(Written by Jonathan Kim)

Can you feel the heat? Residents in Los Angeles County have been experiencing record high temperatures for the past two decades. In an effort to provide relief for tenants, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed an ordinance on August 12, 2025, requiring all rental property owners to maintain indoor temperatures of no more than 82°F in all “habitable” rooms of a rental unit. The Board defines “habitable” rooms as any room used for living, sleeping, eating, or cooking and excludes spaces like bathrooms, hallways, and storage areas.

The ordinance became effective on September 11, 2025, but enforcement begins on January 1, 2027, giving landlords time to assess compliance needs and make necessary upgrades. This means that landlords must install safe and code-compliant cooling measures to ensure that the temperature does not exceed 82°F or allow tenants to install their own safe, code-compliant cooling systems.

The ordinance also forbids Landlords from passing the costs of equipment installation onto tenants and provides additional protections for tenants to ensure that code-compliant cooling practices are not a cause for eviction.

The Board is providing exemptions to for Small Property Landlords with 10 or fewer units to only maintain this temperature requirement in at least one Habitable room beginning on January 1, 2027, but Small Property Landlords will be required to maintain the temperature requirement in all Habitable rooms beginning on January 1, 2032. There will also be a new fee charged in addition to the Rental Housing Habitability Program fee in order to fund additional county inspectors. While the fee has yet to be confirmed, it is estimated that the additional cost will be around $7.77 per unit.

There are quite a number of questions and concerns regarding this ordinance:

• How will the County measure or enforce the 82°F requirement? The ordinance is not clear on how inspectors conduct their inspections or how they’ll determine compliance especially if the temperature fluctuates by varying degrees.
• What remedies to Landlords have if a tenant misuses or overloads electrical systems with high-draw cooling appliances? Some properties may not have the infrastructure or electrical capacity to support the strain of multiple additional cooling devices, so how will Landlords maintain compliance?
• How will non-compliance affect the Landlord’s ability to either raise rent or evict? How will eviction defense attorneys utilize this ordinance as a means to raise affirmative defenses?
• Are there any remedies for Landlords to off-set costs of installing cooling appliances?

Kendall Law will continue to monitor this ordinance and provide updates as enforcement nears. If you have concerns about compliance, exemptions, or need guidance implementing tenant-facing notices, feel free to contact our office.