City of Berkeley
The following is a brief overview of the tenant protections available in this city. For more details please refer to the ordinance itself and any other resourced linked below.
Overview
What tenant protections does the city have?
Rent Control
Just Cause for Evictions
Right to Organize
Who enforces the tenant protections?
Rent Board
Phone: TEL: (510) 981-7368; TDD: (510) 981-6903; FAX: (510) 809-3921
Email: [email protected]
Address: 2000 Center Street, Suite 400, Berkeley, CA 94704
When were these protections adopted and most recently updated?
Adopted: 1980
Updated: 2024
Rent Stabilization
Exemptions
Single-family homes whose tenants moved in on or after 1/1/1996, and Single-family homes with less than 5 rooms rented out individually with separate leases; Anything built after 6/30/1980; Units where the tenant shares a kitchen or bath with a landlord; Non-profit cooperatives; Tenancies started after November 7, 2018, on properties where one unit is an ADU and either unit is owner-occupied.
How much can rent be increased and how often?
65% of CPI
Is banking allowed?
No
Are passthroughs or additional costs allowed (pets, utilities, parking, etc)?
Landlord can submit Individual Rent Adjustment petition, justified by “historically low rent”, capital improvements, fair return, no vacancy since 1998.
Eviction Protections
Exemptions
-Rental units on a two-unit property where one unit was owner-occupied on December 31, 1979, and one unit is currently owner-occupied.
-Legal accessory dwelling units (ADUs) where the landlord also occupies a unit on the same property as his/her principal residence and where the tenancy began after November 7, 2018. This exemption only applies to properties that contain one single-family home and one ADU.
-Rental units where the tenant shares kitchen or bath facilities with an owner of record who holds at least a 50 percent interest and maintains his or her principal residence there.
-Rental units owned by a government agency (except the Berkeley Housing Authority); units rented primarily to transient guests for less than 14 consecutive days; non-profit cooperative housing owned and controlled by the residents; rental units in a hospital, skilled nursing facility, home for the aged, and the like; units rented by certain institutions of higher learning to its faculty, staff, or students. (See B.M.C. section 13.76.050 or contact the Rent Board for more detail about these exemptions.)
-Units rented by active fraternity or sorority members and owned by fraternities or sororities.
Under what circumstances is the landlord obligated to pay relocation assistance to tenant?
All no fault just causes.