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The Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance’s eviction protections keep Los Angeles tenants housed by limiting evictions to instances where the landlord has an enumerated just cause reason to terminate a tenancy.  Los Angeles landlords shall not take any action to terminate a tenancy, such as demanding a tenant vacate, threatening to evict a tenant, or filing an unlawful detainer when lacking a just cause reason to terminate the tenancy.  When terminating a tenancy, the landlord must inform the tenant, in writing, which just cause reason for eviction they are asserting.  A termination of tenancy that does not comply with the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance’s just cause for eviction protections is unlawful and void.

Is My Unit Covered Under the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance?

Most rental units built on or before October 1, 1978 within City of Los Angeles are covered under the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance’s just cause for eviction protections provisions.  Los Angeles Municipal Code § 151.02.  The Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance covers mobile homes, recreational vehicles in mobile home parks.  The Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance does not apply to:

What Are the Just Cause Reasons for Eviction Under the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance?

The Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance lists fifteen (15) just cause reasons to terminate a tenancy.  No landlord shall terminate a tenancy without asserting one of the follow just cause reasons for terminating a tenancy:
  1. The Los Angeles tenant fails to pay rent;
  2. The Los Angeles tenant violates a lease provision or tenancy obligation and fails to cure the violation after receiving written notice from the landlord, except for violations based on:
    1. The obligation to surrender possession upon proper notice;
    2. The obligation to limit occupancy, providing the additional occupant is either the first or second dependent child or the sole additional adult tenant; or,
    3. A change in the terms of the tenancy that is not the result of an express written agreement signed by both of the parties;
  3. The Los Angeles tenant is committing or permitting a nuisance in or is causing damage to, the rental unit or the common areas, or is creating an unreasonable interference with the comfort, safety, or enjoyment of any of the other residents of the property, or within a 1,000 foot radius of the property;
  4. The Los Angeles tenant is using the unit or common area for an illegal purpose;
  5. The Los Angeles tenant, with a written lease agreement, refuses, after the landlord’s written request or demand, to execute a written extension or renewal for a further term of like duration with similar provisions and in such terms as are not inconsistent with or violate any provision of this chapter or any other provision of law;
  6. The Los Angeles tenant has refused the landlord reasonable access to the unit to make repairs or improvements, or for the purpose of inspection as permitted or required by the lease or by law, or for the purpose of showing the rental unit to any prospective purchaser or mortgagee;
  7. The person in possession of the rental unit at the end of a lease term is a subtenant not approved by the landlord;
  8. The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the rental unit for use and occupancy as a primary residence by themselves, their spouse, grandchildren, children, parents, or grandparents, or a resident manager;
  9. After complying with all requirements, the landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the rental unit to undertake primary renovation work in the unit or building, and the tenant is unreasonably interfering with the landlord’s ability to implement the requirements of the plan by:
    1. Note: As of August 2025, substantial remodel is no longer a valid just cause reason to terminate a tenancy in the City of Los Angeles.  Instead, Los Angeles tenants have the option to enter into voluntary permanent or temporary relocation agreements when the property owner wants to perform a substantial remodel.
     
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