Which States Cap Rent Increases in 2026, and How Much Notice?

Three states cap rent increases statewide in 2026. California allows 5% plus regional inflation, never more than 10%, which works out to 8.1% to 8.8% for most increases taking effect from August 1, 2026; Oregon allows 9.5% in 2026 and 10% in 2027; Washington allows 9.683% in 2026 and 10% in 2027.¹²³ New York City and 19 opt-in New York municipalities add a softer limit under the Good Cause Eviction Law, while states such as Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin bar their cities from adopting rent control at all.⁴⁵⁶⁷

This guide quotes the statutes and agency notices behind each number. It is not legal advice, and cities can add rules on top. Look up your state at /states and compare all 50 at /laws/rent-control-laws-by-state.

Sources: the statutes cited in each section below.¹⁸⁹¹⁰

California: AB 1482 as rewritten by SB 567

California Civil Code section 1947.12 bars an owner from raising "the gross rental rate" over any 12-month period by more than 5% plus the percentage change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower. The base is the lowest gross rent charged at any time in the 12 months before the increase, and accepted discounts or concessions are excluded from that base. If the same tenant stays, the increase can come in no more than two increments in 12 months.¹ The current version was enacted by SB 567 (Stats. 2023, ch. 290), operative April 1, 2024, and repeals itself on January 1, 2030.¹

The CPI depends on location: four named Bureau of Labor Statistics metro indexes, or the Department of Industrial Relations' California CPI everywhere else. Increases taking effect on or after August 1 use that year's April-to-April change (March if no April figure exists), rounded to a tenth of a percent.¹ No state agency publishes one California number, so we applied the statute to the official index values:

Index values: BLS metro series and the DIR table.^1112131415 Check the index for your county before sending a notice.

Exemptions. The cap does not apply to deed-restricted affordable housing, school and university dormitories, units under a stricter local rent control law, housing issued a certificate of occupancy within the previous 15 years, and an owner-occupied duplex where the owner lived in one unit when the tenancy began. Single-family homes and condos are exempt only if the owner is not a REIT, a corporation, or an LLC with at least one corporate member, and only if the tenant received the exact written exemption statement the statute prints.¹ Miss that statement and the house is covered.

Just cause pairing. After 12 months of lawful occupancy, Civil Code section 1946.2 requires a stated just cause to terminate. No-fault terminations, such as owner move-in or a substantial remodel, require relocation help or a rent waiver equal to one month's rent, and the SB 567 version spells out detailed conditions for both. Covered tenants must also get a notice, in at least 12-point type, that "California law limits the amount your rent can be increased."¹⁶

Penalties. An owner who collects rent above the cap owes the excess and possibly attorney's fees, and up to three times the excess for willful conduct. The Attorney General and city attorneys can also sue.¹

Oregon: ORS 90.323 and the annual cap

Oregon's rule has four parts. In any tenancy other than week-to-week, a landlord may not raise rent during the first year, may not raise it without at least 90 days' written notice, may not raise it more than once in 12 months, and may not exceed the maximum calculated under ORS 90.324(1).⁸ The notice must state the amount of the increase, the new rent, the effective date, and the facts supporting any exemption.⁸

ORS 90.324(1) tells the Department of Administrative Services to set the figure by September 30 each year. Paragraph (a) sets 6% for manufactured dwelling and marina facilities with more than 30 spaces. Paragraph (b) covers "tenancies subject to ORS 90.600 (1) in facilities with 30 or fewer spaces or for tenancies subject to ORS 90.323," and sets the lesser of 10% or 7% plus CPI.⁸ Ordinary apartments and rental houses are ORS 90.323 tenancies, so they fall under paragraph (b).

The DAS page says: "For 2027, the maximum allowable rent increase percentage for tenancies subject to ORS 90.324(b) is 10%."² Read against the statute, that 10% is the 2027 maximum for general residential tenancies. The state's 2027 worksheet shows the West Region CPI rose 3.1%, so 7% plus CPI came to about 10.1% and the 10% ceiling controls.¹⁷ For 2026 the figure is 9.5% for paragraph (b) tenancies and 6% for parks with more than 30 spaces.¹⁸

The statute sets a maximum "for the following calendar year" without saying whether the notice date or the effective date picks the year. An increase noticed in October 2026 takes effect in 2027 at the earliest. Staying at or under 9.5% on those notices avoids the question; DAS refers administration questions to Oregon Housing and Community Services.²

Exemptions. The cap does not apply when the first certificate of occupancy was issued less than 15 years before the date of the notice, or to regulated affordable housing where the change does not raise the tenant's portion or is required by program rules.⁸ There is no single-family-home exemption.

