Since September 6, 2026, recovering a rental unit in many Alhambra apartment buildings for owner move-in or withdrawal from the rental market costs three months' rent, up from one. The new rule doesn't reach most buildings of four units or fewer. Once a building has a fifth unit, the three-month obligation applies in every situation where state law already required relocation assistance. For anyone underwriting a duplex-to-14-unit building in Alhambra, unit count is now part of the cost of changing a building's use, along with rent rolls and cap rates.
The change comes from Ordinance No. O2M26-4861. It adds Chapter 6.29, "Residential Tenant Protections," to the Alhambra Municipal Code. The City Council adopted it on July 27, 2026, and the City's Residential Tenant Protection Ordinance page gives September 6, 2026 as its effective date. According to City guidance, a qualifying tenant receives either three months' rent as relocation assistance or a waiver of rent for the last three months of the tenancy, and the owner chooses which.
Where the line falls
The ordinance builds on state law and doesn't replace it. California's Tenant Protection Act, AB 1482, already requires relocation assistance for certain no-fault terminations once a tenant has lived in a unit for 12 continuous months. Under the state rule, the payment is one month's rent or a waiver of the final month, generally provided within 15 calendar days. In the May 11, 2026 council minutes, city staff listed those no-fault situations as owner move-in, substantial rehabilitation, demolition, and withdrawal of units from the rental market.
Alhambra's ordinance raises that obligation from one month to three wherever AB 1482 requires assistance. It also exempts residential properties with four or fewer units, except in cases of demolition or substantial remodel.
Here is how the City's description applies to the buildings small investors usually trade:
| Building size | Owner move-in or withdrawal from rental market | Substantial remodel or demolition |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 4 units | One month, under AB 1482 | Three months, under Chapter 6.29 |
| 5 to 14 units | Three months, under Chapter 6.29 | Three months, under Chapter 6.29 |
City materials describe the ordinance as applying wherever AB 1482 requires relocation assistance. That's how the three-month figure reaches owner move-in and withdrawal from the rental market in the bottom-left cell. The table follows that description. It isn't quoted ordinance text, and the full ordinance on the City's site is the place to confirm how it applies to a specific property and how the three-month figure is measured.
Enforcement works through eviction cases. If an owner doesn't comply, the tenant can raise that as a defense when the owner files an action to recover possession of the unit. In practice, a missed relocation payment can stall the recovery the owner was paying for.
Why the small-building exemption ends at demolition
The table's right-hand column, where every building size owes three months, traces back to one site. The City's project page for 110 South Chapel Avenue describes a 60-unit residential development. At the February 23, 2026 council meeting, a resident raised concerns about displacement. Other speakers asked for help for people displaced by the project. By the June 22 first reading, the City's own minutes described the development as having evicted several tenants.
Council discussion kept returning to that case. On May 11, Councilmember Maza referred to the recent case at 110 S. Chapel Ave and to the need to support people who had been evicted. In the same remarks, he proposed exempting buildings of one to four units while keeping the three-month payment for evictions tied to demolition or substantial remodel. That pairing shaped the final rule. Small owners keep the state's one-month rule for ordinary recoveries, but redevelopment, the activity behind the ordinance, costs three months whatever the building's size.
This has a direct effect on value-add math. A buyer looking at an older Alhambra fourplex with plans for a substantial remodel is already in the three-month column. The small-building exemption protects an owner who wants to move into a unit. It doesn't protect a renovation plan.
How a fourplex ended up as the cutoff
The four-unit threshold came out of four meetings, and the record shows other cutoffs were proposed along the way.
- April 13, 2026. The council received a staff report on rent-increase and displacement strategies. It directed staff to return with an ordinance requiring three months' rent for no-fault relocation assistance.
- May 11, 2026. Councilmember Wang said she was open to considerations for "mom and pop" landlords. Vice Mayor Andrade-Stadler supported the one-to-four-unit exception and suggested more regulation for corporate owners. Councilmember Lee said she could support an exception for one to two units, but her substitute motion to exempt single-family homes and duplexes received no second. Mayor Maloney clarified the direction as a new exemption for properties of four units or fewer, with demolition and substantial renovation still subject to three months. Councilmember Maza suggested the council review the ordinance after a year.
- June 22, 2026. The revised ordinance received its first reading by a 4-0 vote. Councilmember Maza recused himself because he owns a four-unit property in Alhambra. During public comment, one speaker asked the council to raise the exception to eight or nine units. The Citrus Valley Association of Realtors, the Arcadia Board of Realtors, and the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles spoke against the ordinance, and the California Apartment Association submitted written opposition.
- July 27, 2026. The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles asked the council to add language limiting the increased obligation to owners with nine or more units. The council adopted the ordinance as written, with Lee, Andrade-Stadler, Wang, and Maloney in favor and Maza recused.
The nine-unit proposal matters for anyone holding or buying in the five-to-eight-unit range. Those buildings would have been exempt under that threshold, and they're now fully covered. With the one-year review raised in May, the threshold could come up again.
What this does to a five-to-fourteen-unit purchase
Because the obligation is counted in months of rent, the math is easy to run on any rent roll. Take a buyer who wants to occupy one unit and is choosing between a fourplex and a six-unit building with similar rents. The fourplex buyer's relocation obligation to the displaced tenant is one month's rent. The six-unit buyer's is three months for the same move. Same plan, same tenancy length, and the larger building owes three times as much.
The gap grows when a whole building is involved. Withdrawing all five units of a fiveplex from the rental market comes to 15 months of combined rent in relocation assistance. Under the state rule alone, it would have been five. A substantial remodel of a fourplex costs 12 months of combined rent, because the remodel exception applies regardless of size. A four-unit building with an owner moving into one unit is the only common case where the old one-month figure still holds.
For sellers of five-plus-unit buildings, the ordinance changes how buyer types weigh the property. A buyer who plans to keep the existing tenants and operate the building as-is doesn't see a new cost. A buyer planning owner occupancy, repositioning, or redevelopment does, and that cost now belongs in the pro forma next to deferred maintenance and financing. Our guide on how to price and sell a small apartment building covers how buyer type drives pricing, and the four-unit line gives Alhambra listings one more variable.
What the ordinance leaves alone
Chapter 6.29 addresses relocation assistance only. Alhambra has no local rent cap. The City's March 23, 2026 report on rent strategies described a local rent-stabilization program and a rental registry only as options the City "may consider." It also noted that the City already requires a residential rental business license under AMC §5.04.202. Annual increases in covered buildings therefore follow the state cap. The California Attorney General lists 8.7% as the maximum for increases taking effect in Los Angeles County from August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027.
Because the ordinance attaches to cases where AB 1482 requires assistance, properties outside AB 1482 stay outside it too. That includes housing less than 15 years old, and a duplex where the owner has occupied one unit as their principal residence since the start of the tenancy. AB 1482's provisions are scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2030.
This isn't the City's first tenant measure tied to remodels. In 2023, Alhambra adopted a temporary moratorium on no-fault substantial-remodel evictions. A later ordinance extended it through March 31, 2024, when the state's SB 567 protections took effect. Chapter 6.29 is a permanent code chapter, and it applies to small buildings at the demolition and remodel stage, the same point the 2023 moratorium addressed.
If you own or are considering a small apartment building in Alhambra and want to know which column of that table your plans fall into, our team works with owners and buyers of duplex-to-14-unit buildings. Joy Realty Group can walk through the rent roll, the unit count, and the relocation figures with you before you set a price or write an offer. Schedule a consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
