Santa Ana · Local Tenant Protections

Ordinance No. NS-3052: What Santa Ana Renters Need to Know About the City's Just Cause and Rent Stabilization Protections

Santa Ana tenants enjoy eviction protections beyond those available under California law generally. Ordinance No. NS-3052, adopted by the Santa Ana City Council on October 17, 2023, entrenches those local protections and is a convenient occasion to explain, in full, what the City's Rent Stabilization and Just Cause Eviction Ordinance requires of landlords — and what it affords tenants.

Reviewed for accuracy against Santa Ana Municipal Code Chapter 8, Article XIX · For informational purposes only · Not a substitute for legal advice

Quick Answer

• Santa Ana has its own eviction ordinance that goes further than state law: a landlord in Santa Ana must have a legally recognized "just cause" before ending most tenancies of thirty days or longer.
• Ordinance No. NS-3052 does not create these protections from scratch — earlier ordinances did that — but it requires a two-thirds vote (five of seven City Council members) before the Council may weaken the just-cause categories, the rent-increase cap, or the rental registry. That makes these protections considerably harder to roll back.
• Landlords who have not registered a rental unit with the City's Rental Registry are barred from raising rent, demanding rent, or evicting a tenant from that unit — a defense every Santa Ana tenant facing eviction should ask about.
• Rent increases in Santa Ana are capped at the lesser of 3% or 80% of the change in the regional Consumer Price Index, and no more than once every twelve months.

1. Where This Ordinance Came From

To understand Ordinance No. NS-3052, a tenant should first understand the ordinances that preceded it. On October 19, 2021, the Santa Ana City Council adopted two companion measures: the Rent Stabilization Ordinance (Ordinance No. NS-3009) and the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance (Ordinance No. NS-3010). A year later, on October 18, 2022, the Council consolidated and expanded those measures through Ordinance No. NS-3027, which created Article XIX of Chapter 8 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code — the single article that now governs rent stabilization, just-cause eviction, the rental registry, the rental registry fee, and the Rental Housing Board within the city.

NS-3027 also built the administrative machinery that makes the ordinance workable: a Rental Registry, a Rental Registry Fee, a compliance program, a petition process for landlords and tenants alike, and a voluntary mediation process.

Ordinance No. NS-3052, adopted October 17, 2023 and effective thirty days later, is the most recent amendment to that framework. The City Council's stated reason for adopting it is instructive: council members had received repeated reports that landlords were disregarding the rent-increase and just-cause requirements, and the Council wished to give tenants, landlords, and mobilehome residents "consistency and ongoing stability" going forward.

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2. What NS-3052 Actually Changed

It bears stating plainly, in the spirit of accuracy rather than alarm: Ordinance No. NS-3052 is chiefly a procedural amendment. It did not invent the just-cause categories, the rent cap, or the registry described below — those already existed. What NS-3052 did was insert a supermajority requirement into four separate sections of Article XIX, providing that the Santa Ana City Council may not amend any of the following without the affirmative vote of two-thirds of its members (five of the seven council seats):

• The Council's authority to promulgate implementing regulations (SAMC § 8-3103(b));
• The at-fault and no-fault just-cause categories that protect tenants from termination (SAMC § 8-3120(k));
• The cap on annual rent increases (SAMC § 8-3140(a)); and
• The Rental Registry requirements (SAMC § 8-3160(l)).

For a tenant, the practical significance is this: a future City Council that wished to loosen the rent cap, narrow the just-cause categories, or dismantle the registry could not do so with a simple four-member majority. It would need five of the seven council members to agree. NS-3052 was adopted by a 4–3 vote — itself a reminder that these protections remain a subject of continuing political debate, and that the supermajority requirement was deliberately designed to give them staying power beyond any single election cycle.

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3. Just Cause: The Foundation of Santa Ana's Protection

Under Santa Ana Municipal Code § 8-3120(a), once a tenant has continuously and lawfully occupied a residential unit for thirty days, the owner may not terminate the tenancy without just cause, and that cause must be stated in the written notice terminating the tenancy. This protection does not extend to mobilehomes or mobilehome spaces within mobilehome parks, which instead fall under the state Mobilehome Residency Law, Civil Code § 798.56.

