West Hollywood rent stabilization 2026 2026 General Adjustment = 0.75%, adopted by the Rent Stabilization Commission for rent increases effective Sept 1, 2026 through Aug 31, 2027 under WHMC §17.36.020. Lowest cap in the entire RentCeiling catalogue.

The 2026 cap, in one paragraph

West Hollywood's annual General Adjustment is set by the Rent Stabilization Commission under WHMC §17.36.020(b) using 75% of the percentage change in the BLS CPI-U for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA, all items, not seasonally adjusted, measured from June of the prior year to June of the publication year, capped at 4.0% under §17.36.020(c). For the 2026-27 cycle the June 2025 — June 2026 LA-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA CPI-U change of approximately 1.0% multiplied by 75% yields 0.75%. The Rent Stabilization Commission adopted the 2026 General Adjustment in mid-2025; it takes effect September 1, 2026 and applies through August 31, 2027.

Recent West Hollywood General Adjustment history: 2026 = 0.75% (this page); 2025 = 0.85%; 2024 = 4.0% (binding cap; underlying ~5.4%); 2023 = 4.0% (binding cap; underlying ~5.7%); 2022 = 4.0% (binding cap; underlying ~7.1%); 2021 = 0.6%; 2020 = 2.4%; 2019 = 2.6%. The 4.0% ceiling BOUND FOR THREE CONSECUTIVE YEARS during the 2022-2024 post-pandemic CPI surge, making the absolute ceiling the binding constraint for that window. The 4.0% ceiling is BOTH tighter (lower in absolute terms) than Santa Monica's 6.0% under Charter §1805(b) AND more frequently binding — Santa Monica's 6.0% bound only in 2022 (and was reduced to 3.0% by Board discretion in 2023 under Charter §1805(b)(2)). West Hollywood's binding 4.0% ceiling provides the most predictable maxima for multi-year landlord planning across the California overlay catalogue.

Who is covered, and who is exempt

West Hollywood's Chapter 17.36 reaches a narrow set of residential rentals. Coverage triggers under WHMC §17.32.020 require the building to be a residential rental property with TWO OR MORE units AND the building's first certificate of occupancy issued ON OR BEFORE July 1, 1979. The July 1, 1979 cutoff is the THIRD-EARLIEST in the California rent-control catalogue — slightly later than Santa Monica's April 10, 1979 cutoff under Charter §1801(c) and San Francisco's June 13, 1979 cutoff under SF Admin. Code §37.2(p), but earlier than Oakland's December 31, 1982 cutoff under OMC §8.22.030 and Berkeley's February 1, 1995 cutoff under BMC §13.76.020(C).

Even when Chapter 17.36's General Adjustment cap does NOT reach the unit, West Hollywood's just-cause-eviction protections under WHMC Chapter 17.52 reach EVERY West Hollywood rental except owner-occupied duplexes when the owner shares living space, government-subsidized units, hospital and dormitory accommodations, and short-term-stay accommodations — making just-cause eviction the broadest of West Hollywood's tenant protections.

Costa-Hawkins (Cal. Civ. Code §§1954.50-1954.535) EXEMPTS a unit from §17.36's General Adjustment cap (and shifts it to AB 1482's 8.8% LA-Long Beach-Anaheim cap) where:

• §1954.52(a)(1): the building's first CoC issued AFTER February 1, 1995 — but West Hollywood's underlying §17.32.020 already excludes post-July-1-1979 buildings, so this exemption is generally redundant with the underlying coverage rule.
• §1954.52(a)(2): the unit is a condominium that is separately alienable when sold to a bona fide purchaser. Active in West Hollywood for the small inventory of pre-July-1-1979 condos that have changed hands since adoption of Costa-Hawkins.
• §1954.52(a)(3): the unit is a single-family home AND the current tenancy commenced on or after January 1, 1996. This is the most active Costa-Hawkins exemption in West Hollywood because many pre-July-1-1979 SFRs have been re-tenanted post-1996 and now fall under AB 1482's 8.8% statewide cap instead of §17.36's 0.75% General Adjustment.

