Tenant Associations can now bring Individual Rent Adjustment Petitions for property-wide defects on behalf of all tenants. Tenant employees and owner occupied units no longer count towards the required threshold to establish a Tenant Association.
In November 2024, Berkeley voters passed Measure BB, which, amongst other things, amended the Rent Ordinance to provide tenants an enforceable right to form Tenant Associations on certain properties. At their September 2025 meeting, the Rent Board adopted updates to several regulations impacting this new right:
- Tenant Associations may now seek rent ceiling reductions on behalf of all tenants affected by common area issues, as long as the Tenant Association provides each tenant a form that allows the tenant to opt-out of the petition process. All tenants shall be entitled to any rent adjustment awarded in the hearing decision, except for tenants who complete the opt-out form and return it to the Tenant Association or hearing examiner.
- To prevent a conflict of interest, tenant employees and owner occupied units do not count towards the 50% of units needed to establish a Tenant Association.
- The definition of “Property Management Company” as specified in Regulation 411 includes individual landlords operating a corporate entity for the purpose of managing a residential unit.
You can learn more about the Rent Ordinance requirements for forming a tenant association on our Tenant Right to Organize webpage. You can also find our Petition to Establish Tenant Association and Certification of Delivery to Landlord forms on that page.
To learn more about tenant association petitions and find the opt-out form, please see our Tenant Individual Rent Adjustment Petitions webpage.
Get trusted information about the City of Berkeley by bookmarking berkeleyca.gov, subscribing to our newsletter, and following us on Bluesky and Instagram.
