7 Common Mistakes New Los Angeles Landlords Make

None of these are exotic. They are the same seven mistakes, made by capable people, mostly because Los Angeles County rental regulation is fragmented in a way that rewards local knowledge and punishes reasonable assumptions.

1. Assuming the wrong city’s rules apply

This is the expensive one, and it is almost entirely a Valley phenomenon. North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Encino, Reseda and Northridge are neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles. Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Monica and West Hollywood are separate incorporated cities with their own ordinances.

The failure mode is specific: an owner reads about the LA Rent Stabilization Ordinance, applies it to a Burbank building, and serves an increase under a framework that does not govern the property — or the reverse, treating a Studio City building as if it were outside the RSO because "Studio City isn’t LA."

2. Treating a newer building as unregulated

"Built after 1978, so no rules" is wrong on two counts. LAHD states that rental units in the City of Los Angeles built after October 1, 1978 and not covered by the RSO are covered by the City’s Just Cause Eviction Protections Ordinance, under which a landlord must have a legal reason to evict once protections attach. Separately, California’s Tenant Protection Act applies to many properties statewide.

There is no category of Los Angeles rental property that is simply unregulated. The question is only which framework applies. See the RSO overview.

3. Getting the security deposit wrong at both ends

Two distinct errors, and most new owners make both. At move-in, collecting more than the law allows: under AB 12 the general limit is one month’s rent in addition to first month’s rent, with a two-month exception available only where the landlord is a natural person or an all-natural-person LLC owning no more than two residential rental properties totalling no more than four units — and not where the applicant is a service member.

At move-out, missing the paperwork. An itemized statement and the balance are due within 21 calendar days of the resident vacating; receipts must accompany deductions over $125; and since April 1, 2025 photographs are required both before and after any repair or cleaning for which a deduction is made. A landlord who in bad faith fails the photo requirements is barred from making a claim against the tenant or the security at all.

The underlying failure is usually earlier than either: no dated move-in photos and no signed condition report, which means no baseline to compare against. See California security deposit rules.

4. Screening inconsistently — or not in writing

New owners screen by instinct: a good feeling about one applicant, a reservation about another, criteria that shift between showings. This is both a poor predictor of payment behaviour and a fair housing exposure, because inconsistency is exactly what a discrimination claim looks like from outside.

Write the criteria down before you list. Income relative to rent, credit thresholds, rental history verification, and how you treat each. Then apply them identically to every applicant, and keep a record of the decision on each. California also treats source of income — including housing vouchers — as a protected characteristic, so a blanket "no Section 8" position is not available; confirm how your criteria should treat voucher income with the California Civil Rights Department or your attorney.

5. Serving notices in the wrong form

A rent increase can be substantively allowable and still fail because the notice was defective — wrong notice period, missing statutory language, wrong service method, or a required disclosure omitted. State law requires specific notice content regarding rent limits and just cause. Local ordinances add their own requirements.

Burbank illustrates how sharp the consequence can be: the city states that failure to comply with its relocation assistance requirement renders a termination notice void and serves as an affirmative defense to an unlawful detainer action. The process does not get corrected; it restarts.

6. Deferring maintenance that compounds

Some deferred maintenance is a financing decision. Some of it is a decision to pay several times over. The distinction is whether the item causes secondary damage while it waits.

• A slow supply leak becomes subfloor damage, then mold remediation, then a habitability problem.
• A failing roof detail becomes ceiling drywall, then insulation, then a unit out of service.
• A sewer lateral at end of life becomes an emergency excavation at a weekend rate.
• A neglected tuck-under garage becomes a structural scope rather than a repair.

The related error is refusing to spend on the small responsive repairs — the ones that cost $180 and determine whether residents report the next problem early or stop bothering. Deferred responsiveness is how a $180 item becomes a $9,000 one.

7. Running the property out of a phone and a shoebox

Records live in text messages, a personal email account, and a drawer. It works until the first thing that requires evidence: a deposit dispute, a rent history question after an acquisition, an insurance claim, a habitability complaint.

The minimum viable system is not elaborate — a per-unit file containing the lease and amendments, the deposit record with amount and date, the rent history, dated move-in condition photos, every vendor invoice, and every notice served. What it must be is durable and findable in four years, which a phone is not.

New to owning rental property in Los Angeles County? Call Theodore directly at 818-568-6733 to talk through your property.