Why is getting the rent control status of your unit correct so important? 

Navigating the world of rental property management comes with a maze of legal responsibilities—and one of the most critical factors to understand is whether your property is subject to rent control. For landlords, this isn’t just a legal technicality. Rent control can significantly impact how much you can charge for rent, when and how you can increase it, and even your ability to evict tenants. Failing to understand your property’s rent control status can lead to costly legal missteps, compliance issues, and potential tenant disputes. 

Why Rent Control Status Matters in Automated Legal Workflows

Joiner’s real estate management platform streamlines critical landlord functions—automating everything from rent increase notices and notices of entry to cure-or-quit and pay-or-quit notices. Each of these documents is generated with built-in legal disclosures tailored to your property’s specific requirements. One key factor that shapes these legal templates? Rent control status. Whether or not a unit is subject to rent control directly impacts what language and requirements must be included in the notices you serve. That’s why accurately identifying rent control status isn’t just important—it’s essential for compliance and avoiding legal risk.

Disclaimer & Legal Guidance

This post is designed to help you assess whether your rental unit falls under rent control by summarizing key aspects of applicable laws. However, it is not a substitute for legal advice. Because rent control regulations vary widely by city and sometimes county —and because a unit not covered by a local ordinance may still fall under California’s statewide rent control and just cause eviction laws (see this post) —it’s important to consult the relevant local statutes or seek advice from a qualified attorney to make a definitive determination.

Joiner partners with BrightWork Law PC, a firm known for delivering efficient, cost-effective legal counsel tailored to the needs of property owners and managers across California. If you are not sure about the status of your unit we recommend that you contact BrightWork or any other law firm.

Pasadena Rent Control and Just Cause Ordinance Applicability 

Pasadena, California passed rent control and just cause ordinances in 2022, which can be found here. 

In Pasadena the just cause and rent control measures cover “any building, structure, or part thereof, or land appurtenant thereto, or any other rental property rented or offered for rent for residential purposes, whether or not such units possess a valid Certificate of Occupancy for use as rental housing” except for the following: 

• Units in hotels, motels, inns, tourist homes, lodging and rooming houses and boarding houses, including hotels, lodging houses, rooming houses, and boarding houses where the tenancy is less than 30 days. 
• Rental Units in any hospital, convent, monastery, extended medical care facility, asylum, non-profit home for the aged; dormitory owned and operated by an accredited institution of higher education, a facility that has the primary purpose of operating a treatment or recovery program, where such Rental Units are provided incident to a client’s participation in the treatment or recovery program and where the client has been informed in writing of the temporary or transitional nature of the housing at the inception of his or her participation in the program.
• Units owned or operated or managed by a not-for-profit organization pursuant to a tax credit program.
• Rental Units which a government unit, agency or authority owns, operates, or manages, or in which government-subsidized Tenants reside, if applicable federal or state law or administrative regulation specifically exempt such units from municipal rent control; and
• Units where the homeowner shares the unit and the unit is the homeowners principal residence. 
• A less than 12 month period in a single family dwelling unit of where the owner is the primary resident and special notices are issued to the tenant. 

Exempt from rent control but not just cause are the following: 

• Pasadena inclusionary housing. 
• Pasadena density bonus housing. 
• Cost-Hawkins exempt units (see Costa-Hawkins and Rent Control), namely units that meet certain requirements and:
  • The unit received a certificate of occupancy after February 1, 1995. 
  • It has already been exempt from the residential rent control ordinance of a public entity on or before February 1, 1995, pursuant to a local exemption for newly constructed units.
  • It is alienable separate from the title to any other dwelling unit or is a subdivided interest in a subdivision, i.e. a condominium.