LA County's Just Cause Ordinance, in plain English.

The JCO applies if all of the following are true:

• The building is in an unincorporated part of LA County (not inside any city’s borders).
• You’ve lived in the unit for at least 12 months.
• The unit is not otherwise exempt.

The most reliable check: look up your address using the LA County Department of Regional Planning’s online jurisdiction map, or call LA County’s Department of Consumer & Business Affairs (DCBA).

Common confusion points

• A mailing address that says "Los Angeles, CA" doesn’t mean you’re inside the City of LA. Many unincorporated areas use "Los Angeles" as the mailing city.
• "Unincorporated" and "rural" are different. Many densely-populated areas of LA County are unincorporated.
• If you’re in the City of LA, the LA RSO applies instead of the JCO.

The JCO itself doesn’t include a separate rent cap. Most JCO-covered units are also covered by California’s AB 1482, the statewide Tenant Protection Act. AB 1482 caps annual rent increases at 5 percent plus the local Consumer Price Index, with a 10 percent ceiling. For the LA area in 2026, that works out to about 8 percent.

• One increase per 12 months.
• Written notice required. 30 days for increases of 10% or less, 90 days for increases over 10%.
• Just cause to evict (the JCO’s main purpose).

The JCO’s just-cause grounds closely mirror AB 1482’s statewide grounds.

At-fault grounds

• Failure to pay rent.
• Material violation of the lease.
• Commission of nuisance or waste.
• Use of the unit for illegal purposes.
• Refusal to give access for permitted purposes.

No-fault grounds

• Owner or close-relative move-in (with strict rules).
• Withdrawal of the property from the rental market (Ellis Act).
• Compliance with a government order to vacate.
• Intent to demolish or substantially remodel.

A no-fault eviction under the JCO requires relocation assistance. The amount under AB 1482 is generally one month’s rent.

The most common JCO violations we see:

• A no-fault notice without relocation assistance information.
• A landlord trying to push out a long-term tenant without naming a just-cause ground.
• A landlord claiming "owner move-in" who never actually moves in.
• A landlord claiming "substantial remodel" for work that doesn’t actually require the unit to be vacant.
• Retaliation against a tenant who complained.

1. Save the evidence.
2. File a complaint with LA County DCBA.
3. Talk to a tenant attorney.