How Do I Rent Out My House in Long Beach?

Published: July 2026  |  18 min read

By Miles Williams, Broker/Owner | CA DRE #01968830 | RPM Southland

Updated July 2026 for California landlord law, AB 12, AB 1482, and current Long Beach market conditions

Renting out your house in Long Beach is not complicated, but it is specific. California landlord law, Long Beach municipal requirements, and the current rental market all have real rules that a first-time landlord needs to know before they hand over a key.

I’ve been managing rental properties in Long Beach and SE LA County since 2014. We manage over 730 properties right now, and the questions I get most often from new landlords are the same ones: where do I start, what am I required to do by law, and how do I avoid the mistakes that cost people money? This guide answers all of them, in order, from your first decision through move-in day.

Long Beach is a strong rental market. Neighborhoods like Belmont Shore, Los Altos, Bixby Knolls, and the areas near Cal State Long Beach and the 710 corridor stay in high demand year-round. But strong demand does not protect you from legal exposure, bad tenants, or compliance violations. The process matters. Let’s walk through it.

Step 1: Confirm You Are Allowed to Rent

Before you list the property or spend a dollar getting it ready, you need to confirm three things: your HOA rules, your lender approval, and your insurance situation. Skipping any of these is a big, big deal that can cost you far more than a month’s rent in penalties and legal exposure.

HOA Approval

If your property is in a homeowners association, your CC&Rs may restrict or outright prohibit rentals, short-term rentals, or require a minimum lease term of 30 or 60 days. Some Long Beach HOAs have rental caps, where only a certain percentage of units can be tenant-occupied at any time. Read the CC&Rs yourself, and if it is not clear, call the HOA management company directly. Renting in violation of your HOA can result in fines, legal action from the association, and in some cases the HOA can place a lien on the property. Do not skip this step.

Lender Approval

If you have a mortgage on the property, check your loan documents. Most owner-occupant mortgages do not prohibit renting, but some loan types, especially FHA loans within the first year of ownership, have occupancy requirements. Your lender is not going to be calling you to ask questions, but if you ever refinance or if a claim triggers an audit, misrepresentation of occupancy status can be treated as mortgage fraud. It is worth a 10-minute call to your loan servicer to confirm.

Insurance: Switch to a Landlord Policy Before Day One

This is the one landlords get wrong most often, and it is crucial, crucial to fix before a tenant ever moves in. Your standard homeowner’s policy excludes coverage the moment you are collecting rent from a non-family tenant. You need a landlord insurance policy, also called a non-owner-occupied dwelling fire policy. It covers the structure, loss of rental income, and liability if a tenant or their guest is injured on the property. The premium difference over a homeowner’s policy is generally modest. The exposure difference is enormous. Get this changed before you list.

Pre-Rental Approval Check	Who to Contact	What You Need
HOA Rules	HOA management company or board	Written confirmation that rentals are permitted; any restrictions on lease term or tenant count
Lender Approval	Loan servicer	Verify no owner-occupancy clause is being violated
Landlord Insurance	Your current insurer or a new carrier	Non-owner-occupied dwelling fire policy active before tenant moves in
Long Beach Business License	City of Long Beach Finance Department	Rental unit business license required by City code

Step 2: Get the Property Rent-Ready

Getting a property rent-ready is not about making it look like a showroom. It is about addressing deferred maintenance, meeting California’s habitability standards, and passing the safety requirements the law mandates. Tenants have legal remedies in California when a property is not habitable. The fastest way to create an expensive legal problem is to hand over a property with known issues and hope no one notices.

Address Deferred Maintenance First

Walk the property with the eye of a tenant, not an owner who has gotten used to things being a certain way. Dripping faucets, sticky doors, non-working outlets, and worn-out caulking around showers all need to be addressed before a tenant sees the unit. These are the items that generate maintenance calls in the first week and tell a new tenant that the landlord does not take the property seriously. Fix them before you list. It is cheaper and faster when the unit is vacant than when a tenant is living there.

California Safety Compliance Requirements

California law has specific safety requirements that apply to all residential rentals. These are not optional and are not negotiable. A landlord who hands over a property without these items is in violation of state law from day one.

