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San Jose, CA Rental Property Rules: Tenant Anti-Harassment (2026)

Heavy Restrictions

Compiled from the official code textEditor Martyn O'NeillLast verified September 2026

Key Facts

Code: SJMC 17.23.1500
Prohibited acts: Fourteen categories listed
Tenant remedy: Treble damages plus fees
Enforced by: Tenants and Housing Department
Covered units: ARO, TPO, and other rentals

Summary

San Jose's Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance prohibits 14 categories of landlord conduct designed to pressure covered tenants out, including utility shutoffs, lockouts, threats, false notices, and refusal to accept rent. Violations carry civil penalties and tenant damages.

(3) Use, or threaten to use, force, willful threats, or menacing conduct constituting a course of conduct that interferes with the tenant’s quiet enjoyment of the premises in violation of Section 1927 that would create an apprehension of harm in a reasonable person. Nothing in this paragraph requires a tenant to be actually or constructively evicted in order to obtain relief.

Source: SJMC 17.23.1500 (Anti-Harassment)View official code

Full Breakdown

SJMC 17.23.1500, the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance, applies to Apartment Rent Ordinance units, Tenant Protection Ordinance units, and certain other rentals. The fourteen prohibited acts include: interrupting essential utilities, failing to perform repairs, abusing the right of entry, threatening or coercing tenants, refusing tender of rent, removing personal property, lockouts without legal process, serving false notices to quit, retaliation for protected tenant activity, misrepresenting immigration status, harassing protected-class tenants, and engaging in a pattern of conduct designed to force a tenant to vacate. Tenants may sue for actual damages, statutory penalties, attorney fees, and injunctive relief, in addition to filing complaints with the Housing Department.

Violations & Fines

Each act of harassment is a separate civil violation with tenant remedies including treble actual damages, statutory penalties, attorney fees, injunctive relief, and Housing Department-imposed administrative fines.

Frequently Asked Questions

What counts as harassment under the ordinance?

Examples include shutting off utilities, refusing repairs, lockouts, threats, abusive entry, false eviction notices, refusing rent payments, retaliation, and any conduct in bad faith aimed at forcing the tenant out.

How does a tenant enforce the ordinance?

Tenants may sue directly in court for damages, statutory penalties, and attorney fees, or file an administrative complaint with the San Jose Housing Department for investigation and possible civil penalties.

Sources & Official References

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All San Jose rules

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