Los Gatos rent control 2026 No local RSO. AB 1482 applies: 2026 cap ≈ 8% (5% + ~3% San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA CPI, below 10% ceiling).

Los Gatos's 2026 cap: AB 1482 with San Jose MSA CPI

Under California Civil Code §1947.12(a)(1), the maximum annual rent increase for a covered Los Gatos residential rental unit is the lesser of:

1. 5.0% plus the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area for the 12-month period ending on April 1 of the year prior to the increase (or the most recently published 12-month period ending before the effective date of the increase); OR
2. 10.0% absolute ceiling.

Los Gatos is in Santa Clara County, which is part of the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA. The applicable AB 1482 CPI is the San Jose MSA CPI — NOT the Los Angeles MSA, San Francisco MSA, or any other region. For 2026, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA CPI is running approximately 3.0%. Calculation: 5% + 3% = 8%, well below the 10% ceiling. Los Gatos’s 2026 AB 1482 rent-cap is approximately 8%.

The Santa Clara County overlay comparison for 2026:

• Los Gatos (AB 1482 only) — ~8% for 2026 (5% + 3% San Jose MSA CPI). This page.
• Saratoga (AB 1482 only) — ~8% for 2026. No local RSO. Same San Jose MSA CPI.
• Campbell (AB 1482 only) — ~8% for 2026. No local RSO. Same San Jose MSA CPI.
• San Jose ARO §17.23 — ~1.5% for 2026 (lesser of 5% or 100% × SF-Oakland-Hayward CPI, capped at 5%). September 7, 1979 first-CoC cutoff. Covers 3+ unit buildings.
• Mountain View CSFRA Charter Article XVII (Measure V 2016) — ~1.7% for 2026 (100% × SF-Oakland-Hayward CPI capped at 5%). February 1, 1995 first-CoC cutoff (Costa-Hawkins-anchored).
• East Palo Alto Chapter 14 Measure J (2010) — ~1.4% for 2026 (80% × SF CPI capped at 10%). January 1, 1988 first-CoC cutoff. San Mateo County (not Santa Clara), but relevant for comparison.
• AB 1482 statewide (San Jose MSA) — ~8% for 2026 (5% + 3% San Jose CPI, below 10% ceiling). Applies to all covered units in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, and other unincorporated Santa Clara County areas without a local overlay.

The key structural difference: California’s local rent-control overlays (Mountain View at 100% × CPI, San Jose at lesser-of-5%-or-100%-CPI, East Palo Alto at 80% × CPI) all apply a fraction of CPI with no additive, producing 2026 caps of 1.4–1.7%. AB 1482 adds a 5% additive to CPI, producing an ~8% floor for 2026 even in the same low-CPI environment. This 5% additive is the legislative compromise in AB 1482 that allows substantial rent increases while preventing extreme rent-gouging — but it results in a far higher baseline than any of the local CPI-fraction overlays.

The San Jose MSA CPI region: why it matters

AB 1482 applies a property-specific CPI region: the MSA in which the residential real property is located (Cal. Civ. Code §1947.12(a)(1)). For Los Gatos (Santa Clara County), the correct region is the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

A Los Gatos landlord who erroneously uses the San Francisco Bay Area Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) or the Los Angeles MSA CPI — instead of the specific San Jose MSA — may compute an incorrect cap. The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) publishes the applicable CPI percentage for each region annually; the specific figure for the San Jose MSA should be used for all AB 1482 calculations for properties in Santa Clara County.

For reference, the CPI regions used across the California AB 1482 catalogue:

• San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA — applies to: Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, Monte Sereno, Cupertino, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and unincorporated Santa Clara County (excluding cities with local overlays). ~3% for 2026.
• San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward MSA — applies to: unincorporated Bay Area counties without local overlays (Marin County, Contra Costa County jurisdictions, etc.). Also the CPI series anchoring Berkeley, Oakland, Mountain View CSFRA, and Richmond’s local overlay formulas. ~1.7% for 2026 (local-overlay applications) vs. ~3% + 5% for AB 1482 applications.
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA — applies to: Glendale, Burbank, and other LA County cities without local overlays. ~3% for 2026.
• All regions: same ~8% AB 1482 cap for 2026 because all three major California MSAs are running near 3% CPI in 2026. In a year where MSAs diverge (e.g., Bay Area CPI 5%, LA CPI 2%), the Los Gatos cap and the Glendale cap would differ (10% vs 7%).

