Sacramento tenant protection rules come in two layers: a city ordinance that caps rent increases on most apartments built before February 1, 1995, and California’s statewide Tenant Protection Act, which covers most other rentals. For the year that began July 1, 2026, the city’s maximum allowable increase on covered units is 8.6%, and owners must also register covered units each year and take part in the city’s rental inspection program.
That is the short answer. The details decide what an owner can actually charge, what notices are required, what fees come due, and what has changed for leases signed in 2026. This guide walks through each layer in the order an owner of a Sacramento apartment building usually runs into it.
Why Sacramento tenant protection rules exist
Sacramento is the state capital and the seat of Sacramento County, and it is a city where renting is close to the norm. The Census Bureau’s QuickFacts profile for the City of Sacramento estimates 536,449 residents as of July 1, 2025, up from 524,943 at the 2020 Census. Its 2020–2024 survey data put the owner-occupancy rate at 51.7%, which means close to half of the city’s roughly 200,000 households rent. The same profile reports a median gross rent of $1,779 and a median household income of $87,321.
When nearly half of voters rent, rent levels become a local political issue. The City Council adopted the Tenant Protection and Relief Act in 2019, now codified as Sacramento City Code chapter 5.156. It was scheduled to expire at the end of 2024. In November 2024 the council extended it, and the chapter now runs through December 31, 2029. Many older summaries online still show the 2024 end date, so owners who rely on those can come away thinking the ordinance has lapsed. It has not.
Which apartment buildings the city rent cap covers
The city ordinance is narrower than many owners expect, because it is keyed to the age of the building rather than the age of the tenancy. Under the exemption section of chapter 5.156, the following are outside the city cap:
- Units that received their certificate of occupancy after February 1, 1995
- Single-family homes, condominiums and stock cooperatives
- Units where the owner lives on the property, and units where a tenant shares a kitchen or bath with the owner
- Government-subsidized units whose rents are set under another program
- Transient and institutional housing, such as hotels, hospitals and dormitories
In practice, the units the ordinance targets are apartments and duplexes built before February 1995. Because so much of the city’s rental stock predates 1995, that is a meaningful share of Sacramento’s apartment buildings. A 1970s courtyard complex is almost certainly covered. A 2015 infill building downtown is not covered by the city cap, though it may still be covered by state law once it is old enough.
Exemptions are not automatic. The city expects owners to claim them, and an exemption must be renewed each year as part of the annual registration process described below.
The 2026 rent cap and how it is calculated
The formula in section 5.156.050 is 5% plus the annual change in the cost of living, with a hard ceiling of 10%. The council lowered the base from 6% to 5% in January 2020 so that the city formula would line up with the statewide cap.
The city publishes its number each year. According to the city’s 2026 maximum increase notice, the cap that took effect July 1, 2026 is 8.6%: the 5% base plus a 3.6% change in the California Consumer Price Index as reported by the state Department of Industrial Relations for April 2026.
A few working rules follow from the ordinance:
- The cap applies to every tenant in a covered unit, no matter how long the tenant has lived there. There is no exemption for tenancies under a year.
- An owner may raise rent on a covered unit only once in any 12-month period.
- Tenants cannot waive the limit in a lease, so a clause agreeing to a larger increase does not hold.
- The city can impose administrative penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.
To see what that means in dollars, take a pre-1995 two-bedroom renting for $1,800 a month. The most the owner could raise it in a single increase after July 1, 2026 is $154.80, to $1,954.80.
Petitioning for more than the cap
The ordinance includes a safety valve. An owner who believes the cap prevents a fair return on the property can file a petition with a hearing examiner under section 5.156.060. These petitions are built on the property’s actual income and expense records, so an owner considering one should expect to document operating costs, capital work and debt in detail.
