Pismo Beach, CA Rental Property Rules: Rent Control (2026)

Chapter 5.20 is titled Mobilehome Park Rent Control Regulations, and § 5.20.020 applies its rent control provisions to any mobilehome park where two or more mobilehome sites are rented or held out for rent. The findings trace the program to Ordinance No. 305, adopted in November 1982 as a mobilehome rent stabilization ordinance, and the city council kept the concept of limiting the automatic annual increase to seventy-five percent of CPI.

Once a year, provided the notice of increase required by law is given, management can raise base rent by seventy-five percent of the CPI increase or by an amount necessary to maintain net operating income of the park, adjusted for inflation. The CPI figure is the product of base rent multiplied by seventy-five percent of the increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, All Items, in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area over the CPI one year earlier. If the Bureau of Labor Statistics discontinues that index, the city clerk specifies the most similar index available. Rents cannot include capital expense or capital improvement charges except under § 5.20.031 D and E. When a space reverts to management control through lawful means, management can negotiate a new base rent for that space, which is then subject to the chapter, and a transfer of the mobilehome in place is handled under § 5.20.070.

Section 5.20.020 C exempts three groups: rental agreements longer than twelve months that give the occupant at least thirty days to accept and seventy-two hours to void, spaces that are not the occupant's principal residence, and new construction. The chapter also builds in review. Every two years a subcommittee appointed by the mayor reviews the chapter and reports its recommendations to the council. Rent increases above the seventy-five percent of CPI amount trigger the meet and confer process in § 5.20.034 and the petition and hearing rules.