The LA MSA's AB 1482 cap of 8.8% governs the non-RSO inventory of LA County and all of Orange and Ventura counties.

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward MSA

Counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo. The Bay Area MSA does NOT include the South Bay — Santa Clara County tracks the SF MSA for AB 1482 purposes via the BLS bi-monthly publication, with HCD treating Santa Clara as following the SF MSA. Population: approximately 4.7 million. 2026 cap: 8.6% (3.6% CPI growth + 5%, below the 10% ceiling).

Local-overlay jurisdictions inside the SF MSA: City of San Francisco (§37.3, 1.6% RY 2026-27), Berkeley (BMC §13.76, 1.0% CY 2026), Oakland (OMC §8.22, CPI-indexed), East Palo Alto (rent-control charter amendment), Mountain View (CSFRA), Hayward, Alameda. The SF MSA's AB 1482 cap of 8.6% governs the non-overlay inventory of all five core Bay Area counties and Santa Clara.

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA

Counties: Riverside, San Bernardino. The Inland Empire's two-county MSA is one of the fastest-growing rental population centers in California. Population: approximately 4.6 million. 2026 cap: 8.8% (3.8% CPI growth + 5%). The Riverside MSA's AB 1482 cap is identical to the LA MSA's for 2026 — both produced the same 3.8% CPI reading — but the two MSAs are INDEPENDENT measurements and can diverge in future cycles.

The Inland Empire has FEW local-overlay rent-control jurisdictions: only the City of Glendale (Glendale Rent Control Ordinance, applies to limited inventory) operates a meaningful local cap. Most Inland Empire rental inventory is governed solely by AB 1482's 8.8% (2026) statewide cap. The 15-year rolling first-CoC exemption at §1947.12(d)(4)(A) sweeps a substantial portion of post-2010 inventory out of AB 1482 coverage, which is more visible in the Inland Empire's rapidly-built post-2008 stock than in LA's older inventory.

San Diego-Carlsbad MSA

Counties: San Diego (the only county in the MSA). Population: approximately 3.3 million. 2026 cap: 8.7% (3.7% CPI growth + 5%). San Diego County is the only county-MSA in California where the MSA boundaries match the county boundaries exactly — every San Diego County rental property uses the San Diego-Carlsbad CPI series.

Local-overlay jurisdictions inside the San Diego MSA: City of San Diego — the city has not adopted a rent-control ordinance, so AB 1482 alone governs the city's rental inventory. National City and Chula Vista have considered ordinances but not enacted. The San Diego MSA's AB 1482 cap of 8.7% governs nearly all rental inventory in the county.

West Region CPI-U-X fallback

California counties NOT assigned to a specific MSA fall back to the West Region CPI-U-X under HCD guidance. The West Region MSA covers AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY, and the rural balance of California. The fallback applies to: Central Valley counties (Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare); Sacramento area (Sacramento, Yolo, Placer, El Dorado); Central Coast (Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz); and the rural North (Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Shasta, Siskiyou, Trinity, and 18 other counties). 2026 cap: 8.7% (3.7% CPI growth + 5%).

The West Region fallback is published by BLS as a monthly release distinct from the four MSA-specific series. HCD coordinates the publication of the California-specific West Region cap in its July bulletin alongside the four MSA caps. The West Region covers approximately 25% of California's rental inventory by unit count — a substantial fraction of the AB 1482 catchment.

The 12-month cumulative rule under §1947.12(a)(1)

§1947.12(a)(1) caps the cumulative percentage increase over any 12-month period at the regional cap. The rule is NOT a per-notice cap — it tracks ALL rent changes over the rolling 12 months from the effective date of the new notice. The cumulative-trigger trap:

• Notice 1, served Sep 2025: rent goes from $2,500 to $2,575 — a 3% increase.
• Notice 2, served Jan 2026: rent goes from $2,575 to $2,678 — another 4% increase. Cumulative trailing-12-month: 7%. Within the 8.8% cap.
• Notice 3, served Jun 2026: rent goes from $2,678 to $2,785 — another 4% increase. Cumulative trailing-12-month: 11%. EXCEEDS the 8.8% cap.