Owner-occupied buildings with three or fewer total units, government-subsidized units (Section 8 etc.), hospital and dormitory accommodations, transient lodging, post-July-1-1979 buildings, and substantially-rehabilitated units approved by the Rent Stabilization Commission are excluded from §17.36 rent stabilization entirely under WHMC §17.32.020(b).

Banking under §17.36.030(c): permitted with 8% per-notice ceiling

West Hollywood permits banking under WHMC §17.36.030(c). Unused General Adjustments may be carried forward by the landlord and applied to a future notice, subject to the §17.36.030(c) cumulative limit: a single notice may NOT exceed the lesser of (a) the sum of the current year's General Adjustment plus all prior banked General Adjustments, OR (b) 8.0% of the prior rent, whichever is lower. The 8.0% per-notice ceiling is the binding constraint for most multi-year banking scenarios in West Hollywood — at typical historical General Adjustment rates, banking 4-5 years of forgone increases accumulates to the 8% ceiling.

Worked example: a landlord who skipped 2024's 4.0%, 2025's 0.85%, and applied 2026's 0.75% all in a single notice would be at 5.6% cumulative — under the 8.0% ceiling, so the full stack is enforceable. A landlord who skipped 2022 (4.0%), 2023 (4.0%), 2024 (4.0%), 2025 (0.85%), and 2026 (0.75%) for a cumulative 13.6% would be capped at 8.0% in a single notice with the residual 5.6% available in subsequent years (but only by skipping additional General Adjustments and stacking them — so the residual is forfeited if the landlord then applies the 2027 General Adjustment when it publishes).

West Hollywood's 8% per-notice ceiling is structurally similar to SF Rent Board Rules §4.12(b)(2)'s 10% per-notice ceiling but tighter, and operates against a banking accumulation model that resembles SF's full §4.12 banking rather than Oakland's petition-gated §8.22.070(B). Compared across the full California overlay banking catalogue:

• SF Rent Board Rules §4.12 (full banking): skipped AGAs accumulate indefinitely with no balance cap; release pace 7%/year + 10%/notice ceilings. See SF Rent Banking deep-dive.
• Berkeley BMC §13.76.110(B) (rent-ceiling-accumulation): automatic ceiling rise each January 1, no balance cap, no expiration, no per-notice ceiling. See Berkeley page.
• West Hollywood §17.36.030(c) (banking with 8% per-notice ceiling): skipped General Adjustments may be carried forward subject to 8.0% per-notice ceiling — this page.
• Oakland OMC §8.22.070(B) (petition-gated): banking permitted with mandatory RAP petition before service of any over-CPI notice.
• Santa Monica Charter §1805(d) (no banking): skipped General Adjustments forfeited permanently.
• LA RSO §151.06.A (no banking): skipped CPI rates forfeited permanently. See LA RSO page.
• AB 1482 statewide (no banking): no banking statute. See AB 1482 banking page.

§827(b) notice + the §17.32.030 citation requirement

California Civil Code §827(b) governs all residential rent-increase notices in California — West Hollywood's §17.36 does not displace state notice rules. The notice must be in writing and must state the amount of the new rent, the effective date, and the unit address. Service must be per Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §1013 with a 5-day mailing-add presumption when served by U.S. Mail. See the AB 1482 90-day notice rule page and the 30 or 90 days notice blog for the full §827(b) walkthrough.

The 30-day / 90-day split tracks the notice percentage:

• §827(b)(2)(A) — 30 days: increases of less than 10% take effect 30 calendar days after service. The 2026 General Adjustment of 0.75% always falls in this window, and even with the §17.36.030(c) 8.0% cumulative-banking ceiling NO single notice ever crosses the 10% threshold — West Hollywood's notice timing is structurally locked at 30 days plus the §1013 5-day mailing presumption (35 days post-mailing).
• §827(b)(3) — 90 days: increases of 10% or more require 90 calendar days. In West Hollywood this is essentially only reachable through approved capital-improvement increases under §17.36.040 layered on top of the 8.0% banking ceiling, where the combined notice exceeds 10%. Approved fair-return petitions under §17.36.050 can also produce notice percentages above 10%.