Why Los Gatos has no local rent control

The Town of Los Gatos (population ~35,000) is a small affluent incorporated municipality in the Santa Clara Valley foothills. Los Gatos Town Council has not enacted a local RSO. Several structural factors explain the absence:

• Housing stock composition: Los Gatos’s rental stock is weighted toward single-family homes, townhomes, and smaller apartment buildings rather than large pre-1995 multi-family complexes. The population of households that would benefit from a local RSO with a Costa-Hawkins first-CoC cutoff is smaller in Los Gatos than in Mountain View or San Jose. Many Los Gatos rentals are SFRs that would be exempted from a local overlay by Costa-Hawkins in any case.
• Costa-Hawkins constraint: Any local Los Gatos RSO would be limited by Costa-Hawkins (§1954.52(a)(1)) to buildings with first CoC before February 1, 1995 (or an earlier cutoff chosen by the ordinance). Buildings newer than 1995 — a significant portion of Los Gatos’s apartment stock — cannot be reached by a local overlay.
• Proximity to Mountain View and San Jose RSOs: With Mountain View CSFRA (effective 2017) and San Jose ARO (in force since 1979) already covering the nearby higher-density multi-family rental corridors, the political urgency for a Los Gatos-specific RSO has been lower than in cities with large numbers of covered units and no adjacent municipal protections.
• Post-AB-1482 landscape: AB 1482’s passage in 2019 provided a statewide baseline that reduced advocacy pressure for a local Los Gatos ordinance in the same way it did for Glendale, Burbank, and other LA County cities.

The practical consequence: a tenant in a 1985 three-unit apartment building in Los Gatos faces an AB 1482 cap of ~8% for 2026, while a tenant in an identical building one mile north in Mountain View faces a Mountain View CSFRA cap of ~1.7% — a difference of 6.3 percentage points on the same building type, same rent level, same market. The cross-boundary disparity is among the sharpest in California for any two adjacent jurisdictions.

Which Los Gatos units does AB 1482 cover?

AB 1482 covers Los Gatos residential rental units unless excluded under Cal. Civ. Code §1947.12(d):

• Newly constructed units (15-year rolling exemption). Buildings with certificates of occupancy issued within the last 15 years are exempt. For 2026, buildings completed in or after approximately 2011 are exempt. The window shifts each year: buildings from 2012 become AB-1482-covered in 2027.
• Single-family homes and condominiums with a valid HHBO notice. A detached SFR or condominium where the landlord provided the AB 1482 Homeowner Exemption Notice (§1947.12(d)(5)(B)) at or before the commencement of tenancy (or before January 1, 2020 for pre-existing tenancies) is exempt from the rent-cap framework. An SFR or condo landlord who FAILED to timely serve the notice is NOT exempt from the rent-cap.
• Owner-occupied duplexes where the landlord occupies one unit as primary residence.
• Government-subsidized affordable housing (LIHTC, Section 8 PBV, BMR, RAD, Section 202/811) with a recorded affordability agreement.
• Dormitories operated by accredited educational institutions (including colleges and universities near the Los Gatos foothills).
• Hotels, motels, and short-term accommodations under 30 days.

A Los Gatos landlord with a pre-2011 multi-unit apartment building where tenants have been in place for 12+ months is fully covered by AB 1482’s ~8% rent-cap AND §1946.2 just-cause eviction. A landlord with a single-family home who properly served the HHBO notice at lease signing is exempt from the rent-cap but still subject to just-cause eviction if the tenancy exceeds 12 months.

