How much can rent go up in San Jose?

City rule: rent-stabilized units are limited to a 5% yearly increase and no more than 1 increase in any 12-month period.

Rent increases in San Jose: the local rules

San Jose code What San Jose's code adds
Annual increase limit	The yearly increase limit is 5% of the monthly rent charged for the previous 12 months. Applies: Rent-stabilized units only. A higher increase needs a petition. No increase if the landlord has not registered the unit as the City requires. § 17.23.310 · code text The monthly Rent charged for the previous twelve (12) months for the Rent Stabilized Unit multiplied by five percent (5%). Yearly rent changes follow the voucher agency's published rules, not the 5% limit. Applies: Rent-stabilized units only while they serve as rental voucher units. The starting rent still follows the Apartment Rent Ordinance. § 17.23.310 · code text During the time a Rental Unit serves as a Rental Voucher Unit, the Initial Rent shall be subject to this Chapter, but its Rent may be adjusted annually consistent with the published rules of the applicable government agency in lieu of the Rent adjustments allowed under this Chapter.
Floor or ceiling on the increase	Rent can go up by no more than 8% of the current base rent. Applies: Mobilehome park spaces only. One increase when a mobilehome is sold and stays in place on its lot. § 17.22.600 · code text Upon an in-place transfer of a mobilehome, the landlord may increase the rent by an amount which does not exceed eight percent of the then current base rent without being subject to further provisions of this part. The total monthly charge can be no more than 3% of the monthly rent on the petition filing date. Applies: Rent-stabilized units only. Applies to the total monthly pass-through for specified capital improvements approved by petition. The charge ends after a valid vacancy decontrol. § 17.23.320 · code text Provided however, in no event may the total monthly amount imposed for Specified Capital Improvements exceed three percent (3%) of the monthly Rent validly charged for the Rent Stabilized Unit on the date of the filing of the Petition.
Units covered	Rental spaces in mobilehome parks. Applies: Only under the city's Mobilehome Rent Ordinance. § 17.22.450 · code text Any rent increase which does not exceed the maximum annual percentage increase as applied to the then current base rent. Guesthouse or multi-unit building units certified for occupancy, or offered or available for rent, on or before September 7, 1979. § 17.23.167 · code text "Rent Stabilized Unit" means a Rental Unit in any Guesthouse or in any Multiple Dwelling building for which a certificate of occupancy was issued on or prior to September 7, 1979 or that was offered or available for rent on or before this date. Not covered: hotel, motel and guesthouse rooms legally rented to transient guests for less than 30 days, with one exception. Applies: The exception is rooms that a separate part of the city code covers. § 17.23.167 · code text Rooms or accommodations in hotels, motels, or Guesthouses which are legally rented to transient guests for a period of less than thirty (30) days consistent with the Municipal Code, except those rooms or accommodations subject to Part 2.5 of Chapter 20.80; Not covered: hospitals, convents, monasteries, care and service facilities, emergency shelters, nonprofit senior homes, fraternities, sororities, school-run dormitories. § 17.23.167 · code text Housing accommodations in any hospital, convent, monastery, extended care facility, emergency residential shelter, residential care facility, residential service facility, nonprofit home for Senior Citizens (as defined in the Unruh Act, as may be amended), fraternity house or sorority house, or in dormitories owned and operated by an institution of higher education, a high school or elementary school; Affordable rental units are not covered. § 17.23.167 · code text Affordable Rental Units; and Units in a building with only 1 or 2 dwelling units are not covered. § 17.23.167 · code text Rental Units in a building containing only one (1) or two (2) dwelling units.
How often rent can go up	No more than 1 rent increase in any 12-month period. Applies: Rent-stabilized units only. The annual general increase and any petition increase count together toward this limit. § 17.23.310 · code text Not more than one (1) Rent increase, including the Annual General Increase, any increase allowed under Chapter 13 of the Regulations, and any increase authorized by a final decision after a Petition may be imposed in any twelve (12)-month period. A petition decision can exempt the first increase from the 1-per-12-months limit; it starts after required state-law notice. Applies: Rent-stabilized units only. Only when the decision states the exemption, on a fair-return petition or one other listed petition type. § 17.23.310 · code text An increase in Rent authorized by a decision on a Petition filed pursuant to Section 17.23.350 C. or Part 8 of this Chapter may be imposed after notice has been provided pursuant to California Civil Code Section 827, if the decision states that the initial increase is exempt from the twelve (12) month interval requirement under this Section.
Petitions and pass-throughs	A landlord may petition for more than the unreviewed increases if those increases do not give a fair, reasonable return. Applies: Mobilehome park spaces only. § 17.22.470 · code text However, in the event a rent increase in the amounts specified in Section 17.22.450 does not provide the landlord with a fair and reasonable return, the landlord may request an increase in excess of said amounts by filing a petition in accordance with the provisions of Part 6 of this chapter. An increase above the amount allowed without review needs a hearing officer's approval before it takes effect or is collected. Applies: Mobilehome park spaces only. § 17.22.460 · code text No rent increase in excess of the amounts specified in Section 17.22.450 shall become effective or be collected by the landlord until such time as the excess is approved by an administrative hearing officer. Capital improvements count as operating expenses if costing at least $100 per affected unit or $5,000 total, whichever is lower. Applies: Mobilehome park spaces only, in a fair-return hearing. Costs are spread over at least 60 months among benefiting units; rent drops when amortization ends. § 17.22.540 · code text The capital improvement is made at a direct cost of not less than one hundred dollars per affected rental unit or at a total direct cost of not less than five thousand dollars, whichever is lower. A landlord may raise rent above the annual general increase as far as a final hearing officer's fair-return decision allows. Applies: Rent-stabilized units only, on a fair-return petition. § 17.23.320 · code text A Landlord may increase rents in excess of the Annual General Increase to the extent a higher rent is authorized in a final Hearing Officer's decision on a Landlord Petition for fair return filed in accordance with Part 8 of this Chapter. No charge may pass to tenants unless the rules expressly allow it. Utility charges and ratio utility billing never may. Applies: Rent-stabilized units only. Submetered water, gas or electricity is not prohibited. § 17.23.315 · code text No pass through of charges to Tenants is authorized except as expressly provided in this Chapter.