Just cause pairing. After the first year of occupancy, ORS 90.427 lets a landlord end a month-to-month tenancy only for tenant cause or a listed landlord reason, such as demolition, owner or family move-in, or a sale to an owner-occupant buyer, generally on 90 days' notice. Landlord-reason notices require one month's rent at delivery unless the landlord owns four or fewer units.⁸

Penalty. An increase above the cap costs three months' rent plus actual damages.⁸

Washington: HB 1217 of 2025

Washington's cap took effect immediately on May 7, 2025, under Laws of 2025, chapter 209, and expires July 1, 2040.⁹ RCW 59.18.700 bars any increase "during the first 12 months after the tenancy begins" and, after that, any increase in a 12-month period greater than 7% plus the Seattle-area CPI or 10%, whichever is less, for "any type of tenancy," month-to-month or fixed term.⁹

The Department of Commerce publishes the figure each July. For 2026 it is 9.683%, from June 2024 and June 2025 Seattle CPI values of 354.824 and 364.344. For 2027 it is 10%, because the June 2026 index of 380.849 put 7% plus CPI at about 11.5%.³¹⁹

Rent includes fees. The statutory notice form tells tenants that the limit covers "rent and any other recurring or periodic charges" identified in the lease.²⁰ A separate rule bars charging more than 5% difference in rent between lease types offered for the same unit, and that spread cannot push rent past the cap.⁹

Exemptions. Exempt tenancies include units first certified for occupancy 12 or fewer years before the notice, units owned by housing authorities and qualifying nonprofits, certain tax credit properties, and owner-occupied situations (shared kitchen or bath, an owner-occupied home renting no more than two units or bedrooms, an owner-occupied duplex to fourplex). The owner-occupied exemptions do not apply to a REIT, a corporation, or an LLC with a corporate member.¹⁰ An individual's non-owner-occupied rental house is covered.

Just cause pairing. Washington already requires cause to evict, refuse to continue a tenancy, or end a periodic tenancy, with narrow end-of-term exceptions.²¹

Penalties. A tenant facing an unlawful increase may end the lease before it takes effect on 20 days' notice, with no fees. A court must award excess rent paid, up to three months of the unlawful amount, and attorney's fees; the Attorney General may add up to $7,500 per violation.⁹

New York: Good Cause Eviction and the opt-in map

New York has no statewide cap. The Good Cause Eviction Law (Real Property Law Article 6-A) applies automatically in New York City and elsewhere only in a village, town or city that adopts it by local law.²²²³ It expires June 15, 2034.²²

Instead of a hard ceiling, the law uses a presumption. In a nonpayment case, rent arising from an "unreasonable" increase is not good cause, and an increase in any calendar year above the "local rent standard" is presumed unreasonable. The court may weigh the landlord's costs, and must consider property tax expenses.²⁴ The local rent standard is 5% plus the annual CPI change, or 10%, whichever is lower.²⁵ DHCR's required notice, first posted July 16, 2026, publishes CPI changes of 3.38% for New York City and Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester counties, and 3.15% for the rest of the state.⁴ That puts the local rent standard at 8.38% and 8.15%.

Who is covered. Exemptions include small landlords (10 units or fewer statewide by default), owner-occupied buildings of up to 10 units, units already under rent regulation or income restrictions, condos and co-ops, buildings with a certificate of occupancy issued on or after January 1, 2009 (for 30 years), and units renting above 245% of HUD fair market rent.²⁶ Opt-in municipalities may set their own fair market rent threshold and small-landlord definition.²³

