Pomona Eviction Laws & Process

California landlord guide — notices, timelines, court filing & local rules

Eviction Laws in Pomona, California

Pomona just became one of California’s newest rent-controlled cities — and most of the internet hasn’t caught up. On November 17, 2025, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 4359, the Rent Stabilization and Eviction Control Ordinance, effective January 1, 2026: a hard 5% annual cap on covered units, just cause with mandatory relocation assistance on no-fault terminations, and a petition system with real teeth — replacing the temporary urgency ordinances (and their non-binding mediation) that had governed since 2022. The market underneath: about 45% of households rent, roughly 19,000 renter households, anchored by Cal Poly Pomona, the Fairplex, Pomona Valley Hospital, logistics, and LA commuters, at an average apartment rent of $2,257 (studios ~$1,862, 1BR ~$2,175), with 36% of stock at $2,001–$2,500, Phillips Ranch and Via Verde at the premium end — and notably, about 30% of the city’s rentals are single-family homes sitting outside the local cap under Costa-Hawkins. Everything a Pomona landlord needs to operate under the new regime — including the December 31, 2026 sunset wrinkle and the transition rules — is below.

The state machinery underneath: 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 — demanding rent only, in the exact amount. After the notice expires you e-file the UD complaint with the LA Superior Court and the tenant has 10 court days to respond. An uncontested default can wrap in five to six weeks; contested cases typically run two to three months. Statewide rules ride along: deposits capped at one month’s rent (AB 12), 21-day return window, AB 2801 photos, and the 2026 additions (AB 628 stove/refrigerator habitability, AB 414 electronic deposit returns, AB 747 service rules). Self-help is prohibited under Civil Code § 789.3 at a minimum $100 per day. Then the new city layer:

Ordinance 4359 — Pomona’s New Rules, Effective January 1, 2026

The cap: a hard 5%, not CPI-tied. Covered units take one increase per 12-month period, and no landlord may request, receive, or retain an increase exceeding 5% of the highest monthly rent charged for that unit during the prior 12 months. The fixed formula cuts both ways: it’s higher than the old 4%-or-CPI urgency cap in most years, but it won’t float upward if inflation runs hot.

Coverage and exemptions. The ordinance exempts units excluded by the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, the state Tenant Protection Act, and other state or federal law — which keeps single-family homes and condos (about 30% of Pomona’s rental stock) outside the local cap, answering instead to AB 1482 where covered. Covered multifamily takes the full package.

No rent registry. The council deliberately excluded a registry from the permanent ordinance — a meaningful administrative break compared to Hayward-or-Salinas-style regimes. Compliance is enforced through the petition system instead: tenants file a Petition of Noncompliance against unlawful increases or other violations, and landlords seeking above-cap relief file a Fair Return Petition or Capital Improvement Petition.

Just cause + relocation. Every termination needs a qualifying at-fault or no-fault reason, and no-fault terminations (renovations, owner move-in, and similar) carry mandatory financial relocation assistance — the headline change from the mediation era, when no-fault displacement carried no price tag.

The 10-day UD reporting rule. A copy of any unlawful detainer action filed in court must be submitted to the City within 10 calendar days after serving the tenant. (Under the new ordinance, 3-day notices themselves no longer go to the City — the filed UD does.) Build it into the filing workflow; it’s the easiest new-regime miss.

The sunset wrinkle. The ordinance’s current program runs through December 31, 2026, funded outside the General Fund, with extension dependent on the council’s 2026 budget decisions — so Pomona landlords should operate in full compliance now while watching the council calendar for what 2027 looks like. Verify current program status with the city’s Rent Stabilization Program page before relying on any expiration.

