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Oakland Rent Adjustment Ordinance
Chapter 8.22 Reference
Plain-language reference for Oakland Municipal Code Chapter 8.22 — the Rent Adjustment Ordinance (Article I), the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance (Article II), and the Ellis Act Ordinance (Article III). Statutory citations, exemptions, and the carve-backs that matter in practice.
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What Is a Covered Unit?
OMC § 8.22.010
The definition of “covered unit” is the threshold question for all protections under Chapter 8.22. Coverage under the Rent Adjustment Ordinance (Article I), the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance (Article II), and the Ellis Act Ordinance (Article III) is analyzed separately — each article has its own exemptions.
General rule — most rental housing in Oakland is covered
A “covered unit” is any dwelling unit — including joint living and work quarters — located in Oakland and used or occupied in consideration of payment of rent, along with all housing services associated with it. The definition expressly includes vehicular residential facilities rented or offered for rent for living or dwelling purposes, whether rent is paid for the recreational vehicle and the lot, or for the lot alone.
A vehicular residential facility is defined in Oakland Planning Code § 17.10.700. Coverage attaches whether rent is paid for the vehicle and lot together, or for the lot alone — making clear the ordinance applies to RV park tenancies.
Exemptions from the Rent Adjustment Ordinance (Article I only)
The following exemptions apply to Article I only (rent control). The Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance (Article II) and the Ellis Act Ordinance (Article III) have different exemptions — a unit exempt from rent control may still be subject to just cause eviction protections.
§ 8.22.030(A)(1)
Government-controlled, regulated, or subsidized units
Dwelling units whose rents are controlled, regulated (other than by Chapter 8.22), or subsidized by any governmental unit, agency, or authority.
↩ Carve-back — exemption is not permanent:
Once the unit is no longer controlled, regulated, or subsidized by the governmental agency, the exemption ceases and the unit becomes a covered unit subject to Article I. The owner must file a notice with the Rent Adjustment Program within 30 days after the unit loses its governmental status (§ 8.22.030(C)).
§ 8.22.030(A)(2)
Hotels, motels, inns, rooming and boarding houses — less than 30 days continuous occupancy
Accommodations in motels, hotels, inns, tourist houses, rooming houses, and boarding houses where the same tenant has not occupied the accommodation for 30 or more continuous days.
Carve-back: Once the same tenant has occupied the accommodation for 30 or more continuous days, the exemption no longer applies and the unit becomes covered.
§ 8.22.030(A)(3)
Institutional housing
Housing accommodations in any hospital, convent, monastery, extended care facility, convalescent home, nonprofit home for the aged, or dormitory owned and operated by an educational institution.
§ 8.22.030(A)(4)
Nonprofit cooperatives
Dwelling units in a nonprofit cooperative owned, occupied, and controlled by a majority of the residents.
§ 8.22.030(A)(5)
New construction — certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 1983
Dwelling units that were newly constructed and received a certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 1983. To qualify, the unit must be entirely newly constructed or created from space that was formerly entirely nonresidential.
What does NOT qualify as “newly constructed”:
↩ Two express limits — these units are NOT exempt:
Vehicular residential facilities
The new construction exemption does not apply to a vehicular residential facility regardless of when it was constructed.
Units replacing withdrawn covered units (Ellis Act)
Newly constructed dwelling units that replace covered units withdrawn from the rental market under the Ellis Act Ordinance (OMC § 8.22.400 et seq.) are not exempt from rent control — even if they received a certificate of occupancy after January 1, 1983.
§ 8.22.030(A)(6)
Substantially rehabilitated buildings
Buildings that have been substantially rehabilitated and issued a certificate of exemption from the Rent Adjustment Program.
↩ Critical limitation — closed to new applications:
This exemption applies only to buildings where the rental property owner submitted an application for a certification of exemption to the Rent Adjustment Program prior to October 20, 2017, and which were issued a certificate of exemption. No new substantially rehabilitated building exemptions are available under this section.
§ 8.22.030(A)(7)
Units exempt under Costa-Hawkins (Cal. Civ. Code § 1954.52)
Dwelling units exempt pursuant to the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act — primarily single-family homes and condominiums that are separately alienable from any other dwelling unit. See the SF Rent Ordinance reference for a detailed breakdown of Costa-Hawkins exemptions and their exceptions, which apply similarly in Oakland.