Notice requirements for Los Gatos rent increases

California Civil Code §827(b) governs form and timing for all Los Gatos residential rent-increase notices. Key rules:

• 30-day rule under §827(b)(2)(A) — increases of less than 10% take effect 30 calendar days after service. Los Gatos’s ~8% AB 1482 cap is under the 10% threshold, so all standard Los Gatos rent-increase notices qualify for the 30-day rule.
• 90-day rule under §827(b)(3) — increases of 10% or more require 90 calendar days. Unreachable under AB 1482’s ceiling. Only applicable in Los Gatos for mutual-agreement rent adjustments that exceed 10%.
• §1013 mailing-add — 5 additional days when notice is served by U.S. Mail. Effective period: 35 days for standard Los Gatos notices.
• AB 1482 §1947.13 tenant-rights disclosure — required at commencement of tenancy and when serving any rent increase notice for covered units.
• No Los Gatos city-level notice requirements — unlike Mountain View (CSFRA registration + notice citation), San Jose (ARO registration + notice citation), or East Palo Alto (Chapter 14 registration), Los Gatos has no municipal registration program and no city-level notice citation requirement. Only the statewide §827(b) and §1947.13 rules apply.
• 12-month frequency rule — AB 1482 limits landlords to two rent increases per 12-month period, with the combined amount not exceeding the AB 1482 cap.

Just-cause eviction in Los Gatos

AB 1482 §1946.2 imposes just-cause eviction requirements on covered Los Gatos residential rental units after 12 months of continuous occupancy. The Town of Los Gatos has no local just-cause eviction ordinance; §1946.2 is the only just-cause protection for Los Gatos tenants.

The structural gap compared to Mountain View and San Jose: Mountain View CSFRA §1709 provides universal just-cause coverage reaching ALL Mountain View rentals regardless of whether they are CSFRA rent-cap-covered. San Jose ARO Chapter 17.23 similarly extends just-cause protections broadly. Los Gatos tenants in units exempt from the AB 1482 rent-cap (newly constructed, SFRs with HHBO, etc.) may have limited or no just-cause eviction protection under AB 1482 if the tenancy has not crossed the 12-month threshold or if the unit falls into one of AB 1482’s just-cause exemptions.

The 11 AB 1482 just causes under §1946.2:

1. Non-payment of rent
2. Material breach of a lease term not cured after written notice
3. Maintaining a nuisance or causing substantial damage
4. Refusal to permit lawful access (Cal. Civ. Code §1954)
5. Unauthorized sub-letting in violation of the lease
6. Refusal to renew a written lease at expiration on substantially similar terms
7. Criminal activity on the premises
8. Owner or qualified family member intends to occupy as primary residence (90-day notice; one month relocation assistance for 12+ months’ tenancy)
9. Withdrawal of the unit from the rental market (relocation assistance required)
10. Substantial rehabilitation under permit requiring temporary vacancy
11. Demolition with permit

Owner-move-in evictions in Los Gatos under AB 1482 require good-faith intent to occupy as a primary residence for a minimum period. Relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent applies to tenancies of 12 months or more. Senior tenants (62+) and disabled tenants are not specifically protected by an enhanced just-cause standard under AB 1482 (unlike the heightened protections available under Mountain View CSFRA §1709 and many local RSOs). Ellis Act withdrawals follow Cal. Gov. Code §§7060–7060.7 and trigger §1954.535 re-rental restrictions.

Penalty for exceeding AB 1482 in Los Gatos

A rent collected above the lawful AB 1482 cap in Los Gatos is unlawful under Cal. Civ. Code §1947.12. Because Los Gatos has no local RSO and no local hearing officer, tenants must pursue remedies in Santa Clara County Superior Court rather than through an administrative petition process. The contrast with Mountain View is direct: a Mountain View tenant files a petition with the Mountain View CSFRA Rental Housing Committee (an administrative tribunal); a Los Gatos tenant with the identical complaint files a civil action in Superior Court.

AB 1482 remedies under §1947.12(h):

1. Reduction of rent to the lawful AB 1482 rate.
2. Refund of the unlawfully-collected amount with statutory interest at 10% per year under Cal. Civ. Code §3289(b).
3. Treble damages where willful — up to three times the unlawfully-collected rent under §1947.12(h)(3), not less than $250 per violation.
4. Attorney fees to prevailing tenants under §1947.12(i).

