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Renting, credit & your rights
Straight answers for renters and landlords in Los Angeles. Everything here is free and open — no account needed.
How Much Can My Landlord Raise Rent in Los Angeles in 2026?
A plain-English 2026 guide to the three rent-increase rules in Los Angeles — LA City RSO, LA County RSTPO, and California's AB 1482 — with current caps, notice periods, and what to do about an illegal increase.
Read guide → Rent & increasesIs My Apartment Rent-Controlled in LA? A Decision Guide
A step-by-step guide to figure out whether your Los Angeles apartment falls under city RSO, county RSTPO, statewide AB 1482, or is exempt — and what each status means for your rent and evictions.
Read guide → Your buildingWho Owns My Building in Los Angeles? How to Read Your Building's Record
A step-by-step guide to finding your Los Angeles landlord behind LLCs and trusts, and reading your building's public record—code cases, complaints, eviction filings, and RSO status.
Read guide → Money & depositsSecurity Deposits in LA: The 1-Month Cap, 21-Day Return & Getting Yours Back
A plain-English guide to California and Los Angeles security deposit rules: the AB 12 one-month cap, the 21-day itemized return, lawful deductions, AB 2801 photos, RSO deposit interest, and the demand-letter path to your money.
Read guide → Getting approvedRenting an Apartment in LA With No SSN or an ITIN: Your Rights
A plain-language guide for immigrant renters in Los Angeles on leasing an apartment without a Social Security number, using an ITIN, AB 291 protections, and proving income without a credit score.
Read guide → Getting approvedRental Application Fees & Reusable Screening Reports in LA (2026)
California caps rental application screening fees under CC §1950.6, and AB 2493 plus reusable-report rules can help Los Angeles renters stop paying \$50+ per application.
Read guide → EvictionsI Got an Eviction Notice in LA — What Now?
A plain-English guide to eviction notices in Los Angeles: the notice types, what makes one valid, your real deadlines, and the free legal help you can call today.
Read guide → EvictionsJust-Cause Eviction in Los Angeles: Your Rights Explained
A plain-English guide to just-cause eviction protections for LA renters, covering the city's 6-month Just Cause Ordinance, AB 1482's statewide 12-month rule, at-fault vs. no-fault reasons, and relocation assistance.
Read guide → Getting approvedSection 8 & Housing Vouchers in Los Angeles: Your Source-of-Income Rights (2026)
In California, a Los Angeles landlord generally cannot refuse you just because you pay rent with a Section 8 voucher. Here is how SB 329 and SB 267 protect you, how to use bank-verified income when your credit is thin, the difference between HACLA and LACDA, and exactly what to do if you are denied.
Read guide → Your buildingRepairs & Habitability in LA: How to Make Your Landlord Fix Things
Your LA rental has to be safe and livable by law. Here's how the implied warranty of habitability, repair-and-deduct, LA City code complaints (311/LAHD), REAP, and retaliation protection work — and how to document and demand repairs the right way.
Read guide → EvictionsRelocation Assistance for LA Renters: Who Gets Paid, How Much, and When
If your landlord ends your tenancy through no fault of your own — an owner move-in, an Ellis Act withdrawal, a demolition, or a major renovation — you are usually owed a relocation payment. Here is how LA City, LA County, and cities like Glendale set those amounts, and how to claim what you are owed.
Read guide → EvictionsThe Ellis Act in Los Angeles: How a Landlord Can Withdraw All Units to Evict (and How to Spot a Fake)
The Ellis Act lets a California landlord go out of the rental business and evict every tenant in a building. Here's how notice periods, relocation payments, re-rental limits, and your right of first refusal work in Los Angeles, plus how to tell a real Ellis withdrawal from an illegal one.
Read guide → Renter helpWildfire Renters & Price Gouging in LA: Your Rights Under Penal Code §396
After the January 2025 LA fires, California's price gouging law caps rent increases at 10% during a declared emergency. Here's how those protections work, what renters can do after displacement, renters-insurance basics, and where to report gouging.
Read guide → Getting approvedRenting an ADU (Granny Flat / Back House) in Los Angeles: A Renter's Guide
Thinking of renting a granny flat or back house in LA? Learn what an ADU is, whether AB 1482 rent caps apply to your unit, how to handle unpermitted units and habitability problems, and the deposit, lease, and tenant-rights rules that protect you.
Read guide → Renter rightsYour Rights as a Los Angeles Renter (2026): The Overview Hub
A plain-English map of your rights as an LA renter in 2026 — rent control, deposits, fees, evictions, discrimination, and habitability — with links to the deep guides and official sources. Educational, not legal advice.
Read guide → Rent & increasesLA Rent Stabilization (RSO) Explained: Coverage, Increases, Evictions
A plain-English guide to the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance — which units it covers, how registration works, the capped rent increases you can be charged, and the just-cause and relocation rules that protect you when a landlord wants you out.
Read guide → Money & creditHow LA Renters Build Credit With Rent They Already Pay
California's AB 2747 gives Los Angeles renters the right to have on-time rent reported to the credit bureaus starting April 2025 — here's how it works, who's exempt, what it costs, and an honest look at whether it moves your FICO score.
Read guide → RepairsNo Heat or Hot Water in Your LA Apartment: Your Legal Rights
Working heat and hot water are legally required in every Los Angeles rental under California's warranty of habitability. Here's what the law demands, how to document and report the problem to LAHD, 311, or LA County DCBA, and the escalating tools—repair-and-deduct, rent withholding, the §1942.4 rent-collection bar, and LA's REAP escrow program—you can use to force a fix.