Notice 3 is voided to the extent of the overage by §1947.12(h)(2). The lawful third increase would be to $2,693 — a 0.6% boost that brings the trailing 12-month total to exactly 8.8%. A landlord who serves the over-cap third notice loses the §1946.2 just-cause exemption for the lease term, owes the over-cap portion back to the tenant, and faces treble-damages exposure under §1947.12(h)(3) if the violation is willful.

The cumulative-trigger trap also interacts with the Cal. Civ. Code §827(b) 30-day vs 90-day flip-point at the 10% cumulative-12-month threshold (covered in detail at /seo/ab-1482-90-day-notice-rule/). A multi-notice pattern that crosses 10% cumulatively flips ALL subsequent notices into the 90-day regime until the cumulative falls back below 10% — which usually happens only after 12 months of zero increases.

Seven categorical exemptions under §1947.12(d)

Cal. Civ. Code §1947.12(d) exempts seven categories of units from the AB 1482 cap:

1. §1947.12(d)(4)(A) — 15-year rolling first-CoC. Housing built less than 15 years before the increase's effective date — a rolling exemption that picks up new buildings as they age into coverage. The 15-year anchor is measured from the building's first certificate of occupancy. A building with a Jan 2010 first CoC was exempt through Dec 2024 and became AB 1482 covered starting Jan 2025; a Jan 2012 building is exempt through Dec 2026. The 15-year exemption is structurally narrower than Costa-Hawkins's permanent post-Feb-1-1995 carve-out — Costa-Hawkins permanently exempts post-1995 buildings from local rent control, but AB 1482 reabsorbs them after 15 years.
2. §1947.12(d)(2) — Deed-restricted affordable. Housing under public-program regulatory agreements that already cap rents (LIHTC, project-based Section 8, HOME, BMR-deed-restricted inclusionary).
3. §1947.12(d)(3) — Hotels and transient lodging. Stays of less than 30 days are not residential tenancies under AB 1482.
4. §1947.12(d)(7) — Hospitals and dorms. Hospital and dormitory rooms operated by accredited educational institutions.
5. §1947.12(d)(5) — Non-corporate-owner SFR + tenant notice. Single-family homes or condos that are separately alienable from any other dwelling unit, where the owner is a NON-corporate non-LLC AND has served the verbatim §1947.12(d)(5)(B)(i) tenant notice ("This property is not subject to the rent limits..."). The AB 1482 SFR exemption is NARROWER than the Costa-Hawkins §1954.52(a)(3) SFR exemption — AB 1482 adds the corporate-LLC-owner test and the tenant-notice requirement (covered in detail at /seo/ab-1482-single-family-rental-exemption/).
6. §1947.12(d)(6) — Owner-occupied 2-unit-or-less. Units in owner-occupied buildings with two or fewer total dwelling units, including ADU configurations where the principal dwelling is owner-occupied.
7. §1947.12(d)(8) — Section 8 voucher units. Units subsidized under the Section 8 voucher program where the rent is set under a HAP contract — the HAP agreement caps the rent independently.

Where local-overlay caps reach

AB 1482 is the FLOOR for California units; local rent-control ordinances ride above it for the units they cover. The lower of the two caps controls a unit:

