Napa County, CA Rental Property Rules: Just Cause Eviction (2026)

Napa County has not enacted a stand-alone local just-cause eviction ordinance for the unincorporated county. The controlling framework is the California Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB 1482), codified at California Civil Code Sections 1946.2 (just cause) and 1947.12 (rent cap). Under Section 1946.2, a landlord of a covered residential property may not terminate a tenancy after the tenant has continuously and lawfully occupied the unit for 12 months without 'just cause' stated in the notice of termination. Just cause is divided into at-fault categories (default in payment of rent, breach of a material lease term, nuisance, criminal activity, refusal to allow lawful entry, etc.) and no-fault categories (owner or close-relative move-in, withdrawal of the unit from the rental market under the Ellis Act, demolition or substantial remodel, government order). No-fault terminations require relocation assistance equal to one month of rent, paid either as a direct payment within 15 calendar days of service of notice or as a waiver of the final month's rent. Covered units include most residential properties; key statutory exemptions from just cause are single-family homes and condominiums owned by natural-person owners (not corporations, LLCs with any corporate member, or REITs) when proper written notice of exemption is served, owner-occupied duplexes, and housing certificated for occupancy within the previous 15 years (rolling). The City of Napa enacted a separate local just-cause ordinance that goes beyond AB 1482 for properties inside the city; that ordinance does not apply to addresses outside city limits.