A number of new housing laws are now in effect across Los Angeles, with others moving into active enforcement as 2026 gets underway. Rather than cataloging every bill that passed, what matters most is how these changes actually show up in day-to-day multifamily ownership and operations.

Some of these updates are incremental. Others materially change how risk, compliance, and downtime are handled. Taken together, current Los Angeles multifamily regulations reinforce an operating environment where documentation, response timelines, and reserves carry more weight than they did even a few years ago.

AB 628: Habitability Standards Now Extend to Appliances

As of January 1, California law requires every residential rental unit to include a working stove and refrigerator. Under AB 628, appliance failures are no longer treated as discretionary maintenance items. They are now explicitly tied to habitability.

Once written notice is provided, owners have 30 days to repair or replace a non-functioning stove or refrigerator. If that window is missed, habitability arguments can come into play, with predictable downstream effects on rent collection and enforcement. For much of Los Angeles’ older multifamily stock, appliance maintenance has quietly shifted from best practice to core compliance. Appliances now sit alongside heat and water as baseline requirements under Los Angeles multifamily regulations.

SB 610: Post-Disaster Responsibilities Are No Longer Ambiguous

SB 610 formalizes landlord obligations following natural disasters, including responsibility for addressing smoke, ash, debris, mold, asbestos, and related hazards. The law presumes that units impacted by disaster-related debris are not habitable.

During mandatory evacuations, rent and fees must be paused. If a unit cannot be occupied, tenants may terminate their lease without penalty and retain the right to return once repairs are complete.

In a market where rent growth is capped and operating margins are tighter, this clarification matters. Extended downtime now carries clearer legal and financial consequences, reinforcing the need for reserves and insurance coordination as part of ownership planning.

AB 414: Security Deposit Handling Has Become Evidence-Based

AB 414 did not dramatically change the concept of security deposits, but it materially changed how deductions are enforced. Tenants may now request electronic returns, deposits must be accounted for separately in multi-tenant situations, and deductions depend heavily on documentation.

Before-and-after photos are now required to support deductions. Without them, owners are exposed. What was once a judgment call has become an evidence-based process. Under current Los Angeles multifamily regulations, discretion has largely been removed from deposit accounting.

Rental Increases for RSO Properties has Changed

At the City level, the Los Angeles RSO rent increase framework has been permanently reset. While the current allowable increase remains 3%, a CPI-based formula becomes fully effective Feb 1, 2026.

Going forward, annual increases are capped at 90% of CPI, with a floor of 1% and a ceiling of 4%. Utility pass-throughs and dependent occupant increases have been eliminated. In practice, this structure often results in rent growth that trails real-world expense increases.

Statewide, AB 1482 remains in place through mid-2026. There is no broad expansion of eviction authority taking effect this year. That said, habitability standards tied to AB 628 continue to influence how certain nonpayment cases are evaluated.

SB 79: Transit Upzoning Is Law, but Implementation Remains Unclear

SB 79 allows significantly higher density near rail stations and major bus corridors, including areas currently zoned for single-family use. On paper, the entitlement shift is meaningful.

In practice, implementation remains unsettled. Los Angeles has already signaled resistance, and legal challenges are likely. For multifamily owners, this is less about underwriting immediate development upside and more about understanding how zoning rules may diverge from local planning over time.

This is a long-view issue, but one that sits squarely within the broader landscape of Los Angeles multifamily regulations.

AB 246: Another Procedural Extension in Eviction Timelines

AB 246 provides Social Security recipients with a defense in eviction proceedings if federal benefits are interrupted during a government shutdown. Rent remains owed, but tenants must be allowed time to repay or enter a repayment plan once benefits resume.

The scope is narrow, but the impact is procedural. Layered on top of right-to-counsel rules and already extended timelines, it further illustrates how nonpayment situations can take longer to resolve than they once did.

What These Los Angeles Multifamily Regulations Signal Going Forward

None of these changes operate in isolation. Together, they reinforce a regulatory environment where compliance, documentation, and operational discipline matter as much as rent growth assumptions.

For Los Angeles multifamily owners, 2026 is not about learning a new system. It is about adjusting to one that has already changed. As always, how these rules are enforced over time will matter more than the language on paper.