If you end a tenancy in the City of San Diego for a no-fault reason, such as moving in yourself, taking the unit off the rental market or doing a substantial remodel, the city’s Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance requires you to pay the tenant two months of actual rent, or three months if the tenant is 62 or older or disabled. You can pay it directly within 15 days of the termination notice or waive the final months of rent. The ordinance took effect on June 24, 2023, sits in San Diego Municipal Code sections 98.0701 through 98.0709, and covers tenants from the first day of their tenancy instead of after a year, as state law does.

For an owner who wants to sell a rental house or condo in the city vacant, that is the main cost difference from the rest of California. Below are the steps, the notices, the remodel and owner move-in traps, and the penalties for getting it wrong.

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How San Diego’s Rules Differ From State Law

Most California landlords work under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, usually called AB 1482 and codified at Civil Code 1946.2. Under that law, just-cause protection generally begins after a tenant has lawfully occupied the unit for 12 months, and a no-fault termination requires relocation help equal to one month’s rent. The state law expressly allows cities to adopt stronger rules, and the City of San Diego did. The City Council adopted Ordinance O-21647 in May 2023, and the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) says it went into effect on June 24, 2023.

Three differences matter most for an owner planning a sale:

Coverage starts on day one. The ordinance protects a tenant as soon as the tenancy begins. Legal Aid Society of San Diego’s guide says a fixed-term lease of three months or less is not a “tenancy” under the ordinance, and a tenancy requires continuous occupancy for more than 30 days.
Relocation is two or three months of rent, not one.
The penalties are multiplied. A tenant can recover at least three times their actual damages for a wrongful eviction.

The ordinance applies only inside the City of San Diego. Unincorporated San Diego County and the county’s other cities follow state law unless they have their own ordinance. Check which city the property is actually in before relying on either set of rules. A San Diego mailing address does not always mean the City of San Diego.

The No-Fault Reasons the Ordinance Allows

Under the ordinance, a landlord may end a covered tenancy without the tenant being at fault only for a limited set of reasons. The Legal Aid Society of San Diego summarizes them as:

The owner, or a qualifying family member, intends to live in the unit.
The owner withdraws the unit from the rental market.
The owner must comply with a government agency or court order requiring the tenant to vacate for at least 30 days for habitability reasons.
The owner intends to substantially remodel or demolish the unit.

Selling the property is not on the list. A sale by itself is not a reason to end a tenancy in San Diego, just as it is not under state law. If you want to deliver the house vacant, you need one of the reasons above, a voluntary agreement with the tenant, or a buyer who will take the property with the tenant in place.

Calculating the Relocation Payment

The amount is based on the tenant’s actual contract rent, not market rent:

Standard tenants: two months of actual rent.
Tenants 62 or older, or tenants with a disability: three months of actual rent.

According to the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, the payment is owed regardless of the tenant’s income or how long they have lived in the unit. As a worked example with hypothetical figures, a tenant paying $2,800 a month would be owed $5,600, and a 70-year-old tenant paying the same rent would be owed $8,400. If more than one adult tenant lives in the unit, confirm with counsel how the payment should be delivered.

You choose one of two ways to provide it:

Direct payment. The termination notice must state the amount and that the landlord will pay within 15 days of the date of the notice.
Rent waiver. The notice must state the amount of rent being waived and that no rent is due for the final corresponding months of the tenancy.

The waiver approach costs the same but keeps cash in your account until the end. It only works if the tenant actually stays to the end of the notice period. Owners who expect the tenant to move out early sometimes prefer to pay directly and keep a clean record.

What the Termination Notice Must Contain

A no-fault notice in San Diego is more than a standard 30- or 60-day notice. Under Civil Code 1946.1, a tenant who has lived in the unit less than a year gets at least 30 days’ notice and a tenant of a year or more gets at least 60 days. The San Diego ordinance then adds required content. Based on the Legal Aid Society’s summary, the notice must include:

the specific no-fault reason for ending the tenancy;
the tenant’s right to relocation assistance and how it will be provided (payment within 15 days, or a rent waiver);
the tenant’s right to an offer to renew the tenancy if the unit is offered for rent again within five years, which the tenant must request in writing within 30 days and for which they should give a contact address;
the required notice about rent limits and protections for seniors and people with disabilities; and
a copy of the SDHC Tenant Protection Guide.

The ordinance also requires landlords to send SDHC a copy of each termination notice within three business days. SDHC’s tenant protections page says this requirement does not take effect until 30 days after SDHC launches an online portal, and that as of now landlords are not required to report. Check SDHC’s page before serving a notice in case the portal has gone live.

The Substantial Remodel Trap

“Substantial remodel” is the no-fault reason most likely to be misused, and the ordinance treats it strictly. According to the Legal Aid Society of San Diego and a law-firm analysis published on Mondaq, the work must:

replace or substantially modify a structural, electrical, plumbing or mechanical system in a way that needs a permit, or abate hazardous materials such as lead paint, mold or asbestos;
be impossible to do safely with the tenant living there; and
require the tenant to vacate for at least 30 days.

Cosmetic work alone, such as paint, flooring, countertops or cabinets, does not qualify. Before serving notice, the landlord must post the permit application on the property within three business days of submitting it, actually obtain the permits, and serve the tenant with copies of the permits, a description of the scope of work, an explanation of why the tenant must vacate, and a termination notice certified under penalty of perjury.

For a seller, the lesson is simple: “we’re renovating before we sell” is not a shortcut. If you do not truly intend to do permitted work that requires the unit to be empty, a remodel notice exposes you to the ordinance’s damages.

