Subletting and Added Roommates: What LA Rental Owners Can Control

For Owners · Leasing & Tenancy Rules · October 2026 · 11 min read

A tenant writes to say her brother is moving in for a while. Or a neighbor mentions that the people in 3B are not the people on the lease. Or a listing for your unit shows up on a vacation rental site. Each of these is a question about who may live in the unit, and the answer comes from three places at once: your lease, state law and the city the building sits in.

This guide walks through all three for owners in the City of Los Angeles, Culver City, Inglewood and Beverly Hills. It covers what a lease can say, when an unauthorized sublet is grounds to end a tenancy, what the Los Angeles rent rules changed in February 2026 about added tenants, and how to handle a request so it does not turn into a dispute.

Start with the lease

No California statute gives a residential tenant a right to sublet or to add occupants. What the tenant may do is whatever the lease allows, limited by the local rules described below. That makes the lease clause the first thing to read.

Owners sometimes assume the “consent may not be unreasonably withheld” standard in Civil Code section 1995.260 applies to their apartments. It does not. Section 1995.010 says that chapter applies to leases of real property “for other than residential purposes.” For a residential lease, the clause itself, and any city ordinance that covers the unit, decide the standard. If your clause is silent on how consent is given, ask an attorney how a court is likely to read it before you rely on a refusal.

A clause that holds up in practice covers five things:

1. The people allowed to live in the unit, by name, with tenants and occupants listed separately.
2. No assignment or sublet, and no new adult occupant, without the owner’s written consent.
3. How to ask: a written request, with an application from any new adult.
4. What happens on approval: a signed addendum naming the new person and stating whether they are a tenant or an approved occupant.
5. Short stays by guests, so a visiting relative is not treated as a breach.

Screen a new adult the way you screened the original tenants, using the same written criteria. Fee rules apply to that application as they do to any other; our guide to rental application fees covers the caps and refund rules, and our tenant screening guide covers consistent criteria.

State law: when a sublet becomes grounds to end a tenancy

The Tenant Protection Act ground

For units covered by Civil Code section 1946.2, the at-fault just causes include “assigning or subletting the premises in violation of the tenant’s lease,” as described in Code of Civil Procedure section 1161(4). Under section 1161(4), a tenant who assigns or sublets contrary to the lease terminates the lease, and the landlord can recover possession after serving a three-day notice to quit.

The cure notice comes first

Section 1946.2(c) adds a step for covered units. Before serving a notice to terminate for a curable lease violation, the owner must first give notice of the violation with an opportunity to cure under section 1161(3). Only if the violation is not cured may a three-day notice to quit follow. Section 1161(3) expressly lists “any covenant not to assign or sublet” among the covenants it covers, gives three days excluding weekends and judicial holidays to perform, and requires service on any subtenant in actual occupation as well as on the tenant.

Whether a particular sublet is curable is a judgment call that turns on the facts. The safer sequence is a notice to perform covenant or quit, served on the tenant and the subtenant, giving them the chance to end the sublet, and only then a notice to quit. Have an attorney review the notice before it is served.

Adding an adult can delay just cause protection

The Tenant Protection Act’s just cause rule starts after a tenant has continuously and lawfully occupied the unit for 12 months. Section 1946.2(a) adds a condition for added tenants: if an additional adult tenant is added to the lease before an existing tenant has occupied the unit for 24 months, the just cause rule applies only once all tenants have occupied it for 12 months or more, or one or more tenants have occupied it for 24 months or more. Whether you add a person to the lease as a tenant or approve them as an occupant therefore matters, and it is worth deciding on purpose. Local just cause rules in Los Angeles, Culver City, Inglewood and Beverly Hills have their own timing, so check the city rule as well.

City of Los Angeles: RSO units

One added adult or a dependent is not a breach of an occupancy limit

The RSO’s ground for a lease violation, Los Angeles Municipal Code section 151.09 A.2, lets an owner recover possession when a tenant violates a lawful obligation of the tenancy and fails to cure it after written notice. It carves out the obligation to limit occupancy where the additional tenant who pushes the household over the lease’s occupancy limit is either a dependent or the sole additional adult tenant. As amended effective February 2, 2026 (Ordinance 188,795), the owner keeps the right to approve or disapprove a prospective additional tenant who is not a dependent, provided approval is not unreasonably withheld.

In practice, a tenant in an RSO unit who adds one adult or a dependent is not in breach of the occupancy limit for that reason alone. A second added adult, or an adult you reasonably disapproved, is a different situation.

The rent rules for added tenants changed on February 2, 2026

LAHD’s Allowable Rent Increase bulletin states the current rule:

• No rent increase is permitted when an additional dependent joins the tenancy.
• For each additional tenant who is not a dependent, the rent may go up by 10%, and the security deposit may also go up by 10%.
• The owner must notify the tenants of the increase within 60 days of learning, actually or constructively, of the new tenant.
• When the additional tenant moves out, the rent has to come back down by the corresponding amount.

The 60-day window is the easy one to miss. If you learn about a new adult in March and do nothing until the annual increase in July, that increase may be the only one you get.

An unapproved subtenant at the end of the lease

Section 151.09 also lists, as a separate ground, a person in possession of the unit at the end of a lease term who is a subtenant not approved by the landlord. The RSO’s other procedures still apply, including filing a copy of the termination notice with LAHD, which LAHD says applies to all RSO and Just Cause Ordinance rental properties.