The opt-in list. DHCR's 2026 notice lists 19 municipalities that had opted in as of May 4, 2026: the cities of Albany, Beacon, Binghamton, Hudson, Ithaca, Kingston, Middletown, New Rochelle, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Rochester and White Plains; the towns of Fishkill and Poughkeepsie; and the villages of Catskill, Croton-on-Hudson, New Paltz, Nyack and Tarrytown. Most define a small landlord as one owning no more than one unit in the state, and most set the exemption at 345% of fair market rent.⁴ The list changes as towns act, so check the state's page before each renewal cycle.²⁷

Where cities can and cannot regulate rent

States that ban local rent control

Many states take the question away from cities. Statute text from seven:

Two states sit in between. Minnesota bars local rent control unless the ordinance or charter amendment "is approved in a general election."³² Massachusetts law says no city or town "may enact, maintain or enforce rent control of any kind" except under narrow conditions, starting with a rule that compliance be "entirely voluntary" for owners.³³ A 2026 ballot question would have replaced that ban with a statewide limit of CPI or 5%, whichever is lower, but on June 23, 2026 the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that its religious-facility exemption violated article 48 and barred it from the November 2026 ballot.³⁴ No rent cap applies in Massachusetts today.

Local rent stabilization where states allow it

Where state law permits it, local ordinances often go further. Examples confirmed on each city's official code:

• St. Paul, Minnesota. Increases are limited to 3% of existing monthly rent within a 12-month period unless the city approves a reasonable-return application. Buildings first issued a certificate of occupancy after December 31, 2004 are exempt, and a landlord must tell prospective tenants when a unit is exempt.³⁵
• Oakland, California. For increases from August 1, 2022 onward, the annual CPI Rent Adjustment is 60% of the April-to-April CPI increase or 3%, whichever is lower, once per 12 months.³⁶
• San Jose, California. The "Annual General Increase" for a rent stabilized unit is 5% of the prior 12 months' rent, and a landlord who has not complied with registration may not raise rent.³⁷
• Washington, D.C. For May 1, 2026 through April 30, 2027, the cap is 4.1% for most rent-controlled units and 2.1% for registered elderly or disabled tenants, and no general adjustment may exceed 10%.³⁸³⁹

In California, a unit under a stricter local ordinance is exempt from the state cap, so the local number governs.¹

How much notice to give before a rent increase

Notice periods vary more than caps. Verified examples:

In New York, a late notice extends the existing terms until the notice period runs, and the notice must say whether the unit is covered by Good Cause and justify any increase above the local rent standard.⁴² The full table is at /laws/rent-increase-notice-by-state.

Planning renewals under a cap

Work backward from the effective date. In Oregon and Washington, the once-per-12-months rule fixes the next increase date and the 90-day notice must go out at least three months earlier.⁸⁴¹ Build those dates into the lease renewal playbook and the compliance calendar.

No banking under the state caps. Each statute limits the increase within a 12-month window and none provides for carrying unused room forward, unlike Oakland's ordinance, which allows banking.¹⁸⁹³⁶ An owner who holds rent flat for retention gives that room up.

Turnover resets rent, but just cause limits forcing it. All three states let the owner set rent for a new tenant, yet all three restrict no-cause terminations once a tenancy matures.¹⁶⁸²¹ Whether a turnover pays depends on vacancy days, make-ready and leasing costs; run your numbers in the renewal vs. turnover calculator.

Example: an Oregon unit at $2,000, last increased March 1, 2026, can next increase March 1, 2027, with at least 90 days' written notice, so deliver it in November 2026. At 9.5% the new rent is $2,190; at 10% it would be $2,200.⁸² The $10 gap is the cost of the conservative reading.

What to do now

• Tag every unit with its state, city and county, and record which cap applies (state, local or none) and why.
• Record each building's first certificate of occupancy date; exemptions turn on it in all three capped states.
• In California, confirm the owner entity type and that the exact exemption statement was given before treating a house or condo as exempt.
• Pull the current figure from the official source before each notice: BLS or DIR for California, DAS for Oregon, Commerce for Washington, DHCR for New York.
• In Washington, count recurring fees with rent and keep lease-type pricing within 5%.
• Track move-in and last-increase dates so no Oregon or Washington unit gets a first-year or second-in-12-months increase.
• Use the Washington statutory form and the Oregon content rules, with facts for any claimed exemption.
• In New York, confirm opt-in status and local thresholds, and include the Good Cause notice with renewals.
• Recheck local ordinances each year in states without preemption.