Berkeley rent control, explained.

What BMC 13.76 is

BMC 13.76 is Berkeley's Rent Stabilization Ordinance, passed in 1980 by ballot measure. It caps how much a landlord can raise rent on a covered unit each year, and it requires just cause before a landlord can end a tenancy on one. The ordinance is administered by the Berkeley Rent Board, an elected body with its own staff and public unit lookup.

Coverage is not universal. Some Berkeley rental units sit inside the ordinance; some sit outside. The lookup above narrows down which side your unit is on based on construction date, unit type, and, for single-family and condo units, the date your tenancy began.

Which Berkeley units are covered

The primary test is the building's Certificate of Occupancy date. A multi-unit building with a Certificate of Occupancy issued before June 30, 1980 is generally fully covered. Fully covered means two things at once: the rent can only be raised each year by the Annual General Adjustment, and the landlord must have just cause to end the tenancy.

The 2026 AGA is 1.0 percent, effective January 1, 2026. That is the maximum annual rent increase for a fully covered unit this calendar year. Any increase requires at least 30 days' written notice.

Which units aren't

The two main carve-outs are new construction and the Costa-Hawkins exemptions. Under Berkeley's local rule (BMC 13.76.050), a unit is exempt if its Certificate of Occupancy was issued on or after June 30, 1980. That covers a large slice of the newer housing stock in Downtown Berkeley, on Shattuck, and along Telegraph. Remodels and additions don't reset that Certificate of Occupancy date; a 2015 gut renovation of a 1928 building keeps the 1928 date.

On top of that, the state Costa-Hawkins Act carves out single-family homes, condominiums that can be separately sold, and units with a Certificate of Occupancy issued after February 1, 1995. For single-family and condo units, the rent-ceiling exemption only applies to tenancies that began on or after January 1, 1996. Just-cause eviction protections often still apply even where the rent-ceiling exemption does.

University-owned housing and government-subsidized housing (Section 8, LIHTC, public housing) sit outside BMC 13.76 entirely and operate under their own rent-setting rules.

Vacancy decontrol and why your rent resets

Costa-Hawkins introduced vacancy decontrol statewide in 1996: when every original occupant of a unit vacates, the owner can set a new market rent for the incoming tenants. For students, the practical impact is that a new lease signed by a new roommate group typically starts at market, not at the previous tenants' ceiling. If you stay and only one roommate leaves, the rent ceiling for your unit is preserved. If everyone leaves and a new group moves in, the landlord can reset.

Security deposit rules: one month, mostly

Since July 2024, California Civil Code §1950.5 caps the security deposit at one month of rent for most landlords, furnished or unfurnished; the old two-and-three-month caps are repealed. The exception: a small landlord, a natural person owning no more than two rental properties and four total units, can ask up to two months. The cap is state law, so it applies whether or not the unit is covered by the rent stabilization ordinance. Under AB 414, landlords must also document the unit's condition with photos at move-in and move-out, which is worth asking for if you signed without seeing the place. Landlords who try to collect more than the cap are breaking state law.

Just-cause eviction protections

Under BMC 13.76.130, a landlord must have a specific, ordinance-listed cause to end a tenancy in a covered unit. Typical grounds are nonpayment of rent, material breach of the lease, nuisance, owner move-in (with restrictions), or substantial rehabilitation. A student on a fixed-term lease still gets just-cause protection at renewal for covered units. It's part of why Berkeley's student housing market is more stable than East Bay markets without local ordinance protection.

How to look up your specific unit

The Berkeley Rent Board publishes a public unit lookup at rentboard.berkeleyca.gov. Enter your address to see registered status, applicable rent ceiling, and eviction protection level. If the lookup returns unclear or conflicting information, the Rent Board staff can help. The office also holds petitions and hearings when there's a dispute about a specific rent increase or eviction notice.

What the Rent Board can do for you

The Rent Board publishes the AGA each fall, hears petitions from tenants and landlords, adjudicates registration disputes, and enforces the ordinance through administrative action. Tenants who believe their landlord is over-charging or attempting an eviction without just cause can file a petition. The Rent Board isn't a substitute for legal counsel in a serious dispute, but it's a working administrative body with actual remedies.

For Cal students specifically, our parents guide to off-campus housing covers what to ask about coverage before signing, and our furnished vs unfurnished comparison addresses the three-month deposit cap that applies to furnished units regardless of BMC 13.76 coverage.

Verified 2026-07-22. Ranges refresh quarterly.