Read guide → Renter rightsTenant Harassment in LA: The Anti-Harassment Ordinance (TAHO)
A landlord who cuts your power, floods you with bogus notices, refuses repairs to push you out, or threatens to call immigration is breaking the law. Here is what counts as harassment in Los Angeles, the penalties, and exactly how to document it.
Read guide → Money & creditIllegal Rental Fees in LA and How to Get Them Back
A plain-English guide to what a Los Angeles landlord can and cannot legally charge you—application fees, deposits, \"move-in fees,\" broker fees, and junk fees—plus the exact steps to recover money that was taken illegally.
Read guide → Getting approvedRenting Without a Guarantor in LA: What Landlords Actually Accept
No co-signer? In Los Angeles you can still get approved. Here is how LA screening really works and the legal alternatives to a guarantor — bank-verified income, larger (but capped) deposits, co-signer services, and reusable reports.
Read guide → Getting approvedRenting in LA With No Credit History: How Approval Really Works
No credit score in Los Angeles? That is a thin-file problem, not a rejection. Here is how LA landlords actually approve renters, what to show instead of a score, your rights as an immigrant, ITIN, student, or voucher applicant, and how to dodge \"no credit check\" scams.
Read guide → Renter helpHow to Avoid Rental Scams in Los Angeles
Los Angeles renters are prime targets for phantom listings, cloned ads, and \"no credit check\" cons. Learn the common scams, the red flags that should stop you cold, and how to verify the real owner and the real listing before you pay a dollar.
Read guide → Money & creditBroker Fees and Move-In Costs in LA: What You Can Be Charged
A plain-English breakdown of what a Los Angeles landlord can legally charge you at move-in — deposit limits under AB 12, application fees, first and last month's rent, junk fees, and the truth about \"broker fees\" in California.
Read guide → Renter rightsSubletting in LA: Legal vs. Illegal Sublets and Your Rights
Sublet, assignment, or adding a roommate? Learn what makes a Los Angeles sublet legal, how rent control and unauthorized subletting affect you, your rights as a subtenant, and how to avoid sublet scams.
Read guide → Money & creditMove-in / move-out inspection in LA: AB 2801 photo rules and your deposit
California's AB 2801 photo mandate, the one-month deposit cap, the 21-day return clock, and the pre-move-out inspection are the tools that protect a Los Angeles renter's security deposit. Here is how each one works, what a landlord can and cannot deduct, and how to get a wrongfully withheld deposit back — plus the LA City interest overlay most renters never claim.
Read guide → EvictionsThe LA Eviction (Unlawful Detainer) Process for Landlords
A step-by-step, California-and-Los-Angeles-specific guide to evicting a tenant lawfully: just cause, the right notice, the unlawful detainer lawsuit, the sheriff lockout, and the self-help traps that can void the whole case.
Read guide → Renter helpThe LA Renter Toolkit: Every Official City, County and State Resource
A one-stop directory of the official Los Angeles tools every renter should bookmark — HACLA, LAHD, DCBA, the courts, legal aid, ZIMAS and the County Assessor — organized so you can find your jurisdiction, check your building, and get help fast.
Read guide → Renter helpLA Wildfire Renters Recovery Hub: Your Rights After the Fires
A practical guide for Los Angeles renters displaced by the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires: price-gouging limits, breaking a lease on a destroyed unit, getting your deposit back, insurance, and where to get free help.
Read guide → Renter rightsIllegal Lockouts in Los Angeles: Your Rights When a Landlord Tries to Force You Out
In California, only a sheriff acting on a court order can remove a tenant. If your Los Angeles landlord changes the locks, hauls out your belongings, or shuts off your water, gas, or electricity to push you out, that is an illegal \"self-help\" eviction under Civil Code section 789.3 — and you can recover damages. Here is what the law says, where to get emergency help, and the penalties a landlord faces.
Read guide → Getting approvedSource-of-Income Protection in Los Angeles: Why \"No Section 8\" Is Illegal
California's SB 329 and SB 267 make it illegal for Los Angeles landlords to reject vouchers or rental assistance, and they limit income screening to your share of the rent. Here is how the law works and how to prove income when your credit is thin.
Read guide → Money & creditRent Reporting Explained for LA Renters: AB 2747, Your Rights, and the Honest Limits
A plain-English guide for Los Angeles renters on how rent reporting builds credit, what California's AB 2747 requires landlords to offer, how to opt out, the fee cap, and the honest truth that not every credit score counts your rent.
Read guide → RepairsLandlord Won't Make Repairs in LA? Your Rights and How to Force a Fix
When your Los Angeles landlord ignores repair requests, California law gives you real leverage: the implied warranty of habitability, repair-and-deduct, free LAHD code complaints and REAP, and protection from retaliation. Here is how to use each one.
Read guide → Getting approved\"No Credit Check\" Apartments in LA: What It Really Means and How to Get Approved Without a Score
The phrase \"no credit check\" is often marketing, sometimes a scam, and occasionally a real flexibility. Here's how Los Angeles renters can get approved without a credit score using legal alternative evidence, plus the red flags that signal fraud.
Read guide → Getting approvedProof of Income for Renting in LA: What Counts and How to Prove You Can Pay
A practical guide to proving income when renting in Los Angeles: what documents landlords accept, how bank-verified income works, proof for self-employed and gig workers, and the SB 267 alternative-evidence rule that protects voucher holders.
Read guide →