Exemption procedures
§ 8.22.030(B)–(C)
§ 8.22.030(B)(1) — Certificate of exemption
A certificate of exemption is a determination by the Rent Adjustment Program that a unit qualifies for an exemption and is not a covered unit. For units exempt as new construction or by state law (Costa-Hawkins), an owner may obtain a certificate by claiming and proving an exemption in response to a tenant petition, or by petitioning the Program directly. Certificates may only be granted for units that are permanently exempt — new construction or Costa-Hawkins.
The burden of proving and producing evidence for the exemption is on the owner. A certificate of exemption is a final determination absent fraud, mistake, or a change in law or circumstances.
Timely submission of a previously granted certificate of exemption in response to a petition results in dismissal of the petition, absent proof of fraud or mistake. The burden of proving fraud, mistake, or change in circumstances is on the tenant.
§ 8.22.030(C) — Government-regulated units: notice requirement
The owner of a unit exempt under § 8.22.030(A)(1) because it is controlled, regulated, or subsidized by a governmental agency must file a notice with the Rent Adjustment Program within 30 days after the unit is no longer controlled, regulated, or subsidized. Once governmental status ends, the exemption ceases and the unit becomes a covered unit subject to Article I. The notice must be on a form prescribed by the Rent Adjustment Program.
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Rent Control
OMC Chapter 8.22, Article I — Rent Adjustment Ordinance
Oakland’s Rent Adjustment Ordinance limits how much, and how often, a landlord can raise the rent on a covered unit: generally units whose certificate of occupancy was issued before January 1, 1983, including owner-occupied duplexes and triplexes. Most single-family homes, condos, and government-subsidized units are not covered (see “What Is a Covered Unit?” above). The City’s Rent Adjustment Program (RAP) sets the yearly allowance and decides disputes.
For increases taking effect August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027, the allowable annual increase is 2.3%. Since 2022 the City has set it at 60% of the change in the regional Consumer Price Index, capped at 3%. Landlords can “bank” increases they skipped in past years, but a single increase cannot exceed three times the current figure (6.9% this year). Starting January 1, 2026, banked increases expire after five years instead of ten, and they are lost when the property is sold (with a narrow exception for inheritance). Anything above that, such as capital improvements, uninsured repairs, higher operating costs, or “fair return,” requires a RAP petition first. Even then, no increase may exceed the state cap in one year (8.8% for the same period) or 30% over five years, except a fair-return increase. (OMC § 8.22.070)
When a tenant moves out voluntarily or is evicted for cause, state law (Costa-Hawkins) generally lets the landlord set a new starting rent. That reset is not available in some cases, for example where the unit was cited for serious code violations at least 60 days before the vacancy and they were never fixed, or where special re-rental limits apply after an owner move-in or Ellis Act withdrawal. (OMC § 8.22.080; Civ. Code § 1954.53)
A tenant can challenge an unlawful increase by petitioning RAP within 180 days (extended from 90 days on December 24, 2024), and can petition for a rent reduction when housing services are cut or code violations go unrepaired. The ordinance also allows an aggrieved tenant to sue for damages or a court order. (OMC § 8.22.150)
A lawful increase requires:
- ·No more than one increase in any 12 months, and none in the first 12 months of the tenancy
- ·At least 30 days’ written notice, with the City’s RAP Notice attached (OMC § 8.22.060)
- ·No increase until at least six months after the tenant first received the RAP Notice
- ·The unit must be registered with RAP
- ·A current business tax certificate (required if the increase includes banked amounts; for a CPI-only increase, a payment plan for back business taxes also works)
- ·On a fixed-term lease, waiting until the lease ends unless the lease allows mid-term increases
Just Cause for Eviction
OMC Chapter 8.22, Article II — Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance
Oakland’s Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance, adopted by voters as Measure EE in 2002, means a landlord can end a tenancy only for one of the reasons the ordinance lists, and must state that reason in the notice (OMC § 8.22.360). Its coverage is much broader than rent control. Measure Y (effective December 21, 2018) added owner-occupied duplexes and triplexes, and Measure V (effective December 30, 2022) extended protection to units built after 1995 and to rented RVs and tiny homes on wheels. The main exceptions are ground-up new construction with a certificate of occupancy issued in the last 10 years, rooms where the owner lives in the unit and shares a kitchen or bathroom with the tenant, and certain hospital, treatment, and transitional-housing facilities (OMC § 8.22.350).