• Berkeley (BMC §13.76, 1.0% CY 2026) — pre-Feb-1-1995 multi-unit buildings (and certain older SFRs, subject to Costa-Hawkins). The 1.0% Berkeley cap is below AB 1482's 8.6% SF MSA cap, so Berkeley landlords serving notice on covered units use the 1.0%. Detail at /seo/berkeley-rent-increase-2026/.
• San Francisco (§37.3, 1.6% RY 2026-27) — pre-Jun-13-1979 multi-unit buildings, subject to Costa-Hawkins exemptions. The 1.6% SF cap is below AB 1482's 8.6% SF MSA cap, so SF landlords on covered units use 1.6%. SF banking detail at /seo/san-francisco-rent-banking/.
• Los Angeles RSO (§151.06.D, 3.0%/2.8% 2026) — pre-Oct-1-1978 multi-unit buildings, subject to Costa-Hawkins. The 3.0% (through Jun 30, 2026) and 2.8% (after Jul 1, 2026) LA RSO caps are below AB 1482's 8.8% LA MSA cap, so RSO landlords on covered units use the LA RSO figure. Detail at /seo/los-angeles-rso-rent-increase-2026/.
• Oakland (OMC §8.22, CPI-indexed) — pre-Jan-1-1983 multi-unit buildings, subject to Costa-Hawkins. Oakland's CPI Adjustment for 2026 is published by the Rent Adjustment Program in mid-July 2026; for the May 2025 — Apr 2026 window the figure is approximately 2.3%. The Oakland cap is well below AB 1482's 8.6% SF MSA cap.
• Santa Monica (Charter Article XVIII) — pre-Apr-10-1979 multi-unit buildings, subject to Costa-Hawkins. Santa Monica's MAR (Maximum Allowable Rent) percentage tracks 75% of CPI for the LA MSA. Below AB 1482's 8.8% LA MSA cap.

Where a unit is Costa-Hawkins exempt from the local ordinance but still AB 1482 covered, the AB 1482 regional cap (8.6% / 8.7% / 8.8%) applies. The Costa-Hawkins page at /seo/costa-hawkins-rental-housing-act/ walks the local-vs-statewide preemption analysis in detail.

Penalty cascade under §1947.12(h)

Cal. Civ. Code §1947.12(h) creates a four-prong penalty structure for AB 1482 violations:

1. §1947.12(h)(1) — Over-cap notice unenforceable. The over-cap portion of the notice is unenforceable. The tenant may refuse to pay the overage; the lawful rent (prior rent + cap) remains the operating rent.
2. §1947.12(h)(2) — 12-month cumulative voiding. Any portion of the notice exceeding the 12-month trailing cumulative cap is voided. The voiding is automatic — it does not require tenant action; the lawful rent simply does not include the over-cap portion.
3. §1947.12(h)(3) — Treble damages on willful violation. Where the violation was willful or fraudulent, the tenant can recover three times the unlawfully-collected portion plus reasonable attorney fees. The willfulness threshold is whether the landlord knew or reasonably should have known that the cap was being exceeded — serving an over-cap notice with knowledge of the regional CPI publication is per se willful.
4. §1947.12(h)(4) — Affirmative defense to UD. The over-cap notice is an affirmative defense to an unlawful-detainer action for non-payment, voiding the eviction predicate. A landlord who serves an over-cap notice and then sues for non-payment of the over-cap rent loses the eviction action and is barred from re-filing on the same notice.

Independently, Cal. Civ. Code §1946.2 makes a unit's loss of the just-cause-exemption hinge on AB 1482 cap compliance — a landlord who exceeds the cap loses §1946.2's just-cause regime for the lease term. The California Attorney General can bring parens-patriae enforcement actions under §1947.12(i). The cumulative penalty structure is one of the most-aggressive in the country, comparable to NYC's HSTPA 2019 6-year overcharge lookback and treble-damages regime.

How RentCeiling computes the regional cap for you

The free California calculator takes (county, current rent, last-increase date) and returns the AB 1482 regional cap (8.6% / 8.7% / 8.8% / 8.7% West Region) with the §1947.12(a)(1) citation, the 12-month cumulative-trailing check, and the §1947.12(d) exemption ladder. The CA notice generator consumes the same inputs and emits a printable §827(b) / §1947.12 notice with the regional cap, the 30/90-day flip-point math, and the §1013 mailing-add applied. The AB 1482 90-day notice rule page covers the cumulative-trigger flip-point in detail. The AB 1482 banking provision page covers (lack of) banking under §1947.12. The AB 1482 SFR exemption page covers the §1947.12(d)(5) tenant-notice path. The Costa-Hawkins explainer covers the local-vs-statewide preemption analysis. The four-California-rent-caps explainer places AB 1482 at the top of the California cap ladder. The /compare hub shows all four AB 1482 MSA caps alongside every covered local-overlay cap. Open rule-set at /rules/index.json.

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