LA Superior Court — Where Pomona Landlords File

Under the LA Superior Court’s hub system for unlawful detainer cases, eastern San Gabriel Valley filings are heard at the Pomona Courthouse South, 400 Civic Center Plaza — in town for Pomona landlords (confirm your case’s hub assignment with the court’s filing-court locator on lacourt.org before e-filing, as LASC adjusts hub coverage by ZIP). Filing is by mandatory e-filing through an approved 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 Pomona nonpayment cases — and $385–$435 for larger or unlimited claims. LASC’s free Online Dispute Resolution program is available for UD cases. Two Pomona-specific checkpoints before any filing: the just-cause basis documented under Ordinance 4359 (with relocation paid or committed on no-fault grounds), and the calendar reminder to deliver the UD copy to the City within 10 calendar days of serving the tenant. 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 countywide queue commonly adds two to three weeks. lacourt.org hosts the hub locator and UD forms; pomonaca.gov hosts the ordinance text, petition forms, and the published allowable-increase notice.

Pomona Rental Market Snapshot

Current data for Pomona landlords and investors

California Eviction Laws

State statutes, notice requirements, and landlord rights that apply to every Pomona rental

Pomona Eviction Cost Snapshot

Typical filing, service, and court fees for a Los Angeles County unlawful detainer action

California Notice Period Calculator

Calculate your required notice period and earliest filing date under California law

LA Superior Court — Pomona Courthouse South

Where Pomona landlords file eviction complaints

Screen Tenants Before You Sign in Pomona

Under a hard 5% cap, vacancy is the moment Costa-Hawkins lets a covered unit reset to market — which makes every placement a multi-year underwriting decision. Run background, credit, and eviction history on every adult, verify income at the source (university, hospital, logistics, and student-adjacent files all paper differently), hold one written standard for every applicant including voucher holders, and document each decision — under an ordinance with a tenant petition system, the written screening file is your compliance record too.

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Pomona Eviction FAQ

Common questions from Pomona landlords

How long does an eviction take in Pomona?

Plan for roughly five to six weeks on a clean default and two to three months on a contested case. The 3-day notice counts court days only, the tenant gets 10 court days to answer, the case is heard at the Pomona Courthouse South under the LASC hub system, and the LA County Sheriff’s lockout queue adds two to three weeks after the writ. Two new-regime checkpoints: the Ordinance 4359 just-cause basis (with relocation handled on no-fault grounds), and the copy of the filed UD delivered to the City within 10 calendar days of serving the tenant.

Where do Pomona landlords file an eviction?

In town — under the LA Superior Court’s hub system, eastern San Gabriel Valley unlawful detainers are heard at the Pomona Courthouse South, 400 Civic Center Plaza (confirm your case’s hub assignment with the filing-court locator on lacourt.org). Filing is by mandatory e-filing through an approved provider. First-paper fees run about $240 for limited UDs demanding under $10,000 (most Pomona nonpayment cases) and $385–$435 above that; the complaint is confidential for 60 days under CCP § 1161.2 — and don’t forget the City’s 10-day copy.

How much can I raise rent in Pomona in 2026?

On covered units: 5%, once per 12 months — a hard cap under Ordinance 4359, not tied to CPI, measured against the highest monthly rent charged for the unit in the prior 12 months. Above-cap relief runs through a Fair Return Petition or Capital Improvement Petition with the city. Costa-Hawkins-exempt stock — single-family homes (about 30% of Pomona’s rentals), condos, and qualifying newer construction — answers instead to AB 1482 where covered (5% + CPI, max 10%), with increases over 10% on exempt property requiring 90 days’ notice.

Can I evict a tenant in Pomona without a written lease?

Yes — oral and month-to-month tenancies are fully covered by the UD process, and nonpayment uses the same 3-day notice. But under Ordinance 4359 every termination needs a qualifying at-fault or no-fault reason regardless of lease form, no-fault grounds carry mandatory relocation assistance, and the filed UD must be copied to the City within 10 calendar days. State law layers AB 1482 on top where applicable. Lockouts and utility shutoffs are illegal self-help regardless of the arrangement.

Does Pomona have rent control?