The end of a lease, a sale or foreclosure, a condo conversion, and a change in a unit’s Section 8 status are not just causes. Every termination notice must state the cause, must say that advice is available from RAP, and must be filed with RAP within 10 days of service.
If a landlord, or anyone acting for them, evicts or tries to evict without a valid just cause, the tenant can sue for a court order and for not less than three times actual damages. Emotional distress damages are tripled only if the landlord knowingly or recklessly violated the ordinance. A tenant who wins is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs (OMC § 8.22.370), and lease clauses that waive these rights are void (OMC § 8.22.380).
Owner move-in evictions carry extra conditions:
- ·The owner, or the owner’s spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, or grandparent, must intend in good faith to live there as a principal residence for at least 36 months
- ·The person must move in within three months and file certifications with RAP
- ·Tenants who have lived in the unit five years or more and are 60 or older, disabled, or catastrophically ill are generally protected from owner move-in eviction
- ·A no-fault eviction cannot take effect during the Oakland Unified School District school year if a school-age child or an educator lives in the unit and the tenant has been there at least 90 days
- ·No-fault notices must include a copy of the owner’s current business tax certificate
- ·The owner must pay relocation under OMC § 8.22.850
The listed just causes (OMC § 8.22.360(A)):
- ·Nonpayment of rent, where the amount owed is at least one month of HUD fair market rent for a comparable unit
- ·Continuing a substantial violation of a material lease term after a written notice to stop
- ·Willfully causing substantial damage and refusing to stop or repair it after written notice
- ·Continuing to disturb other tenants’ peace and quiet after written notice
- ·Using the unit for an illegal purpose
- ·Continuing to deny lawful access after written notice
- ·The owner returning to a unit that was their prior residence, when the written rental agreement reserves that right
- ·Owner or qualifying-relative move-in (conditions above)
- ·Substantial repairs needed for health and safety code compliance that cannot be done with the tenant in place: permits must be pulled before the notice, displacement is limited to three months unless the Rent Board extends it, and the tenant has the right to return at the same rent
- ·Withdrawal of the building from the rental market under the Ellis Act
- ·Refusing to sign a new lease is no longer a just cause (removed by Measure V)
Ellis Act
OMC Chapter 8.22, Article III — Ellis Act Ordinance (§ 8.22.400 et seq.)
The state Ellis Act lets an owner go out of the rental business; Oakland’s Ellis Act Ordinance sets the rules. An owner has to withdraw every unit in the building, or for buildings of three or fewer units, every rental unit on the parcel (OMC § 8.22.420). The owner files a notice of intent with RAP, records a notice with the County, and pays a per-unit fee, and the withdrawal generally takes effect 120 days after filing (OMC § 8.22.430). Tenants who are 62 or older, or disabled, and have lived in the unit at least a year can extend that to one year by notifying the owner in writing within 60 days (OMC § 8.22.440).
Tenants are entitled to relocation payments on the City’s schedule. For July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 that is $8,293.13 (studio or 1-bedroom), $10,206.93 (2-bedroom), or $12,599.18 (3 or more bedrooms), half when the termination notice is served and half when the tenant moves out. Households with a lower-income, elderly, or disabled tenant, or a minor child, get one additional $2,500 payment (OMC § 8.22.450).
The withdrawal restrictions stay with the property, including after a sale. A displaced tenant who wants a chance to return should notify the owner in writing within 30 days of moving out and keep the owner updated with a current address.
Re-rental rules after a withdrawal (OMC § 8.22.460; Gov. Code § 7060.2):
- ·Within 2 years: the owner is liable to displaced tenants for actual and punitive damages; the suit must be filed within three years of the withdrawal notice
- ·Within 5 years: the unit must be offered at no more than the prior lawful rent plus allowable annual increases
- ·Within 10 years: the owner must first offer the unit back to the displaced tenant, and failing to do so can bring punitive damages of up to six months’ rent
- ·Demolished and rebuilt within 5 years: the new units are subject to rent control even though they are new construction
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