Just cause after the first year
Rent is only half of chapter 5.156. Once a tenant has lived in a covered unit for more than 12 months, the owner needs a stated just cause to end the tenancy. At-fault causes include nonpayment and serious lease violations. No-fault causes include an owner or family member moving in and withdrawing the unit from the rental market. For those two no-fault reasons, the city requires at least 120 days’ written notice.
The city chapter itself does not contain a relocation-payment schedule. That does not mean relocation is never owed. Where a unit falls under the state just-cause statute instead, state law sets the payment, as covered in the next section. Owners planning a renovation or an owner move-in should confirm which set of rules governs the unit before serving any notice.
The state layer: California’s Tenant Protection Act
California’s Tenant Protection Act of 2019, often called AB 1482, picks up much of what the city ordinance leaves out. Its rent cap appears in Civil Code section 1947.12 and its just-cause rules in Civil Code section 1946.2.
The key differences from the city version:
- The state cap is the lower of 5% plus regional CPI or 10% over any 12 months, and an owner may take it in no more than two increments within that period.
- Instead of a fixed construction date, the state exempts housing that received its certificate of occupancy within the previous 15 years. That window rolls forward each year, so a building finished in 2011 enters state coverage in 2026.
- Single-family homes and condos can be exempt from the state rules only if the owner is not a REIT, a corporation, or an LLC with a corporate member, and only if the lease includes the specific notice language the statute requires.
- Both state sections are currently set to be repealed on January 1, 2030.
The state just-cause rule also applies after 12 months of occupancy. For no-fault terminations, the owner must pay relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent, within 15 calendar days of serving the notice, or waive the final month’s rent instead. SB 567, effective January 1, 2024, tightened the owner move-in cause: the owner or relative must move in within 90 days and live there for at least 12 consecutive months.
For a newer Sacramento building that is exempt from the city cap but older than 15 years, the state cap is the one that limits increases. For a building exempt from both, such as a 2018 complex, market rent applies for now, but the 15-year clock is already running.
Notices, deposits and move-in photos
Beyond the caps, several state rules shape everyday operations in any Sacramento apartment building, whether or not the unit is rent-capped.
Rent-increase notices
Civil Code section 827 requires 30 days’ written notice for a rent increase of 10% or less over a 12-month period, and 90 days’ notice for an increase above 10%. Because the city cap tops out at 10% and the 2026 figure is 8.6%, the 30-day notice usually applies to covered units. Uncapped newer buildings raising rent more sharply need the 90-day notice.
Security deposit limits
Since July 1, 2024, Civil Code section 1950.5 limits security deposits to one month’s rent, furnished or not. A narrow exception lets small landlords collect up to two months: the owner must be a natural person, or an LLC made up entirely of natural persons, owning no more than two residential properties with no more than four units in total. Anyone who owns a five-unit or larger building falls outside that exception. The small-landlord exception also does not apply to service members.
Photo documentation
AB 2801 added a photo requirement to the same section. Since April 1, 2025, owners must photograph a unit after the tenant moves out and before repairs, and again after repairs are done. For tenancies that began on or after July 1, 2025, owners must also photograph the unit at move-in. The itemized deposit statement and any refund are due within 21 days of move-out, and the photos belong in the same file. For an owner managing dozens of turns a year, this is a process change, not a formality.
Lease rules new in 2025 and 2026
Two newer state laws affect how leases are written and how eviction cases move.
Under AB 628, which amended Civil Code section 1941.1, a unit leased, amended or extended on or after January 1, 2026 must come with a working stove and refrigerator for it to count as habitable. A tenant may choose to supply their own refrigerator, but only through the specific lease language set out in the statute. If an appliance the owner supplied is recalled, the owner must repair or replace it within 30 days of notice. Owners of older Sacramento buildings that rented units unfurnished, without a refrigerator, need to budget for appliances or update their lease forms.
AB 2347, effective January 1, 2025, gives tenants 10 days, excluding weekends and judicial holidays, to respond to an unlawful detainer complaint, up from five. That adds time to an eviction case, which matters when projecting turnover and bad-debt timing.