The three-year limitation under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §338 applies. Tenants may raise the AB 1482 overcharge as an affirmative defense to an unlawful-detainer action for non-payment under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §1161.

Los Gatos vs. Mountain View and San Jose: the cross-boundary gap

The most striking feature of Los Gatos’s rent-cap landscape is the cross-boundary gap with Mountain View CSFRA and San Jose ARO. A side-by-side comparison for 2026:

• Los Gatos (AB 1482) — ~8% cap for 2026. No local RSO. No local petition process. Just-cause via §1946.2 only. San Jose MSA CPI (~3%) + 5% additive. First CoC: no local cutoff; AB 1482 applies to units older than 15 years (pre-2011 for 2026).
• Mountain View CSFRA (Charter Article XVII) — ~1.7% cap for 2026 (100% × SF MSA CPI capped at 5%). February 1, 1995 first-CoC (Costa-Hawkins-anchored). Annual General Adjustment cycle September 1 – August 31. ~$169/year per-unit Rental Housing Fee (Charter §1714). Banking permitted with 10% per-notice ceiling (§1707(c)). Universal just-cause (§1709) reaching ALL Mountain View rentals. Rental Housing Committee administrative petition process for Upward Adjustment Petitions (§1710). Voter-approved Charter amendment (Measure V, 53.6% in favor, November 8, 2016).
• San Jose ARO (§17.23 SJMC) — ~1.5% cap for 2026 (lesser of 5% or 100% × SF MSA CPI). September 7, 1979 first-CoC cutoff. 3+ unit buildings. Banking permitted with 8.0% per-notice ceiling (§17.23.190(B)). ~$63/year per-unit registration (§17.23.180). San Jose Rent Stabilization Program administrative petition process. Tenant Protection Ordinance (TPO §17.23.1300) extends just-cause to all San Jose rentals.
• East Palo Alto Chapter 14 Measure J (2010) — ~1.4% cap for 2026 (80% × SF CPI capped at 10%). January 1, 1988 first-CoC. July 1 – June 30 AGA cycle. Limited banking with per-notice ceiling. East Palo Alto Rent Stabilization Program. Voter-amended 2010. Only San Mateo County rent-control overlay.

A landlord portfolio straddling Los Gatos and Mountain View faces a compliance bifurcation: Mountain View units require CSFRA registration (~$169/unit/year), annual AGA calculation (100% × SF CPI, capped 5%), banking-ceiling tracking (10% per-notice), and Rental Housing Committee registration; Los Gatos units require only AB 1482 §1947.12 compliance (no registration, no local petition program). The Mountain View compliance burden is meaningfully higher — but the Mountain View cap (1.7%) is meaningfully lower than Los Gatos (8%), representing a fundamental trade-off in the adjacent-jurisdiction landscape.

How RentCeiling handles Los Gatos AB 1482 compliance

The free California calculator routes Los Gatos units to the AB 1482 lesser-of formula using the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA CPI (not the LA MSA), with the 15-year rolling exemption check (is the building pre-2011 for 2026?), the SFR/condo HHBO-notice status check, the §1946.2 just-cause trigger check, and the 12-month increase-frequency rule. The California notice generator emits a §827(b)-compliant Los Gatos rent-increase notice with the AB 1482 §1947.13 disclosure attached and the §1013 mailing-add applied. The AB 1482 CPI regional calculator page explains the MSA-specific CPI system and provides the current San Jose MSA figure. The Mountain View CSFRA page walks the neighboring overlay covering units inside Mountain View city limits. The San Jose ARO page walks the neighboring overlay for San Jose units. The East Palo Alto Chapter 14 page walks the nearby San Mateo County overlay. The California rent increase 2026 overview places Los Gatos in the full multi-jurisdiction catalogue. Open rule-set at /rules/california.json.

Run the California 2026 cap calculator (free)

Common questions about Los Gatos rent control