Santee, CA Rental Property Rules: Rent Increase Notice (2026)

Chapter 2.44 of the Santee Municipal Code sets the notice rules for rent increases in manufactured and mobile home parks; Santee has no equivalent notice ordinance for other rental housing. The chapter caps annual increases through a permissive CPI-based formula: under Section 2.44.100(C)(1), a park owner's annual permissive adjustment equals 100 percent of the change in the San Diego CPI-U All Items Index whenever that change is five percent or less, plus 70 percent of any portion of the CPI increase above five percent. The City Manager calculates that percentage figure each year and must notify park owners of it no later than the prior September 1; the notice itself must be issued on a Commission-prepared form and attached to the rent-adjustment notification.

For the resulting rent-ceiling adjustment to take effect on the following January 1, the park owner must in turn notify home owners in writing no later than the prior October 1, a step the code ties to the notice procedures of California Civil Code Section 798.30. Because Chapter 2.44 defines its own rent-increase notice timeline running on the calendar year, Santee mobile home park owners cannot rely on other residential notice periods when raising space rent; the City's own October 1 deadline governs whether a January 1 ceiling adjustment can lawfully take effect. Santee has no separate rent-increase notice ordinance covering apartments or single-family rentals.