This local requirement operates alongside — and in some respects exceeds — the statewide Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (Civil Code § 1946.2), which many Santa Ana renters may already know applies statewide after twelve months of occupancy. Santa Ana's ordinance reaches tenants sooner, after only thirty days.

The ordinance also imposes a paperwork obligation on every landlord. An owner must post a City-prescribed notice describing these protections, including the protections against inquiry into a tenant's immigration or citizenship status found at Civil Code § 1940.35 and Code of Civil Procedure § 1161.4, written in whatever language the owner and tenant used to negotiate the tenancy — among the languages the ordinance specifically contemplates are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean, as well as English. A landlord must also give the tenant this notice directly at the start of any tenancy and whenever the landlord serves a notice changing the terms of tenancy.

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4. At-Fault Just Cause

Santa Ana's ordinance recognizes two families of just cause. The first, "at-fault" just cause, requires some act or default by the tenant. The categories, drawn from SAMC § 8-3120(b)(1), are:

Ground	What It Requires
Nonpayment of rent	Default in the payment of rent due.
Breach of a material lease term	A violation described in CCP § 1161(3), after written notice to correct. Notably, adding a dependent under eighteen, or an approved one-for-one replacement tenant, is not a breach if the owner unreasonably withholds consent or fails to respond in a reasonable time.
Nuisance or waste	Conduct described in CCP § 1161(4).
Refusal to renew an expiring written lease	On similar terms, after the owner's written request, where the terms do not otherwise violate law.
Criminal activity or threats	Directed at an owner, an owner's agent, or a household member or other tenant, reported to law enforcement within a reasonable time. This ground applies only to the tenant who committed the act; a tenant acquitted or never charged is entitled to reoccupy if the unit remains available.
Unauthorized assignment or subletting	In violation of the lease — subject to a safe harbor for a tenant who requests permission in writing, remains the primary resident, and replaces a departed co-tenant one-for-one.
Refusing lawful entry	As authorized by Civil Code § 1101.5, § 1954, and Health & Safety Code § 13113.7, § 17926.1.
Unlawful use of the premises	As described in CCP § 1161(4).
Employee, agent, or licensee holdover	Failure to vacate after termination of that relationship, per CCP § 1161(1).
Failure to deliver possession	After the tenant's own notice of intent to vacate under Civil Code § 1946, per CCP § 1161(5).

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5. No-Fault Just Cause and Relocation Assistance

The second family, "no-fault" just cause, requires no wrongdoing by the tenant at all. SAMC § 8-3120(b)(2) recognizes four grounds:

• Owner or family move-in. The owner, or the owner's spouse, domestic partner, child, grandchild, parent, or grandparent, intends to occupy the unit for at least twenty-four months, affirmed in a written affidavit filed with the City. For leases signed after the ordinance's effective date, this ground applies only if the tenant agreed to it in writing or the lease itself contains the required provision.
• Withdrawal from the rental market for at least twenty-four months, similarly affirmed by affidavit.
• Compliance with a government or court order, or a local ordinance, that requires vacating the unit for habitability reasons. If a government agency or court finds the tenant at fault for the condition requiring the order, the tenant loses the right to relocation assistance described below.
• Demolition or substantial remodeling. "Substantially remodel" is a defined term — it means work on a structural, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical system, or hazardous-materials abatement, that requires a government permit and cannot be performed safely with the tenant in place, forcing a vacancy of at least thirty days. Purely cosmetic work — painting, decorating, minor repairs — does not qualify. A tenant displaced for remodeling has a right of first refusal to reoccupy the unit at a comparable rent, and if the owner re-rents the remodeled unit within six months, the displaced tenant again has first right to reoccupy, unless the tenant has signed a written waiver of that right.

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6. Notice, Cure, and Your Landlord's Paperwork Duties

Before an owner may terminate a tenancy for a curable lease violation, the owner must first give the tenant written notice of the violation and an opportunity to cure it, consistent with CCP § 1161(3). Only if the violation goes uncured within the stated period may the owner then serve a three-day notice to quit without a further cure opportunity.

