Los Angeles Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance: An Owner Guide

Los Angeles rental owners need to pay attention to how a tenancy is managed. This includes repairs, entry, rent payments and clear updates. The City's Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance addresses a landlord's bad faith conduct directed at particular residents that causes harm. Its reach includes site teams and agents, as well as owners.

The ordinance took effect August 6, 2021. Amendments effective December 29, 2024 expanded its protections and changed civil remedies. This article updates the original 2021 report using the current City code and official guidance reviewed in October 2026. The original publication date remains above.

Which properties and people does the City ordinance cover?

LAMC sections 45.31 and 45.32 cover rental units within the City of Los Angeles, including rented single-family homes and condominiums. The ordinance reaches beyond the City's rent-stabilized housing inventory. A Los Angeles mailing address alone does not establish that a property is within the City. Confirm its jurisdiction before applying local rules.

This is a City housing ordinance. A commercial lease, a rental in another incorporated city, or a site in unincorporated Los Angeles County needs its own local-law review. The City and County have other rules.

What conduct can constitute tenant harassment?

LAMC section 45.33 defines bad faith as willful, reckless or grossly negligent conduct. The ordinance defines tenant harassment as a landlord's bad faith conduct directed at a specific tenant or tenants that causes detriment or harm. The section's examples include:

• Withdrawing needed housing services, or failing to complete legally needed repairs and upkeep. The housing-service provision excepts reductions or eliminations necessary to comply with a court order or state or local law, or to create an accessory dwelling unit or additional housing. The repair-and-maintenance provision addresses failure to follow applicable industry standards to minimize exposure to noise, dust, lead paint, asbestos or other potentially harmful building materials.
• Abusing access, photographing areas outside a lawful entry's scope, or interfering with use, quiet enjoyment or safe living.
• Threatening physical harm, coercing a move-out through payments, misrepresenting a duty to leave, or using tenancy-termination allegations without reasonable grounds to believe them.
• Refusing lawful rent or rental-assistance payments. The ordinance also addresses refusing to timely provide a W-9 or other necessary documentation for a tenant to receive rental assistance from a government agency, nonprofit organization or other third party.
• Immigration-status inquiries or disclosures, prohibited discrimination, interference with resident organizing, and privacy violations. The privacy provision excepts information requests authorized by law.
• Unilaterally imposing or requiring agreement to new material tenancy terms or a new rental agreement, except as section 45.33(16) permits. The ordinance also addresses repeated acts or omissions that substantially disturb a tenant's comfort, peace or quiet and cause, are likely to cause, or aim to cause the tenant to surrender or waive tenancy rights.

Read the full section before applying it to a particular dispute. It contains conditions and exceptions this short list cannot replace. For example, section 45.33(7) requires a favorable termination of a possession action before a landlord may be liable under that subsection for bringing that action. A disagreement or complaint alone does not establish a violation.

Entry notices need a real purpose and a workable time window

California Civil Code section 1954 limits the purposes for entering a dwelling and prohibits using access to harass. Written notice is generally required except as the statute provides; it must state the date, approximate time and purpose. For notice delivered personally or left at the premises as specified in section 1954(d)(1), 24 hours is presumed reasonable absent contrary evidence; mailed notice has a separate presumption of at least six days before entry. The section also specifies entry hours and exceptions.

The City's amended ordinance also addresses entry practices: state the specific justification in the notice, reasonably coordinate with the tenant's schedule, provide a reasonable approximate time window, timely notify the tenant if entry is canceled, and avoid excessive requests not justified by the stated reason. The 2024 amending ordinance gives those details.

For example, a planned kitchen-plumbing repair calls for a record of the reported problem, the stated purpose of entry and the vendor arrangement. If the appointment is canceled, tell the tenant. Keep photographs within the scope of the lawful entry. This is a practical illustration, not a finding about a particular visit.

Civil remedies and criminal penalties have different conditions

Under LAMC section 45.35, a resident who prevails in court is awarded three times compensatory damages, reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The court also awards civil penalties from $2,000 to $10,000 per violation, depending on severity. Local housing-service rent refunds, relocation and other court-ordered relief may also be included. The $10,000 figure is not an automatic fine for each complaint.

If the prevailing tenant was older than 65 or disabled when the conduct occurred, the court may impose additional civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation. For a civil or small-claims case under section 45.33(2), section 45.35(F) requires written notice of the alleged violation and a failure to remedy the repair or maintenance issue within a reasonable period, subject to the waiting-period exception described below.

The waiting-period exception applies if the landlord's conduct is intentional and demonstrates willful disregard for tenants' comfort, safety or well-being. That exception does not authorize delaying repairs.

Section 45.36 separately allows infraction or misdemeanor prosecution. A misdemeanor conviction can carry up to $1,000 per offense, up to six months in County jail, or both, as determined by the court. Criminal penalties require the applicable prosecution and conviction. An allegation alone is not a conviction.

Section 45.34 also gives an affirmative defense in qualifying possession and other actions involving harassment. Section 45.39 preserves lawful evictions by appropriate legal means. Neither provision resolves a particular notice or case from a blog description.

The old County COVID moratorium is separate

The original article referred to a County eviction-moratorium extension through September 30 during the pandemic. That reference should not be used as today's deadline. The County's official COVID protections guidance states that its COVID-19 Tenant Protections Resolution expired March 31, 2023.

The County identifies protections that survived for specified tenants and circumstances, and permanent protections may also apply. Check the property's jurisdiction and relevant dates before relying on a particular rule.

There is also a newer development-related consequence to review. LAHD's landlord and developer guidance describes an Anti-Harassment Violators Database with an operative date of August 20, 2026.

After a final determination placing a beneficial owner in the database, specified demolition permits and development-project approvals can be withheld or revoked under LAMC section 16.60.A.6. The code provides a five-year hold, subject to its thresholds, timing rules and exceptions, including permits or approvals needed to comply with a government order. Owners planning development should read that separate guidance rather than assume each complaint triggers a permit restriction.

Keep a usable record of the management work

A repair file should let someone reconstruct what happened. Preserve the resident's original report, its date, the state described, access arrangements, vendor findings, work performed and remaining follow-up. A finish note should explain the result. Coastline's safe living guide explains the split state standards and repair-remedy qualifications.

Suppose a resident reports a repeat ceiling leak. A photo of fresh paint won't tell the next team whether the leak source was repaired. Keep the check findings and repair scope, then record the follow-up observation and clear updates. If access or a part is still open, show that in the file. Don't label an open problem complete.

For a payment dispute, retain the ledger, the attempted payment facts and the response given. For a proposed change in tenancy terms or a move-out discussion, preserve the actual clear updates and local lease.

Someone taking over the account should be able to see the facts without relying on a staff member's memory. These are management practices. They do not determine legal liability or authorize a notice, payment concession or tenancy change.

Match the next step to your role

Owners who need help coordinating repairs, resident clear updates and site records can request a site care review. Bring the site's jurisdiction and the issue you need help organizing. Residents looking into a harassment concern can start with the City code and LAHD guidance linked above. A clear claim, defense or deadline needs review of the actual facts and local rules.