Skipped a Santa Monica rent increase in a prior year? The city says you can still take it.

Published July 25, 2026

In Santa Monica your rent ceiling rises every year whether or not you raise rent, and the city says owners can still take a skipped increase later with proper notice.

If you own a rent controlled unit in Santa Monica and you skipped an annual increase in a past year, you probably did not forfeit that money. The city says owners who deferred a General Adjustment can still take it later with proper notice, because your Maximum Allowable Rent kept rising every year whether or not you ever served the increase. The skipped years are sitting in your ceiling.

Your ceiling rose even in the years you did nothing

The one thing most owners get wrong here is treating a skipped year as gone. It is not. In Santa Monica the number that governs your unit is the Maximum Allowable Rent, and the city raises that ceiling every September 1 by the General Adjustment whether or not you serve an increase. What you actually charge is a separate thing that only moves when you send a proper notice. So in any year you stayed quiet, your ceiling still climbed, and a gap opened up between what you collect and what you are allowed to collect.

The city is explicit about what that gap means. In its own tenant mailing the Rent Control Board answers the question head on: an owner who deferred taking General Adjustment increases in the past may do so now with proper notice. Its exact framing is that owners do not lose the right to increase rents to the Maximum Allowable Rent, provided they otherwise qualify. In plain terms, the skipped years are banked in your ceiling, and you can reach back for them.

How much you can actually reclaim

The recoverable amount is the distance between what your tenant pays today and your unit's current Maximum Allowable Rent. The mailing describes owners taking several General Adjustment increases from previous years at once, so this is not limited to a single missed year. If you sat still for three or four years while the ceiling kept moving, the whole accumulated gap is, in principle, yours to notice up to.

Finding your number is not a guessing game. The Rent Control Board tracks a Maximum Allowable Rent for every registered unit, and it literally prints each tenant's current figure in the annual mailing it sends them. As the owner you can confirm your unit's Maximum Allowable Rent through Rent Control records before you serve anything, so you know exactly how far the rent can move.

Current numbers for context: the 2026 General Adjustment is 2.6 percent, effective September 1, 2026, capped at 70 dollars per unit for maximum allowable rents of 2,674 dollars and above. That is this year's single step. If you have banked prior years underneath it, your reachable ceiling is higher than that one step suggests.

The catch that keeps this lawful

Here is where I slow owners down, because reaching back is not a blank check. The same city mailing adds a caution I want you to take seriously: if the increase is more than 10 percent of what the tenant is currently paying, there may be limitations under state law. So a large banked catch up served in one notice can bump into a separate state rule, and both the amount you can move at once and the notice you owe may be constrained.

You also still have to clear the ordinary gates before any increase is valid. Per the city, your tenant's tenancy has to have begun before September 1 of the prior year, your registration has to be current, all Rent Control fees and penalties have to be paid, the property has to be free of uncorrected health, safety, or housing citations, and you have to serve proper written notice at least 30 days ahead. Miss one of those and the increase does not stand, banked years or not.

What this means for your building

Here is the plain readout for a Santa Monica owner.

First, pull your Maximum Allowable Rent. If you have owned a unit for several years and have not raised rent every single September, there is a real chance you are collecting well under your ceiling and do not know it. Confirm the current figure for each unit through Rent Control records, then compare it to what you actually bill. The gap is what you left on the table, and the city says it is generally still reachable.

Second, do not dump it all in one notice without checking the 10 percent line. If your banked catch up would raise the rent by more than 10 percent of what the tenant pays now, that is exactly the moment to sit down with a licensed professional and structure it correctly, because state law can limit how much you move at once and how much notice you owe. A clean, correctly noticed increase that holds up is worth far more than an aggressive one that gets challenged.

Third, treat this as the boring, durable lever it is. You are not raising rent to punish a good tenant. You are bringing a rent that sits under your ceiling back in line with a number the city already sets for you, on a schedule the city already publishes. Done right, with proper notice and the gates cleared, it is one of the most defensible moves you can make on a Santa Monica building.

And if you have been diligent and served your increase every year, this simply confirms you did it right. There is nothing to reach back for because you never fell behind, and that is the position you want to be in.

Common questions

If I skipped raising rent for a few years, is that money gone?

Not according to the city. Santa Monica's Rent Control Board states that owners do not lose the right to increase rents to the Maximum Allowable Rent, and that an owner who deferred General Adjustment increases in the past may take them now with proper notice. Your ceiling kept rising in the quiet years, so the gap between what you charge and your current Maximum Allowable Rent is generally still reachable. Confirm your unit's figure and your specific situation with a licensed professional.

Can I apply several missed years all at once?

The city's mailing refers to owners taking several General Adjustment increases from previous years at once, so it is not limited to one year. But it also warns that if the increase is more than 10 percent of what the tenant currently pays, there may be limitations under state law. A large catch up may need to be structured to stay within those limits, so confirm the amount and the notice period with a licensed professional before you serve.

How do I find my unit's Maximum Allowable Rent?

The Rent Control Board tracks a Maximum Allowable Rent for every registered unit and prints each tenant's current figure in its annual mailing. As the owner you can confirm your unit's number through Rent Control records before serving any increase, so you know exactly how far the rent can lawfully move.

Last verified: July 25, 2026. Figures reflect the Santa Monica 2026 General Adjustment of 2.6 percent effective September 1, 2026, and the Santa Monica Rent Control Board's Summer 2025 tenant mailing. This is general information for property owners, not legal advice. Confirm your unit's Maximum Allowable Rent, the deferred increase rules, the 10 percent state law limitation, and your notice timing with a licensed professional before acting.

Kellie

Schofield Properties

323 Richmond Street, El Segundo, CA 90245

Topics: market, santa-monica, westside, rent-control

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