COVID-19 Renter Protections

For Updated Landlord & Tenant Information, please click here.

The City of Los Angeles Declaration of Local Emergency, effective on March 4, 2020, terminated on February 1, 2023. The provisions apply to all residential rental units in the City of Los Angeles.

Non-Payment of Rent

The City’s local COVID emergency order expired on January 31, 2023. Beginning February 1, 2023, tenants must pay their full monthly rent to avoid eviction for non-payment. Low-income renters with income at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) that could not pay rent due to COVID-19 financial impact continued to have protections through March 31, 2023, if they notified their landlord within 7 days of the rent due date unless extenuating circumstances existed. You may view the Notice to Landlord of Inability to Pay Rent due to COVID-19.

State Law on Non-Payment of Rent Eviction Protections

Tenants who provided their landlord with a COVID-19 Related Declaration of Financial Distress Form by the 15-Day deadline for rent owed from March 1, 2020 through August 31, 2020, cannot be evicted for non-payment of rent from that period. A landlord can pursue a court action in small claims court for this rent. Tenants who provided their landlord with a COVID-19 Related Declaration of Financial Distress Form by the 15-Day deadline AND paid 25% of their rent to the landlord for rent owed from September 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021, cannot be evicted for non-payment of rent from that period. A landlord can pursue a court action in small claims court for this rent.

COVID-19 Rental Debt

Tenants who are not covered by the Declaration of Financial Distress process described above continue to have protections for unpaid COVID-19 rental debt and must pay their debt as follows to avoid eviction:

Rent owed from March 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021, tenants must pay by August 1, 2023.

Rent owed from October 1, 2021 to January 31, 2023, tenants must pay by February 1, 2024.

Eviction Protections for ULA ERAP Tenant-Approved Applications

Through May 31, 2024, the City Council extended eviction protections (view eviction protections) to tenants with ULA ERAP applications that have been approved and are waiting for their applications to be funded. To determine if a tenant’s application is approved, you can check the ULA ERAP application status, which will indicate: ‘Tenant Approved.’ Check the status of your Application.

Unauthorized Pets Eviction Protection & Additional Tenant Rent Increase

Effective February 5, 2024, the City Council approved Ordinance No. 188108 to provide eviction protection to tenants with brought into the unit before January 31, 2023, due to COVID-19, even if the pet was not allowed under the lease/rental agreement. A tenant who has yet to inform their landlord of their pet due to COVID-19 must do so before March 5, 2024, to avoid eviction due to an unauthorized pet related to COVID-19.

Effective February 1, 2024, landlords may charge an additional 10% for each additional tenant brought into a unit subject to the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance before January 31, 2024. This rent increase can only be applied if the number of tenants exceeds the initial number of tenants on the lease/rental agreement or who moved in initially. A landlord may not increase the rent for the first minor dependent child added to the tenancy. Rent increases for unauthorized additional tenants who moved in before January 1, 2024, must be provided an advance written notice of rental increase on or before March 1, 2024. If a 10% rent increase becomes effective and the additional tenant subsequently moves, the landlord must decrease the rent by 10%. A landlord cannot unreasonably deny authorization of an additional tenant.