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TENANT RIGHTS - California has always required landlords to provide heat. Now LA County is adding something new: a requirement to provide cooling.
A new ordinance mandates that rental units in unincorporated LA County must be able to maintain indoor temperatures at or below 82°F. This isn't a suggestion. It's becoming a habitability requirement, enforceable through inspections and subject to penalties. For the thousands of landlords who've never had to think about air conditioning, and for the hundreds of thousands of tenants living in older buildings without it, this changes things.
Heat kills more Americans than any other weather event. LA County has experienced increasingly severe heat waves, and older rental housing frequently lacks adequate cooling. These buildings are often home to lower-income and elderly residents. During extreme heat events, indoor temperatures in apartments without AC can exceed outdoor temperatures, turning homes into dangerous environments.
The 82°F threshold comes from public health research on heat-related illness. While it may sound warm, it represents a level where healthy adults can generally function safely. Below this threshold, the body can regulate temperature effectively. Above it, especially for extended periods, health risks increase. This is particularly true for elderly residents, young children, and those with health conditions.
Implementation happens in phases. The first deadline arrives this year. On September 12, 2025, tenants gain the legal right to install portable air conditioning units. Landlords cannot prohibit safe installations or refuse to provide necessary electrical access. Tenants can take matters into their own hands if their landlord hasn't provided cooling.
On January 1, 2027, the full cooling mandate takes effect. Landlords must ensure rental units can maintain 82°F or below. This will be evaluated during the County's Rental Housing Habitability Program inspections, a process familiar to firms that conduct rental property inspections such as LA Building Inspections & Compliance. Non-compliance becomes a habitability violation, with the same consequences as failing to provide heat or working plumbing. Small landlords with 10 or fewer units get extended time until 2032 for full compliance, but must still cool at least one room per unit by 2027.
The ordinance applies to rental properties in unincorporated LA County. This includes communities like Altadena, East Los Angeles, Florence-Firestone, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Willowbrook, and roughly 60 other unincorporated communities. Many residents don't realize they live in unincorporated areas. Your mailing address might say "Los Angeles" or "Pasadena," but you could actually be in County jurisdiction. The City of Los Angeles has its own regulations under development but doesn't have the same mandate yet.
Here's what concerns me about older buildings: most rental properties built before 1980 weren't wired for multiple AC units running simultaneously. Starting this September, when tenants gain the right to install portable AC, what happens when five tenants in a 1960s building all plug in window units on the same hot afternoon? If the main panel starts tripping breakers, that's an immediate electrical problem. And potentially a habitability violation of a different kind.
Many landlords will need electrical upgrades before they can safely provide cooling. Panel upgrades can cost $2,000 to $5,000 or more, on top of the cooling equipment itself. The ordinance is performance-based. It requires achieving 82°F, not installing a specific type of system. Options range from central air conditioning to mini-split systems to window units. Expected costs range from $300-800 per unit for window units to $2,500-5,000 for mini-splits to $5,000-15,000+ for central AC with new ductwork.
If you're a tenant in unincorporated LA County, you'll have the legal right to install your own portable AC starting September 2025, even if your lease says otherwise. By 2027, your landlord must ensure your unit can maintain 82°F during heat events. If they fail to comply, it gets documented during inspections and becomes subject to enforcement.
This ordinance exists because heat is a public health crisis that's getting worse. Climate projections show LA experiencing more frequent and more intense heat waves in coming decades. The housing stock, much of it built when air conditioning was a luxury rather than a necessity, isn't keeping up. The 2025-2027 timeline gives landlords runway to plan and budget, but that runway is shorter than it sounds.
For tenants, this represents a meaningful expansion of habitability rights. Heat protection is finally being treated with the same seriousness as protection from cold. Whether you're a landlord trying to figure out compliance or a tenant wondering what protections you'll have this summer, the cooling mandate is coming. The only question is how prepared we'll be when it arrives.
(Nathan Sewell is a certified building inspector with LA Building Inspections & Compliance, specializing in rental property habitability and compliance inspections across Los Angeles County. He can be reached at [email protected].)