Owner Move-In Has Narrowed for Newer Leases

An owner, spouse, domestic partner, child, grandchild, parent or grandparent may move into the unit as a no-fault reason. But the Legal Aid Society of San Diego reports an important limit: for leases signed on or after June 24, 2023, an owner move-in termination is valid only if the tenant agrees in writing or the lease expressly allows the landlord to end the tenancy for that reason. If your tenant signed after that date and the lease is silent, owner move-in may not be available.

Even where it is available, owner move-in requires a real intent to occupy the home. State law, as amended by SB 567, which took effect April 1, 2024, generally requires the owner or relative to move in within 90 days and live there as a primary residence for at least 12 consecutive months. Moving in briefly and then selling can turn a lawful termination into a wrongful one. An owner who plans to sell soon should not use owner move-in to empty the unit.

A Realistic Timeline From Decision to Vacant House

It helps to see how long the process takes when everything goes right. Take a hypothetical owner of a rented house in the City of San Diego whose tenant has lived there for three years, pays $3,000 a month, and is not a senior or disabled. The owner has decided to stop renting and has a genuine reason the ordinance allows.

Week 1: The owner confirms the property is inside city limits, reviews the lease, and has an attorney or experienced property manager prepare a notice with all the required content and the SDHC guide.
Day 0: The notice is served. Because the tenant has been there more than a year, it gives at least 60 days. It states that $6,000 in relocation assistance will be paid within 15 days.
By day 15: The owner pays the $6,000 and keeps proof of payment.
Day 60: The tenancy ends. If the tenant moves out, the owner inspects the unit and returns the security deposit, minus lawful deductions, within 21 days as Civil Code 1950.5 requires.
If the tenant does not leave: The owner must file an unlawful detainer case. Any defect in the notice can be raised as a defense, and the case adds weeks or months.

In the best case, that is about two and a half months before the owner can list a vacant house, and the buyer’s escrow adds another month on top. For an owner who has to sell on a fixed schedule, the uncertainty in the last step is the real risk. A notice with a missing element can send the owner back to day 0.

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

The ordinance gives tenants strong remedies. The Legal Aid Society and the Mondaq summary agree that a tenant can recover:

at least three times their actual economic damages for a wrongful eviction;
if relocation assistance is not provided, at least three times the required relocation amount plus actual economic damages;
injunctive and equitable relief, and punitive damages where the conduct justifies them; and
attorney’s fees and costs in civil actions other than an eviction case.

A tenant can also raise a violation as a defense in an unlawful detainer case. That means a defective notice does not just risk a lawsuit later. It can stop the eviction itself, leaving you with a tenant in place and a sale on hold.

Buyouts in San Diego

San Diego owners can still negotiate a voluntary move-out agreement, often called cash for keys. The ordinance does not ban buyouts, but an agreement cannot be used to make a tenant give up the ordinance’s protections. The Legal Aid Society’s guide states that a buyout agreement offering less than the relocation amount the tenant would otherwise receive is void. In practice, two or three months of rent is the floor for any serious buyout offer. Our explainer on how cash-for-keys agreements work in California covers the paperwork, including move-out dates, the deposit and the condition of the unit.

Selling With the Tenant in Place

The alternative to ending the tenancy is to sell it. The buyer steps into your shoes as landlord. You transfer the security deposit, or refund it to the tenant, and notify the tenant in writing under Civil Code 1950.5(h). The buyer will usually want a signed estoppel certificate from the tenant, and showings must follow the 24-hour written-notice rule for entry in Civil Code 1954.

Keep in mind that the tenant’s protections travel with the property. A buyer who wants to occupy the house will face the same relocation payment and the same notice rules you would, and the same owner move-in limit for newer leases. That is why buyers who plan to live in the home usually avoid tenant-occupied listings and investors price the tenancy into their offer. Our broader guide to no-fault evictions and selling in California explains how state law fits around local ordinances like San Diego’s.

When a Cash Sale Is Not the Right Move

If your tenant pays close to market rent, has a lease ending soon, and is willing to leave on good terms, you may be better off waiting, ending the tenancy correctly, paying the relocation amount, and listing the vacant home on the open market. San Diego houses in good condition often sell well to owner-occupants when vacant. The relocation payment is a known cost that is usually small next to the price difference between a vacant listing and an occupied sale.

A direct sale fits better when the tenant will not leave, when the lease date means waiting many months, when the house needs repairs a lender would flag, or when you are an out-of-area owner or heir who wants one predictable closing date. In those cases, letting an investor buy with the tenant in place avoids the notice and relocation process entirely.

A San Diego Owner’s Checklist Before Ending a Tenancy

Confirm the property is inside the City of San Diego and not another city or unincorporated county land.
Check whether any exemption applies, and if you are relying on one, confirm the required exemption notice was given to the tenant.
Identify a no-fault reason the ordinance actually allows, and make sure it is genuine.
Check the lease signing date if you are considering owner move-in.
Calculate relocation at two or three months of actual contract rent, and decide between direct payment within 15 days and a rent waiver.
Use 30 or 60 days’ notice depending on tenancy length, with all required content and the SDHC guide attached.
For a remodel, post the permit application within three business days, obtain the permits, and serve them with the notice.
Check SDHC’s website to see whether the notice-reporting portal has launched.
Keep records of delivery, payment and every communication.

If you would rather sell the house with the tenant still living there, our page on how to sell a house with tenants in San Diego explains how a direct sale works. For a no-obligation cash offer, contact Cash Home Buyers CA or call (424) 435-2326. When you sell to us, we pay the standard closing costs, including the county and city transfer taxes, escrow and title. You can also see our Google Business Profile for our location and hours.

San Diego’s Tenant Protection Ordinance: Relocation Pay and Notice Rules for Owners