Marin County, CA Rental Property Rules: Rent Increase Notice (2026)
Key Facts
- Mediation trigger
- Rent increase over 5% within 12 months
- Tenant request window
- 10 calendar days of the increase notice
- Tenant-rights notice required
- With every rent-increase notice served
- Languages required
- English, Spanish, and Vietnamese
- Missing-notice consequence
- Rent increase notice is invalid, unenforceable
- Administering agency
- Community Development Agency / designated mediator
Summary
Marin County requires landlords in unincorporated areas to give tenants a notice of tenant rights whenever they serve a rent increase, on top of the state notice required by Civil Code § 827. Tenants get 10 days from that notice to request free county mediation on any increase over 5 percent in 12 months, and skipping the notice voids the increase.
(a)Tenant-Initiated Mediation. A Tenant residing in a dwelling unit may file a request and receive mediation services within either thirty calendar days from the enactment of this chapter or ten calendar days of the tenant's receipt of one or more notices in accordance with California Civil Code section 827 that individually or cumulatively increase rent more than five percent within any twelve-month period. ... 5.95.080 - Notice of tenant rights. (a)Landlords must provide to each tenant a notice of tenant rights under this chapter that describes the mediation service and how to request service ... (d)Failure to comply with the notice provisions described in this chapter shall render any rental increase notice invalid and unenforceable. The failure to comply with the notice provisions will be cured only after the proper written notice of tenant's rights, along with a new rental increase notice, has been properly served on the tenant.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 2026 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
95, adopted by Ordinance No. 3680 in 2017 and amended in 2018, governs rent-increase disputes on residential rental units in unincorporated Marin County, excluding government-owned or income-restricted affordable units. 040 lets a tenant request free county mediation within ten calendar days of receiving one or more notices under California Civil Code Section 827 that individually or cumulatively raise rent more than 5 percent within any twelve-month period; a landlord seeking such an increase can likewise request mediation. 050(b)(4) holds that the rent increase does not take effect until mediation concludes, unless the parties agree otherwise in writing.
080 requires every landlord to give tenants a separate notice of tenant rights describing the mediation service: within 30 days of the chapter's 2017 enactment, when signing or renewing a lease, and every time the landlord serves a rent-increase notice. That notice must be provided in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese using the county's translated forms, and if the lease itself was negotiated in another language, the landlord must also translate the notice into that language. 080(d) makes the rent increase notice itself invalid and unenforceable until the landlord serves the proper tenant-rights notice together with a fresh rent-increase notice.
Violations & Fines
A landlord who raises rent without the required tenant-rights notice under Section 5.95.080 has an invalid, unenforceable increase until proper notice and a new increase notice are both served. Failing to participate in mediation in good faith under Section 5.95.050(d) can itself bar the increase from taking effect, and any aggrieved tenant may sue for injunctive relief and triple damages under Section 5.95.070, plus attorney's fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Marin County require a special notice when a landlord raises rent?
What happens if a Marin County landlord skips the tenant-rights notice on a rent increase?
How much can a Marin County landlord raise rent before a tenant can demand mediation?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Marin County
California rules heatmap·Compare Marin County to another location·View the California rental property rules overview
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