Units outside the RSO

Most residential units in the city that are not under the RSO fall under the Just Cause Ordinance once a tenant has lived there six months or the original lease has expired, whichever comes first, according to LAHD. Its grounds and procedures are separate from the RSO’s, so read the ordinance for the unit you have. Our guide to how eviction works in LA covers the court side.

Culver City

Culver City’s for-cause grounds, in section 15.09.315 of the municipal code, are five: failure to pay rent, breach of the rental agreement, failure to provide reasonable access, nuisance or illegal use, and a terminated resident manager. Subletting is not listed as a separate ground. An unauthorized sublet would be handled as a breach of the rental agreement, which puts the weight on what your lease says and on the cure notice described above. Culver City’s relocation payment under section 15.09.325 applies to no-fault terminations, not to for-cause ones. Our Culver City ending-a-tenancy guide has the full process, and the Culver City page covers registration.

If the sublet is a short-term rental, Culver City’s rules on stays under 30 days apply too. See our Culver City short-term rental guide.

Inglewood

Inglewood’s just cause rules, in sections 8-120 through 8-124 of the municipal code, apply after 12 months of tenancy and list ten at-fault bases. One of them is assigning or subletting the unit without authorization. Section 8-122 requires a written notice of a curable violation with an opportunity to cure before a three-day notice to quit on that violation, a termination notice that states each basis you rely on, and copies of the notice filed with the Housing Protection Department within three calendar days of service. A notice that does not comply is void. Some single-family homes, condos and new buildings are exempt; our Inglewood ending-a-tenancy guide covers the exemptions and the filing rule in detail, and the Inglewood short-term rental guide covers a tenant listing the unit online.

Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills’ eviction section, 4-6-6, has a ground written for this situation. Subsection G allows an action to recover possession if the person in possession of the unit “at the end of the term of any apartment rental agreement is a subtenant who was not approved by the landlord,” and says it does not invalidate any provision in a written rental agreement about assignment or subleasing. Subsection B covers a violation of any obligation of the tenancy, including one in a written rental agreement, that the tenant fails to cure after written notice.

Subsection D treats occupancy above the limits it sets by unit type and size as an illegal use of the unit. Check the current table in the code before relying on a number. The city’s relocation fee in section 4-6-9 is not owed on grounds B, D or G. Our Beverly Hills ending-a-tenancy guide covers the filings and the fee rules ground by ground.

Occupancy limits and fair housing

An occupancy cap in a lease is also a fair housing question. Familial status is protected under federal and California fair housing law, so a limit stricter than the unit reasonably needs can shut out households with children. Base any cap on the unit, apply it the same way to every applicant, and have a fair housing attorney look at it if you are unsure.

A process that holds up

1. Answer every request to add someone in writing, and keep the request and your answer in the tenant file.
2. Ask for an application from any new adult and judge it against the same written criteria you use for every applicant. In an RSO unit, a refusal of the one added adult has to be reasonable, so write down the reason.
3. Decide whether the new person joins as a tenant or as an approved occupant, and put it in a signed addendum. Remember the Tenant Protection Act’s 24-month rule on added adult tenants.
4. In an RSO unit, work out whether the 10% increase applies and serve notice within 60 days of learning about the new tenant. Lower the rent when that person moves out.
5. If you find an unauthorized sublet, document it, serve a notice to perform covenant or quit on the tenant and the subtenant, file any copy your city requires, and talk to an attorney before any notice to quit.

Questions owners ask

Can my lease ban subletting completely?

Yes. Nothing in California law requires a residential lease to allow subletting. What a ban can accomplish is limited by local rules: in a City of LA RSO unit, for example, one added adult or a dependent does not break an occupancy limit, though you can still reasonably disapprove the adult.

My RSO tenant’s partner moved in. Can I raise the rent?

If the partner is not a dependent, LAHD allows a 10% increase for that additional tenant, with a matching 10% increase in the deposit, as long as you notify the tenants within 60 days of learning about the move-in. The rent comes back down when the partner leaves. An added dependent allows no increase.

Is a tenant’s Airbnb listing a sublet?

If your lease bars subletting without consent, a short-term rental by the tenant falls under it, and the city’s short-term rental rules apply as well. In the City of LA, see our short-term rental compliance guide.

Does adding a roommate change when just cause protection starts?

Under the state Tenant Protection Act it can. If an adult is added to the lease as a tenant before an existing tenant has been there 24 months, the just cause rule applies only once every tenant has been there 12 months, or one tenant has been there 24 months. City rules have their own timing.

Do I owe relocation if I end a tenancy over an unauthorized sublet?

Relocation under the Tenant Protection Act and under the Culver City and Inglewood ordinances is tied to no-fault terminations, and Beverly Hills’ fee is not owed on grounds B, D or G. A sublet case is an at-fault case. The notice rules still have to be followed exactly, so have an attorney review it.

Sources and disclaimer. California Civil Code section 1946.2 (subdivisions (a), (b)(1)(G) and (c)); Code of Civil Procedure section 1161, paragraphs (3) and (4); Civil Code sections 1995.010 and 1995.260; Los Angeles Municipal Code section 151.09 as amended by Ordinance 188,795; Los Angeles Housing Department, Allowable Rent Increase bulletin and Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance page; Culver City Municipal Code sections 15.09.315 and 15.09.325; Inglewood Municipal Code sections 8-120 through 8-124; Beverly Hills Municipal Code section 4-6-6 (subsections B, D and G) and section 4-6-9. Current as of October 2026. This article is general information for property owners from a California DRE-licensed property management company, not legal advice. Notice requirements are strict and vary by city, so confirm your facts and your notice with a real estate attorney before you serve anything.