Every cure notice must, at minimum:

• Be dated and served by a method authorized under CCP § 1162;
• Inform the tenant that failure to cure may lead to eviction proceedings;
• Inform the tenant of the right to request a reasonable accommodation;
• Provide the contact number for the City's Program Administrator; and
• State the specific facts — dates, places, witnesses, and circumstances — supporting the alleged violation.

A cure notice that omits any of these elements is defective, and a defective notice generally cannot support a subsequent unlawful detainer action.

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7. Special Defenses: Domestic Violence, Minors in the Household

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8. Rent Increase Limits

Under SAMC § 8-3140(a), a landlord may not raise rent on a covered unit by more than the lesser of 3%, or 80% of the change in the Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area, and may not impose more than one increase in any twelve-month period. If the change in the Consumer Price Index is negative, no increase is permitted at all. The City announces the allowable percentage by June 30 of each year, effective the following September 1. Units expressly exempt under the state Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (Civil Code § 1954.50 et seq.), or governed instead by the Mobilehome Residency Law, fall outside this cap.

Because of NS-3052, the City Council cannot loosen this cap — that is, permit increases above 3%, or above 100% of the change in the Consumer Price Index — without a two-thirds council vote.

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9. The Rental Registry — A Defense Many Tenants Overlook

Since July 1, 2023, Santa Ana has required every landlord of a covered rental unit to complete a Rental Registration Form with the City (SAMC § 8-3160), disclosing the unit's address, bedroom and bathroom count, current owner and manager contact information, the date ownership was assumed, the current rent, the date and amount of the last rent increase, and the current tenant's move-in date. Registrations must be renewed annually by July 1, updated within sixty days of a change in ownership or management, and re-filed within thirty days after a re-rented vacancy.

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10. Properties This Ordinance Does Not Cover

Not every rental in Santa Ana is subject to Article XIX. SAMC § 8-3120(e) exempts, among others:

• Transient and tourist hotel occupancy;
• Housing within a nonprofit hospital, religious facility, extended-care facility, licensed elder-care facility, or adult residential facility;
• Dormitories owned by a college, university, or a K–12 school;
• Units where the tenant shares a bathroom or kitchen with an owner who resides on the property;
• Single-family, owner-occupied residences renting no more than two units or bedrooms (including an accessory dwelling unit);
• A duplex where the owner occupies one unit as a principal residence and continues to do so;
• Housing issued a certificate of occupancy within the preceding fifteen years (that is, most new construction);
• Condominiums and similar units alienable separately from other units, where the owner is not a REIT, a corporation, or an LLC with a corporate member — provided the tenant received the specific written notice the ordinance requires; and
• Deed-restricted affordable housing for very-low, low, or moderate-income households.

A tenant whose unit falls into one of these categories should not assume the protections above are unavailable without confirming the exemption actually applies — landlords sometimes assert an exemption incorrectly, and the ordinance requires specific written notice of any claimed exemption.

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11. If You Have Been Served

If you have recently received a notice to vacate, a notice to cure, or an unlawful detainer summons in Santa Ana, the protections described above may give you defenses your landlord's paperwork does not account for. In summary, before assuming the eviction is valid, it is worth confirming:

1. Whether the notice states a specific just cause, and whether that stated cause matches one of the categories described above;
2. Whether your unit is registered with the City's Rental Registry;
3. Whether, for a no-fault termination, your landlord has offered relocation assistance or a rent waiver as required;
4. Whether a cure notice, if one was required, contained everything the ordinance demands; and
5. Whether any of the special defenses described above — domestic violence, elder abuse, stalking, or a minor enrolled in school — apply to your household.

Tenant Eviction Defense prepares and electronically files responsive pleadings for tenants facing unlawful detainer actions in Orange County and throughout Southern California. We explain the law that applies to your situation and prepare the documents you direct us to prepare; the decisions about how to proceed remain yours.

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12. Frequently Asked Questions

Legal Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Santa Ana Municipal Code Chapter 8, Article XIX, as amended by Ordinance No. NS-3052, and is not a substitute for legal advice about your particular situation. Ordinances change, and this summary should be confirmed against the current Santa Ana Municipal Code before you rely on it in a legal proceeding. Tenant Eviction Defense does not have attorneys on staff; our services are limited to tenant education and client-directed document preparation.

Updated August 8, 2026.