Does Torrance Have Local Rent Control, or Just AB 1482?

Published July 15, 2026

Torrance has no permanent rent control ordinance. Statewide AB 1482 covers most of its roughly 25,000 renter households instead.

Torrance has no permanent local rent control ordinance. The city passed a temporary urgency ordinance in October 2019, Torrance Municipal Code Chapter 16, that froze no-fault evictions on pre-2005 housing through December 31, 2019, purely as a bridge to the statewide Tenant Protection Act, AB 1482, which took over on January 1, 2020. AB 1482 applies to most of the roughly 25,000 renter households in Torrance today, about 45 percent of the city's occupied homes per the Census Bureau's 2019 to 2023 American Community Survey, and it remains the only rent and eviction framework the city has.

The 2019 bridge ordinance: a freeze, not a rent cap

In late 2019, Torrance saw a wave of no-fault eviction notices as landlords tried to remove tenants before the statewide Tenant Protection Act took effect and locked in just cause protections. On October 29, 2019, the Torrance City Council adopted an urgency ordinance, now Torrance Municipal Code Chapter 16, that temporarily prohibited no-fault evictions on residential property built before January 1, 2005, through the end of that year. It did not cap rent increases and it was never intended to be permanent. It expired on schedule when AB 1482 began on January 1, 2020, and the city has not reenacted anything like it since.

What AB 1482 actually does

AB 1482, the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, is codified at Civil Code section 1947.12 for the rent cap and section 1946.2 for just cause eviction protections. The rent cap limits increases in any 12 month period to 5 percent plus the applicable regional CPI, with an absolute ceiling of 10 percent, whichever is lower. The just cause provisions require landlords to state a qualifying reason to end a tenancy once a household has lived in a unit for 12 months (24 months if a new adult joins the household later), and certain no fault reasons, like an owner move in or a no fault termination for a substantial remodel, trigger a relocation payment or rent waiver obligation.

Which Torrance units are actually covered

AB 1482 does not apply to everything. Housing that has received a certificate of occupancy within the prior 15 years is exempt, and that window rolls forward every year, so buildings that clear the exemption keep dropping out of it over time. Single family homes and condos are exempt from both the rent cap and just cause rules, but only if the owner is not a corporation, a real estate investment trust, or an LLC with a corporate member, and only if the owner gives the tenant the specific statutory notice spelled out in Civil Code section 1946.2(e)(8)(B)(i). Owner occupied duplexes are exempt as long as the owner actually lives in one unit; the exemption ends the moment the owner moves out and rents both sides. Miss the disclosure language or the ownership test and the exemption does not apply, no matter what the property looks like on paper.

Why Torrance has stayed out of the rent control business

Unlike neighboring cities that adopted their own rent stabilization ordinances well before 2019, Torrance has consistently declined to layer a local rent control law on top of the state framework. The city's own guidance to residents points landlords and tenants to AB 1482 and to the Section 8 program's landlord tenant rights page rather than to any city administered rent board, because there isn't one. That leaves state law, not a local ordinance, as the operative rulebook for rent increases and eviction notices in Torrance.

What this means for you

If you own rental property in Torrance, you are not dealing with a local rent board, but you are very likely dealing with AB 1482 unless your unit clears one of the specific, narrowly worded exemptions. Get the exemption test and the notice language right before you send a rent increase or a termination notice. A rent increase that exceeds the state cap, or a no fault notice sent to a covered unit without the required just cause and relocation language, can unwind in court even if your intent was reasonable.

If keeping the exemption paperwork straight on every unit sounds like more bandwidth than you want to spend, that is exactly the kind of detail we track for owners.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm with a licensed professional before you act.

Sources

1. Torrance Municipal Code Chapter 16, Temporary Prohibition of No-Fault Evictions
2. City of Torrance, Torrance Adopts Urgency Ordinance to Protect Renters from No-Fault Evictions
3. City of Torrance, Tenant and Landlord Rights and Responsibilities
4. California Civil Code section 1947.12 (AB 1482 rent cap)
5. California Civil Code section 1946.2 (AB 1482 just cause eviction)
6. City of Los Angeles Housing Department, AB 1482 / State Rent Control overview
7. U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates, Torrance city (renter-occupied households)

Last verified: July 2026.

Topics: compliance, rent control, torrance, AB 1482, just cause eviction

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