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Check a rent increase against the law

Enter the numbers and get an instant answer: whether a cap applies, whether your increase clears it, and how many days of notice your state requires — with the statute behind each one.

  • A verdict, not a lecture
  • Every answer is cited
  • Honest about limits

Tell us about the increase

Enter both rents to check

Know before you serve the notice

Four jurisdictions cap how much rent can rise in a year, and nearly every state sets how much written notice an increase needs. Get either wrong and the increase can be void. Enter your numbers and see where you stand, cited to statute.

  1. 01Enter the increase

    State and city, current and proposed rent, and the date of the last increase.

  2. 02Run against the statutes

    Capped states test the percentage; every state resolves the required notice period.

  3. 03See where you stand

    Inside the cap, outside it, or in the CPI-dependent band — with the citation.

  4. 04Generate the notice

    If it is legal, one click starts a state-aware Rent Increase Notice with your numbers.

Why check first

An illegal increase usually isn’t just refused — it can backfire.

Caps are formula-based

California allows 5% plus CPI up to 10%; Washington the lesser of 7% plus CPI or 10%.

Notice periods vary wildly

Seven days in North Carolina, 90 in Washington. Short notice restarts the clock.

Cities change the answer

NYC stabilization, New Jersey’s municipal ordinances, San Francisco’s Rent Board.

Once-a-year rules caught

Capped states allow one increase per 12 months. A too-soon increase is flagged.

Shows the maximum

Not just pass or fail — what the largest lawful increase would be right now.

Cited, not guessed

Every answer names the statute behind it, so you can check the work.

I'd been a landlord for 12 years and used to pay $200 every time I needed a lease reviewed. LawLease took me 4 minutes and the document is better than anything my old attorney emailed me.

Robert M.

3 single-family rentals, Austin, TX

Built for moments like these

Before the new number goes in writing.

Annual renewal

The biggest increase that is still clearly legal, and the deadline to serve it.

Catching up to market

Rent has drifted low. See what fits under the cap instead of triggering a dispute.

New state, new rules

A rental in a state you do not know. Thirty seconds tells you what applies.

Frequently asked questions

No. LawLease is not a law firm. The checker compares your numbers against researched state statutes and shows the citation for every answer. Unit-level coverage, exemptions, and local ordinances can change the result — have an attorney confirm before acting on a close call.
As of our latest research: California (AB 1482 — 5% + regional CPI, max 10%), Oregon (7% + CPI, max 10%, buildings 15+ years old), Washington (lesser of 7% + CPI or 10%, 2025 law), and the District of Columbia (rent-stabilized units). Every other state either has no cap or leaves it to specific localities — the checker tells you which applies.
Capped states tie the limit to inflation. An increase at or below the base percentage is always inside the cap, and one above the absolute maximum is always outside it — but in between, the answer depends on the current published CPI figure for your area, which changes annually. The checker tells you exactly which band you’re in.
We only give verdicts backed by researched, cited data. States we haven’t finished researching say so explicitly instead of guessing. More states are added as our attorney-reviewed dataset grows.
Maybe not — caps come with exemptions (commonly new construction and some single-family homes owned by individuals). The checker lists the major exemptions for your state, but note the notice requirement usually applies even when the cap doesn’t.
Generally no — a fixed-term lease locks the rent for the term unless the lease itself says otherwise. These rules are mostly about month-to-month tenancies and renewals, which is also when the notice periods bite.

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