Eviction Laws in Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a port city with an apartment city inside it: 59% of households rent — about 101,000 renter households — across some of the oldest multifamily stock in Southern California, with 19% of rentals built before 1939 and another third from the 1950s–70s. Average apartment rent runs about $2,684 (studios ~$1,947, 1BR ~$2,448, 2BR ~$3,085, 3BR ~$4,024), up a steady 2.1% year-over-year. The tenant base tracks the city’s anchors: the Port of Long Beach and the logistics economy around it, Cal State Long Beach, the downtown medical corridor, and a growing share of priced-out LA renters working up the 710. Legally, Long Beach sits inside LA County but runs its own playbook: there’s no local rent cap — AB 1482 governs increases — but the city’s Just Cause for Termination of Tenancies Ordinance (LBMC Chapter 8.99, adopted February 2020) controls the eviction side with rules that are stricter, and stranger, than state law in several spots landlords don’t expect.
California evictions run through the unlawful detainer process in Superior Court (CCP § 1161). For nonpayment, you serve a written 3-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit — three court days, excluding weekends and judicial holidays — and the notice can demand rent only: no late fees, no utilities, no other charges, or it’s defective. Once a Long Beach tenant clears the ordinance’s occupancy threshold, every termination must state a just cause under LBMC 8.99, and no-fault terminations carry the city’s relocation payment. After the notice expires you e-file the UD complaint — Long Beach addresses file at the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse downtown, one of LA Superior Court’s designated unlawful detainer hubs — and the tenant has 10 court days to respond. An uncontested default can wrap in six to eight weeks; contested cases realistically run three to four months with the LA County Sheriff’s lockout queue at the end. Statewide rules ride along: deposits capped at one month’s rent (AB 12), 21-day return window, AB 2801 move-in/move-out/post-repair photos, and the 2026 additions — stove and refrigerator as habitability items (AB 628), electronic deposit returns (AB 414), and tightened UD proof-of-service rules (AB 747). Self-help is prohibited under Civil Code § 789.3 at a minimum $100 per day in penalties.
Long Beach — Local Rules That Affect Landlords
LBMC 8.99 — just cause with local teeth. The city’s Just Cause Ordinance covers rental units 15 years old or older and attaches once the occupancy threshold is met: 12 months of continuous lawful occupancy — but if an adult tenant is added to the household before the original tenant hits 12 months, protection waits until all adults reach 12 months or any one adult reaches 24. Every covered termination must state a just cause, waivers are void, and tenancies that began or renewed on or after July 1, 2020 must carry the ordinance’s notice language in the lease itself.
Relocation is the greater of two numbers. No-fault terminations (owner move-in, withdrawal, substantial remodel, government order) require relocation assistance of $4,500 or two months of the tenant’s rent — whichever is greater. At today’s average rents, two months runs $5,300+, so the $4,500 figure most older guides quote is no longer the operative number for most units.
Substantial remodel is a regulated path, not a loophole. After 2022 amendments, remodel-based terminations require the real thing — permitted work a tenant can’t safely live through — and the city makes the tenant roster part of the permit process: landlords must submit the list of affected tenancies as a condition of permit issuance, and violations of the remodel provisions carry civil fines up to $15,000.
No local rent cap. Increases answer to AB 1482 for covered property — 5% + regional CPI, max 10% (about 8% for the LA region through July 2026) — and exempt single-family homes need the statutory exemption notice in the lease, verbatim; “this property is exempt from rent control” doesn’t satisfy the statute.
County overlay awareness. Long Beach is an incorporated city, so LA County’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance doesn’t apply inside city limits — but landlords with portfolios spanning Long Beach and unincorporated pockets nearby are running two different rulebooks, and the county’s source-of-income rules and tenant programs still shape the applicant pool.
Deukmejian Courthouse — Where Long Beach Landlords File
Limited-jurisdiction unlawful detainer cases in LA County must be filed at a designated hub courthouse, and for Long Beach addresses that’s the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, 275 Magnolia Avenue in downtown Long Beach — one of the LASC’s regional UD hubs, so Long Beach landlords file locally rather than trekking to Stanley Mosk. Civil filing in LASC is mandatory electronic filing through an approved e-filing service provider, and UD complaints are confidential for the first 60 days under CCP § 1161.2. First-paper fees follow the statewide schedule: about $240 for limited UDs demanding under $10,000 — most Long Beach nonpayment cases — and $385–$435 for larger or unlimited claims. On covered property, your notice file should already show the LBMC 8.99 just cause, the lease’s ordinance notice language, and the relocation payment math for no-fault grounds — these are the first things a tenant’s answer attacks. If you prevail, the clerk issues a writ of possession to the LA County Sheriff’s civil division, which posts a 5-day notice to vacate before completing the lockout; the Sheriff’s countywide queue commonly adds two to three weeks. lacourt.org publishes the hub courthouse list and UD forms, and the city’s tenant-landlord resources page hosts the official Just Cause guide.
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