California also treats a tenant’s source of income as a protected characteristic under Government Code section 12955. Housing Choice Vouchers and VASH vouchers count as income, so an owner cannot refuse an applicant because the rent would be paid partly through a voucher. In Sacramento, those vouchers are administered by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, which pays the subsidy portion directly to owners and accepts Requests for Tenancy Approval through its online portal.
Annual registration and the rental inspection program
Sacramento pairs its rent rules with two administrative programs, and each has its own fees and deadlines.
Tenant Protection Program registration
Owners of covered units must register them with the city every year. The fee is $20 per unit per year, and failing to register can bring a penalty starting at $500. For 2026, the city’s registration packets were dated March 11 and due within 30 days. Owners claiming an exemption, such as a post-1995 construction date, must renew that claim with each annual registration. The city’s Tenant Protection Program page for landlords posts the current forms and the yearly cap notice.
Rental Housing Inspection Program
Separately, City Code chapter 8.120 creates the Rental Housing Inspection Program, which covers residential rental units in the city regardless of the building’s age, with limited exemptions such as properties under five years old or those already inspected by another agency. Owners file a registration form for each property. The current schedule lists:
- A $25 program fee
- $180 for a unit inspection, and $180 for each additional unit inspected
- $295 for a reinspection, and $180 to reschedule
- An 8% code technology fee on top
The program rewards a clean first inspection. Properties that pass, or that correct violations before the 30-day reinspection, move to self-certification: the owner inspects each year and at each tenant turnover, and the city randomly audits about 10% of those properties. Properties that take longer than 30 days to complete repairs are scheduled for another city inspection the following year.
How Sacramento County’s rules differ
Addresses with a Sacramento mailing address are not always inside city limits. Large parts of the region, including unincorporated communities such as Arden-Arcade, Carmichael and Fair Oaks, are governed by the county rather than the city.
In unincorporated Sacramento County, there is no local rent cap or just-cause ordinance. The Board of Supervisors rejected a proposed tenant anti-harassment ordinance in September 2023, and state law fills the gap. The county does run its own rental housing inspection program, which charges $16 per unit per year, billed on the county utility bill, with random audits for self-certified owners.
Before applying any rule, an owner should confirm on the parcel record whether a building sits inside the City of Sacramento. A complex that is technically in the county follows the state cap, not the city’s 8.6%, and owes the county inspection fee rather than the city’s.
Putting the rules to work as an owner
For an owner of a five-plus-unit building in Sacramento, these rules translate into a short operating checklist:
- Pin down jurisdiction first: city or unincorporated county, then building age against both the February 1, 1995 city cutoff and the rolling 15-year state window.
- Put the city’s July 1 cap change on the calendar, and time increases so that no covered unit gets more than one in 12 months.
- Register covered units, renew exemptions and pay the $20-per-unit fee as soon as the spring packet arrives.
- Treat the first rental inspection as a chance to qualify for self-certification, which keeps future inspection fees and scheduling down.
- Update lease templates for the stove and refrigerator requirement, deposit limits and photo documentation.
- Before serving any no-fault notice, confirm which just-cause regime applies, the 120-day city notice period, and whether a one-month relocation payment is owed under state law.
These rules also shape value. A buyer underwriting a pre-1995 Sacramento building will model rent growth at or below the city cap and will look at registration history, inspection status and lease forms during due diligence. Owners weighing a sale with long-term residents in place can read our guide to selling a rental property with tenants in place, see how California compares with other states on the California market page, or visit our page on selling an apartment building in Sacramento for local context.
Sacramento’s rental rules reward owners who keep good records. The city cap is predictable, published each year and tied to inflation. The state rules fill in where the city ordinance stops. The registration and inspection programs carry modest per-unit fees that add up across a larger building. The ordinance now runs through 2029 and the state law through the start of 2030, so owners have a clear window to plan around, and the 15-year rolling exemption means more buildings enter state coverage every year.