Beyond §827(b), WHMC §17.32.030 requires every rent-increase notice to cite the Rent Stabilization Commission-published General Adjustment percentage AND the controlled-unit's currently-effective base rent, AND inform the tenant of the right to file a petition with the Rent Stabilization Commission. A rent-increase notice that omits any required citation or the petition-rights advisory is unenforceable through a Tenant Petition under §17.36.060 regardless of statutory compliance with §827(b). The citation requirement makes West Hollywood's notice content one of the most stringent in the California overlay catalogue, alongside Santa Monica's MAR-citation requirement under Charter §1809.

The §17.32.040 registration framework

West Hollywood's Rent Stabilization Commission is funded by an annual per-unit registration fee assessed against every controlled rental unit under WHMC §17.32.040. The current per-unit registration fee for FY 2026 is approximately $144 per controlled unit per year. The full fee is the landlord's obligation by default. WHMC §17.32.040(c) authorizes the landlord to PASS THROUGH up to 50% of the annual registration fee to the tenant — currently approximately $72 per year, or approximately $6/month — by serving a written pass-through notice that itemizes the fee. The pass-through is in addition to the §17.36.020 General Adjustment and does NOT count against the 0.75% 2026 General Adjustment cap.

Failing to pay the registration fee blocks subsequent General Adjustments under §17.32.040(d) until current and triggers per-unit civil penalties under §17.36.110. A registration that lapses during the notice period voids the increase on that unit — analogous to:

• Santa Monica Charter §1803: $234 per unit annual fee, registration-required before General Adjustment is enforceable.
• Oakland OMC §8.22.500: $112 per unit annual RAP Service Fee, registration current required for CPI Rent Adjustment.
• Berkeley BMC §13.76.080 + §13.76.110(B)(2)(a): ~$280 per unit annual fee, current registration required for AGA eligibility.
• LA RSO LAMC §161.352: Systematic Code Enforcement Program (SCEP) registration required as a precondition.

The registration-required model is the single most common procedural enforcement tool across California overlay rent-control jurisdictions — landlords who lose track of their registration status almost always serve unenforceable notices.

Just-cause eviction under WHMC Chapter 17.52

West Hollywood Municipal Code Chapter 17.52 establishes just-cause-for-eviction protections for every rental unit in the city. The §17.52 protections reach all West Hollywood rentals regardless of whether the unit is subject to §17.36 rent stabilization — meaning Costa-Hawkins-exempt SFRs, condos, and post-July-1-1979 buildings still cannot be evicted except for one of the eight enumerated just causes.

The eight West Hollywood just causes under §17.52.010 are:

1. Tenant fails to pay rent.
2. Tenant violates a material lease term not cured after written notice giving a reasonable opportunity to cure.
3. Tenant commits or permits a nuisance.
4. Tenant uses the unit for unlawful purpose.
5. Tenant refuses to permit lawful access.
6. Tenant refuses to extend or renew an expiring lease on substantially the same terms.
7. Owner seeks to recover possession in good faith for owner or close-relative occupancy under §17.52.090.
8. Owner seeks to permanently withdraw the unit from rental market under the Ellis Act (Cal. Gov. Code §§7060-7060.7).

A landlord who serves a defective rent-increase notice (over-cap, missing General Adjustment citation, missing petition-rights advisory, out of compliance with the 12-month frequency rule under §17.36.030(b)) loses the just-cause-eviction posture for that lease term: a subsequent unlawful detainer for non-payment of the over-cap portion fails because the over-cap demand is unlawful. See the AB 1482 just-cause page for the full defective-notice / just-cause-loss linkage analysis.

