Westside Rent Increase Caps for 2026–27: Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and LA — Building by Building

We’ve already covered how California’s rent-increase system works statewide — AB 1482, the LA RSO overhaul, notice rules — in our guide to how often landlords can raise rent in California. But that guide ends where westside ownership actually gets complicated: Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Culver City each run their own rent control, with their own numbers, on their own calendars. The same owner can hold an eight-unit building in West LA capped at 3%, a 2008-built property in Brentwood allowed 8.7%, and a Santa Monica triplex limited to 2.6% — with a $70 dollar cap on top. This companion guide gives you every westside number for 2026–27, which rulebook applies to your building, and where owners actually make their money in a capped market.

The 2026 Numbers at a Glance

Where your building is	2026 max increase	The fine print
City of LA — RSO (pre-Oct 1978 multifamily)	3% per 12 months	Holds through Jun 30, 2027 — the new 90%-of-CPI formula (1% floor, 4% ceiling) landed at 3%. Old utility and occupant add-ons are gone.
City of LA — non-RSO (certificate of occupancy 15+ years old)	8.7% (AB 1482)	5% + 3.7% regional CPI, effective Aug 1, 2026 – Jul 31, 2027. Max two increases per 12 months, combined under the cap.
Santa Monica (rent-controlled)	2.6%, max $70	General Adjustment effective Sep 1, 2026. The $70 ceiling applies at rents of $2,674 and above.
Beverly Hills (Chapter 6)	CPI-based, set annually	The city publishes its cap each year — confirm the current figure with the Rent Stabilization office before noticing.
Culver City (pre-Feb 1995 multifamily)	CPI-based, 2%–5% band	One increase per 12 months; registration with the city is a precondition to raising rent at all.

Two things to notice. First, the spread between rulebooks has never been wider — an owner with an AB 1482 building can capture nearly three times the increase available to an RSO owner this year. Second, every one of these numbers changed within the last eighteen months. If your rent schedule is still built on 2024 assumptions, you are either leaving money on the table or serving notices a tenant attorney would love to receive.

Which Rulebook Owns Your Building?

Work down this list in order — the first rule that matches is usually the one that governs:

1. City of LA multifamily with a certificate of occupancy before October 1, 1978? That’s RSO: 3%.
2. Santa Monica or Beverly Hills or Culver City? Their local boards control, each with its own cap, registration, and notice rules.
3. Everything else whose certificate of occupancy is more than 15 years old — that means pre-2011 buildings today, including corporate-owned condos? AB 1482: 8.7% this cycle. (The 15-year window rolls, so newer buildings age into coverage every year.)
4. Certificate of occupancy issued within the last 15 years? Exempt from the caps for now — but notice and habitability rules still apply, and the clock is running.

This is also where portfolios get into trouble: the rules attach to each building, not to the owner. A schedule that treats a Westwood RSO property and a Palms AB 1482 property the same is wrong for at least one of them.

The RSO Squeeze, in One Paragraph

The full story of the 2026 RSO overhaul is in our statewide guide — the short version for planning purposes: the cap is 3% through June 30, 2027, the formula is now 90% of CPI with a hard 4% ceiling, and the old 1% utility and 10% occupant add-ons are gone for good. If your pro formas still include those add-ons, they are overstating revenue. The buildings that stay profitable under the new formula are the ones that stop leaking money elsewhere: vacancies that sit, maintenance markups, and missed increase cycles — an RSO increase you skip is compounding income you never get back.

The Mistakes That Freeze Rents for a Year

Every one of these caps comes with procedure attached, and procedure is where owners lose real money:

• The bad notice: A defective notice — wrong percentage, wrong service method, missing required language — can void the increase entirely and freeze rents until it’s cured and re-noticed.
• The registration gap: In Santa Monica and Culver City, an unregistered unit generally cannot take an increase at all. Registration isn’t paperwork; it’s the key that unlocks the cap you’re entitled to.
• The stacked increase: AB 1482 allows two increases per 12 months, but they must stay under the combined cap — stacking a “catch-up” increase on top is how owners end up refunding rent.
• The deferred repair: Outstanding habitability complaints can block otherwise lawful increases in rent-controlled jurisdictions. Fix first, notice second.

A tenant attorney’s favorite client is an owner who self-manages a rent-controlled building with a form notice downloaded from the internet. The math is brutal: the difference between a perfect and a sloppy increase program on a 10-unit building might be a few hundred dollars a month — but one voided notice, or one improperly handled termination that triggers relocation payments, can erase years of it.

Where Westside Owners Actually Make Money in 2026

Capped increases are the defense. The offense is turnover pricing: under state law, when a tenant voluntarily vacates, you may reset the rent to market for the next tenancy — in every jurisdiction above. On the westside, where long-term rents often sit far below market, a single well-handled turnover can be worth more than a decade of maximum annual increases. That changes what good management means: fast, high-quality turns; pricing set from real comparable data rather than habit; and scrupulously lawful handling of the vacancy itself, because a turnover that a tenant can characterize as forced is the most expensive mistake in this business.

The rest of the 2026 playbook is discipline: take every lawful increase on schedule (skipped cycles never come back), keep registrations current, and document rent histories so every future increase — and every future sale — stands on clean records. Buyers and lenders increasingly price westside buildings on the quality of their rent rolls and compliance files, not just the income.

How Lotus West Properties Handles This for Owners

We manage 1,100+ units across 100+ westside buildings, most of them under one of these five rulebooks, and we have been doing it for over 20 years. Every increase we serve is calculated to the current cap for that specific building, on the correct form, served the correct way, on schedule — and our service commitments to owners, including rent in your account by the 15th and 24-hour response, are backed by 15 written guarantees. Rent-controlled multifamily is not a sideline for us; it is the core of what we do from Santa Monica to Beverly Hills.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Santa Monica’s $70 cap actually work?

The 2.6% General Adjustment applies in full below $2,674 of maximum allowable rent; at $2,674 and above, the increase is capped at a flat $70. On a $3,500 Santa Monica unit, that means 2%, not 2.6% — budget with the dollar figure, not the percentage.

My building is under LA RSO. Can I still reset to market when a tenant leaves?

Yes — state law preserves vacancy decontrol. When a tenant voluntarily vacates, the next tenancy can start at market rent, after which the RSO cap governs again.

Do these caps apply to my single-family rental or condo?

Individually owned single-family homes and condos are generally exempt from AB 1482 with proper notice — but corporate or REIT ownership removes the exemption. Local rules can differ, so check before noticing. (Our management practice focuses on multifamily buildings.)

What happens if I served an increase above the cap by mistake?

Stop collecting the overage and correct it promptly — under AB 1482 and the local ordinances, tenants can recover overcharges, and willful violations carry penalties. This is one to fix fast, not ride out.

This guide is general information, not legal advice — caps and procedures change annually and individual buildings vary. Verify the current figure for your jurisdiction before serving any notice, or have us do it for you.

Not sure which rulebook governs your building — or whether you’re leaving lawful increases on the table? Get a free property evaluation with a building-specific rent analysis or call (323) 487-2650. No obligation, response within one business day.