On this page
- Once letters issue, the personal representative runs the building for the estate. That means rent, repairs, insurance and the LAHD registration.
- Rent rules follow the property. RSO coverage in the City of Los Angeles turns on the building's certificate of occupancy date, not on who owns it.
- Showings need notice. Civil Code section 1954 presumes 24 hours is reasonable, and allows oral notice after a written for-sale notice.
- At closing, Civil Code section 1950.5 has each security deposit either transferred to the buyer, with written notice to the tenant, or returned to the tenant with an accounting.
Who runs the building while probate is open?
Until letters issue, nobody has full power to act for the estate. Probate Code section 8400 does let a named executor take the measures needed to maintain and preserve the estate before appointment, and for a building with tenants that covers the urgent things, such as insurance, utilities for common areas and a repair that cannot wait.
After letters, the personal representative acts for the estate in everything the building needs. A working list for the first month:
- Collect every lease, the rent roll and the record of security deposits held for each unit.
- Tell the insurance carrier about the death and confirm the policy stays in force for the estate.
- Open an estate bank account and tell tenants in writing where to pay rent from now on.
- Find out who holds keys, who does repairs and whom tenants call after hours.
- Check the LAHD registration and the annual bill, covered below.
- Decide whether a property manager will run the building until it sells.
Keep the building's income and expenses apart from your own money and from the estate's other assets. The attorney will need clean numbers for the court, and buyers will ask to see them.
Which rent rules apply to the building?
The ones that applied before the death. Each rule below is defined by the property and the tenancy, not by the owner, so the estate and later the buyer take the building under the same rules.
| Rule | Which units | What it limits |
|---|---|---|
| Rent Stabilization Ordinance | City of Los Angeles rental units with a certificate of occupancy issued on or before October 1, 1978. A parcel with only one single-family home is exempt. | Annual rent increases, and the grounds, filings and relocation assistance for ending a tenancy |
| Just Cause Ordinance | Most City of Los Angeles rentals the RSO does not cover, once the tenant has lived there six months or the original lease has expired | Evictions need a just cause, with relocation assistance for no-fault evictions. It does not regulate rent. |
| Civil Code sections 1947.12 and 1946.2 | California rentals that are not exempt. Exemptions include housing under stricter local rent control and housing with a certificate of occupancy issued within the previous 15 years. | Increases over 12 months capped at 5 percent plus the change in the cost of living, or 10 percent, whichever is lower, until January 1, 2030. A just cause is required after 12 months of tenancy. |
| Costa-Hawkins, Civil Code section 1954.52 | Units with a certificate of occupancy issued after February 1, 1995, and units that can be sold separately, such as a condo or a single-family home | Lets the owner set the initial rent and later rents, which limits what local rent control can regulate |
For RSO units, the yearly allowance follows a formula the City adopted as of February 2, 2026: nine tenths of the average CPI, never under 1 percent and never over 4 percent. For the year from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, LAHD puts it at 3 percent. Since that February date, an estate that pays the building's utilities cannot add a utility percentage on top, and a new occupant no longer justifies the old extra 10 percent.
Under the RSO, rents reset at a vacancy, not at a sale. A unit that empties because the tenant chose to leave, or was evicted for unpaid lawful rent, can be rented to the next tenant at a new rent. A unit emptied by an owner or family move-in eviction stays controlled for whoever rents it next. A buyer who expects to reset rents at closing has misread the rules, and it is better for the estate if the buyer learns that from the listing than from a tenant. To check a specific address, use LAHD's RSO property search.
How do you keep the LAHD registration current?
In the City of Los Angeles, annual registration is mandatory for every residential rental unit. Each year the owner pays the RSO, Just Cause Ordinance and Systematic Code Enforcement Program fees that apply and submits a Rent Registry. LAHD's Rent Registry page says the registry for each RSO unit must be received on or before the last day of February. The fees change, so take the current amounts from LAHD's annual RSO, JCO and SCEP bill page rather than from last year's invoice.
Registration carries more weight than the bill suggests. LAHD's RSO registration bulletin says a registration certificate is required to legally collect rent, that the certificate is issued only after every requirement is met, and that a copy goes to the tenant. An estate that lets registration lapse gives tenants a reason to question the rent and gives the buyer one more thing to fix.
At closing the duty moves to the buyer. The same bulletin gives a new owner 45 days from the close of escrow, or from recording of the ownership change, to register the units, with a recorded deed as proof of ownership.
How much notice do tenants get for showings?
Civil Code section 1954 allows entry to show a unit to prospective or actual purchasers, and presumes 24 hours to be reasonable notice when there is no evidence to the contrary.
A building that is on the market gets a shortcut. Once a tenant has received a written notice, sometime in the last 120 days, saying the building is for sale and that showings may be arranged by talking to them, each later showing can be set up with notice given in person or by phone.
Send that written notice to every unit when the listing starts. Then group the showings so each tenant is disturbed as few times as possible, show any vacant unit first, and ask tenants which times work for them. A tenant who feels ambushed can make every later showing harder.
Which documents will buyers ask for?
A buyer of an occupied building is buying the rent roll, so the buyer checks it against the leases. Pull these together early:
- Every lease and amendment, with a note of any unit that has no written lease
- The rent roll, with each unit's current rent and the date of its last increase
- The security deposits held, unit by unit
- LAHD registration records and the latest annual bill
- Any notices served on tenants, and any open disputes or repair requests
- Service contracts, such as laundry and trash
A tenant estoppel certificate is a short statement a tenant signs confirming the rent, the deposit, the lease dates and whether the tenant claims anything against the owner. A buyer or the buyer's lender may ask for them. Whether a tenant has to sign one depends on the lease, so read the leases before you promise a buyer an estoppel from every unit. Even a few signed estoppels can catch a mistake in the rent roll before it turns into a dispute in escrow.
Do not serve a notice to end a tenancy, or offer a tenant money to leave, without the estate's attorney. The RSO protects some tenants from owner or family move-in evictions altogether, including tenants 62 or older or disabled who have lived there 10 years or more, and a mistake can cost the estate more than the vacancy is worth. Shaya is a real estate agent, not an attorney, and cannot advise on tenancy law.
What changes for tenants at closing?
The landlord changes, and the tenancies carry on. Civil Code section 1950.5 gives the seller two ways to handle each security deposit. The first is to transfer what remains after any lawful deductions to the buyer, and then notify the tenant, by personal delivery or first-class mail, of the transfer, any claims against the deposit, the amount deposited, and the buyer's name, address and phone number. The second is to return what remains to the tenant, with an accounting. If the seller does neither, the buyer is jointly and severally liable with the seller for repaying the deposits.
Give each tenant a written notice with the new owner's details and where to pay rent after closing, and pass every open repair request to the buyer. The buyer then has the LAHD registration to complete within 45 days. For the court side of the same sale, see the probate sale timeline.