Yes — as of January 1, 2026, and permanently in form: Ordinance No. 4359, the Rent Stabilization and Eviction Control Ordinance, adopted November 17, 2025, replacing the urgency ordinances that had governed since 2022. Covered units take a hard 5% annual cap, just cause, no-fault relocation, and a petition-based enforcement system — with no rent registry. One wrinkle worth tracking: the current program is funded through December 31, 2026, with extension dependent on council budget decisions, so check the city’s Rent Stabilization Program page for current status. Vacancy decontrol applies under Costa-Hawkins: when a tenant voluntarily vacates, the unit re-rents at market.

I own a Pomona triplex and I’ve been operating under the old mediation rules — what actually changed on January 1, 2026, and what do I need to fix first?

Almost everything about enforcement, and the landlords who keep running the 2025 playbook are the ones the new petition system was built to catch — so here’s the transition, old regime to new, in operating order. What the old regime was. From 2022 through the end of 2025, Pomona ran on urgency ordinances (4320, then amended 4329): increases capped at the lesser of CPI or 4%, disputes routed to non-binding mediation, and 3-day notices reported to the City. The teeth were soft — a landlord who pushed past mediation faced friction, not machinery. What the new regime is. Ordinance 4359 replaced all of it on January 1, 2026: the cap moved to a flat 5% — higher than the old ceiling in most years, and deliberately simpler — but the enforcement flipped from mediation to a petition system with real consequences. A tenant who believes an increase exceeds the cap (or that any provision was violated) files a Petition of Noncompliance with the city; a landlord who needs more than 5% files a Fair Return Petition or, for qualifying upgrades, a Capital Improvement Petition. Mediation-as-the-endpoint is gone. The cap’s measuring stick matters. The ordinance bars any increase exceeding 5% of the highest monthly rent charged for that unit during the prior 12 months — so your baseline is your own ledger, and a discounted month doesn’t lower the bar, but neither does an aspirational rent you never actually charged. Compute each unit’s trailing-12 high before drafting any notice, and keep the computation in the file. Transition mechanics on increases. The operative question for any increase straddling the new year is its effective date: an increase taking effect under the new ordinance answers to the new rules, whatever the notice’s service date — so audit anything you served in late 2025 with a 2026 effective date against the 5%-of-trailing-high formula, and if one fails, correct it now rather than defending it in a petition. The reporting change. Under the old regime you sent 3-day notices to the City; under 4359 you don’t — instead, a copy of any filed unlawful detainer goes to the City within 10 calendar days of serving the tenant. Update the workflow: notices stay between you and the tenant, lawsuits get copied to the City, and the 10-day clock runs from service. The relocation change — budget for it. No-fault terminations (renovation, owner move-in, withdrawal) now carry mandatory financial relocation assistance, full stop. Under mediation-era rules, a no-fault displacement was a scheduling problem; now it’s a line item — so any 2026 renovation or repositioning plan for covered units needs relocation costs in the pro forma, and the just-cause basis documented before the notice is served, because the City will see the UD within 10 days of filing. What didn’t change. Your exempt stock is still exempt: single-family homes and condos under Costa-Hawkins, and AB 1482-exempt categories, sit outside the local cap exactly as before — though state rules still apply where they apply. And vacancy decontrol survives: a voluntary vacancy resets a covered unit to market. The fix-first checklist for your triplex: (1) compute each unit’s trailing-12 high and verify every pending or recent increase clears 5% of it; (2) update your eviction workflow with the 10-day UD-copy rule; (3) re-cost any planned no-fault action with relocation assistance included; (4) replace mediation assumptions with petition readiness — clean ledgers, complete notices, documented cause — because petitions are decided on paper; and (5) calendar the sunset: the program currently runs through December 31, 2026, and the council’s funding decision will determine 2027, so check the city’s Rent Stabilization page each quarter. The bottom line on the transition: the cap got friendlier, the consequences got real, and the operators who win under 4359 are the ones whose files were already petition-proof the day it took effect.

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