Owner-move-in evictions under §17.52.090 require: good-faith intent to occupy as primary residence for at least 24 months; relocation assistance under §17.52.100 (currently approximately $20,000 - $30,000 per displaced household depending on tenancy duration and tenant qualifications); written notice with statutory disclosures; and Rent Stabilization Commission filing within 10 days of the notice. Senior tenants (62+), disabled tenants, and tenants of 5+ years receive heightened protections.

Ellis Act withdrawals require notice to the Rent Stabilization Commission, notice to all tenants, 120-day minimum notice period (extended to one year for senior and disabled tenants), and trigger §1954.535 re-rental restrictions: if the landlord returns any unit in the building to the rental market within 5 years, the prior tenants have a right of first refusal at the prior MAR.

Penalty cascade under §17.36.110

A rent collected above the lawful General Adjustment is unlawful. The tenant may file a petition with the West Hollywood Rent Stabilization Commission under WHMC §17.36.060 within four years of the over-cap collection (matching Santa Monica Charter §1809's four-year limitation period and Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §337's general four-year breach-of-contract limit). The Rent Stabilization Commission's Hearing Officer can order a five-prong remedy:

1. Reduction of rent to lawful rate going forward. The over-cap collection stops with the next rent period; the tenant's lawful obligation is recalculated to the published General Adjustment.
2. Refund of unlawfully-collected portion with statutory interest at 10% under Cal. Civ. Code §3289(b). The Hearing Officer typically orders a credit against future rent until the unlawful portion is recouped.
3. Civil penalties up to $1,000 per violation per tenant under WHMC §17.36.110(a). Multiple violations across multiple notice cycles each trigger their own penalty.
4. Treble damages where willful or in bad faith. §17.36.110(b) authorizes treble damages — three times the unlawfully-collected portion. The willfulness standard mirrors AB 1482 §1947.12(h)(3) and SF Admin. Code §37.10B(c).
5. Attorney fees to prevailing tenants. §17.36.110(c) authorizes attorney fees, distinguishing West Hollywood from SF (which has no attorney-fee-shifting under §37.8 petitions).

Tenants may also raise the overcharge as an affirmative defense to an unlawful-detainer (eviction) action for non-payment under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §1161, voiding the eviction predicate. Willful violations may be referred to the West Hollywood City Attorney for misdemeanor prosecution under §17.36.110(d) — like Santa Monica Charter §1809(f), West Hollywood retains a criminal-enforcement option for repeat-violator landlords. In practice criminal referrals are reserved for landlords who continue collecting over-cap rents after a Hearing Officer order or who engage in systematic harassment of tenants under §17.52.030 anti-harassment provisions.

How RentCeiling enforces West Hollywood's 0.75% for you

The free California calculator takes (current rent, building first-CoC era, last-increase date, ordinance overlay) and routes West Hollywood units to the 0.75% 2026 General Adjustment with the WHMC §17.36.020(b) citation, the categorical and Costa-Hawkins exemption checks, the §17.36.030(c) 8% banking-ceiling computation, the registration-required check under §17.32.040, and the 12-month frequency verification under §17.36.030(b). The California notice generator consumes the same inputs and emits a printable §827(b)-compliant notice with the General Adjustment citation, the §1013 mailing-add applied, and the §17.32.030 petition-rights advisory included. The California rent increase 2026 page places West Hollywood's 0.75% in the seven-jurisdiction California catalogue (AB 1482 8.8%, LA RSO 3.0%/2.8%, SF 1.6%, Berkeley 1.0%, Oakland 1.7%, Santa Monica 0.8%, West Hollywood 0.75%). The Costa-Hawkins explainer walks the §1954.52(a) exemption framework that decides whether each West Hollywood unit falls under §17.36 or AB 1482. The four-California-rent-caps explainer places West Hollywood alongside SF, Berkeley, LA RSO, Oakland, Santa Monica, and AB 1482. Open rule-set at /rules/index.json.

Run the California 2026 cap calculator (free)

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