Rent regulation & tenants
Protected unit (SB 330)
Housing Crisis Act category: rent-restricted, rent-controlled, or lower-income-occupied units whose demolition triggers replacement and relocation duties.
Definition
Under the Housing Crisis Act (SB 330, Gov. Code § 66300), a "protected unit" is a residential unit whose demolition triggers replacement duties: units that are deed-restricted affordable, subject to any form of rent or price control, occupied by lower-income households now or within the past five years, or withdrawn from the rental market under the Ellis Act within the past ten years.
A project that demolishes protected units must replace every one, give existing occupants relocation benefits, and offer displaced lower-income occupants a right of first refusal for a comparable unit in the new building at an affordable rent.
Why it matters in an underwrite
The five- and ten-year lookbacks mean protection travels with the building's history, not its current rent roll: a vacant or market-rate building can still be full of protected units because lower-income households occupied it within five years, or because rent control applies to it. For redevelopment sites, the replacement-plus-relocation-plus-right-of-return package is a real cost stack — and it is also the trade that keeps an SB 330 demolition lawful where an Ellis-only route would poison later streamlining eligibility. Screen every teardown's occupancy history before pricing the land.
Sources & related guides
See also
See the term in the law itself
Read the controlling text in the Code Library, or ask the AI how it applies to your project.
Last reviewed 2026-07-29. General information, not legal advice.