Also in San Jose's code: Mobilehome Rent Ordinance (Ch. 17.22) — mobilehome park spaces only; Rental Dispute Mediation and Arbitration (§§ 17.23.310–17.23.325) — rent stabilized units; mobilehomes excluded. This page does not summarize it yet.

Where San Jose's rule above does not cover a situation, state law still applies. For the statewide rule on its own, see California's statewide rent cap.

CA state law The statewide rule underneath
Rent cap right now	8.6% for increases taking effect August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027 (5% plus 3.6% inflation) Applies: Covered units only. Inflation is the California consumer price index (Department of Industrial Relations), used for counties outside the four metro areas, April to April, as the statute requires; the figure is recomputed every year. Civ. Code § 1947.12(a)(1), (g)
Statewide rent increase cap (AB 1482)	5% plus the change in cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower, over any 12 months Applies: Covered units only; measured against the lowest rent charged in the prior 12 months. Civ. Code § 1947.12(a)(1)
Number of rent increases	No more than two increases in any 12-month period Civ. Code § 1947.12(a)(2)
Rent cap — new construction exemption	Housing with a certificate of occupancy issued within the previous 15 years is exempt (rolling) Applies: Mobilehomes excepted. Civ. Code § 1947.12(d)(4)
Rent cap — single-family home or condo exemption	A home or condo that can be sold on its own is exempt when the owner is not a REIT, a corporation or an LLC with a corporate member, and the tenant was given the written exemption notice Applies: The same exemption applies to the just-cause rule (§ 1946.2(e)(8)). Civ. Code § 1947.12(d)(5)
Rent cap — owner-occupied duplex exemption	A duplex in one building is exempt when the owner lived in the other unit at the start of the tenancy and still does, unless either unit is an ADU or JADU Civ. Code § 1947.12(d)(6)
New tenancy resets the rent	When no prior tenant remains, the owner may set the initial rent; the cap applies to later increases Civ. Code § 1947.12(b)
Rent cap sunset	§ 1947.12 is repealed on January 1, 2030 unless extended Civ. Code § 1947.12(o)

Rent increases in San Jose

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What San Jose's code says

The California rule underneath

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