• Smoke detectors: Required within 15 feet of each sleeping room. Must be operable. Battery-only detectors need fresh batteries. Hardwired detectors need testing. California Health and Safety Code Section 13113.7 governs this.
• Carbon monoxide detectors: Required in any dwelling with a fossil-fuel burning appliance, attached garage, or fireplace. Must be within 15 feet of each sleeping room per Health and Safety Code Section 17926.1.
• HVAC working: A functioning heating system is required for habitability. In Long Beach, landlords must maintain heating to at least 70 degrees in living areas. A broken furnace or HVAC system at move-in is a habitability violation.
• Water heater strapped for seismic: Required in California since 1991. Water heaters must be double-strapped to the wall to prevent tip-over in an earthquake. Inspectors check this. Homebuyers check this. Tenants are increasingly aware of it.
• Working locks on all exterior doors and windows.
• No active pest infestation.
• Roof, walls, and windows weatherproofed and free of significant leaks.
• Functioning plumbing: hot and cold running water, working toilets.

Step 3: Set the Right Rent for Long Beach

Pricing your rental correctly is one of the most important decisions you will make. Price too high and the property sits vacant, which is the most expensive possible outcome for a landlord. Price too low and you leave real money on the table every month, with limited ability to correct it once a tenant is in place due to California’s AB 1482 rent increase caps. The right number is the number that fills the property within 21 to 30 days with a qualified tenant at market rate.

Running Comps for Long Beach Rentals

To find market rent, look at active listings on Zillow, Trulia, and Apartments.com for properties that are genuinely comparable to yours: same neighborhood, same bedroom count, same general condition. Look at what is currently listed, not what sold six months ago. Rental markets move. The key is apples to apples: do not compare your 3-bedroom in North Long Beach to a 3-bedroom in Belmont Shore and treat those as the same market. They are not.

For most well-maintained single-family homes in Long Beach in 2026, you will find 3-bedroom properties in the $2,600 to $3,400 range depending on neighborhood and condition. Condos generally run somewhat lower, adjusted for HOA fees. 2-bedroom units tend to cluster in the $1,900 to $2,500 range. These are reference points, not guarantees. Run your own comps against properties that are actually comparable to yours.

AB 1482 and the Initial Pricing Question

This is crucial, crucial to understand before you set your first rent. California’s AB 1482 (the Tenant Protection Act of 2019) caps annual rent increases at 5% plus local CPI, not to exceed 10% per year. This cap applies to most Long Beach properties built before 2007 that are not single-family homes owned by individual landlords who provide the required notice of exemption at lease signing. If your property is covered by AB 1482, the rent you set on day one is the anchor for every future increase. If you set it too low, you may not be able to recover to market for several years.

Single-family homes and condos owned by individual landlords can qualify for an AB 1482 exemption, but only if the exemption notice is included in the lease at the time of signing. If you miss that notice, the property is treated as if it is covered. Get this right from the start. This is one of the reasons many Long Beach homeowners work with a property manager: California landlord law is specific, and the consequences of getting it wrong at the lease stage follow you for the entire tenancy.

“Every property owner should look at their property as an asset and not just what’s the fee a property manager is going to cost me. They should ask, how are you going to increase the value of my asset over the time that it’s under your management?”
Miles Williams, Broker/Owner, RPM Southland | CA DRE #01968830

Step 4: Market the Property

Once you know your price, the property needs to be in front of qualified tenants. The good news is that the major rental listing platforms have consolidated most of the market. You do not need to be everywhere. You need to be on the right places with great photos and an accurate, honest description.

Where to List a Long Beach Rental

The core platforms that drive the most Long Beach rental inquiries are Zillow, Trulia, Apartments.com, and Zumper. Zillow in particular syndicates to a large number of partner sites when you post there, so a single Zillow listing can create broader exposure than it might look like on the surface. Facebook Marketplace has also become a meaningful source of tenant inquiries for Long Beach rentals, especially for lower-to-mid-price units. Post there as well, with the same photos and description you use on the paid platforms.

Photos Make or Break Your Listing

Most landlords underinvest in photos and then wonder why a well-priced property is not generating showings. A rental listing is a first impression. Tenants make showing decisions in three to five seconds based on the lead photo. If your lead photo is a dark, blurry shot of a kitchen from 2014, you are losing showings to comparable properties that have bright, clean photos taken with a modern camera. Spend $100 to $200 on a real estate photographer, or at minimum use a modern smartphone with natural light, straight composition, and clean rooms. The return on that investment is a faster leasing timeline and less vacancy.

What Your Listing Description Should Include

Be accurate and specific. State the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, parking availability, pet policy, and any included appliances. Mention the neighborhood and proximity to key amenities: CSULB, the 405 and 710 freeways, the beach, major employers. Be honest about any limitations. Tenants who see an accurate listing and tour an accurately represented property are more likely to apply than tenants who feel like the listing oversold the property. Misrepresentation in a listing creates friction, and friction delays leasing.

Step 5: Screen Tenants the Right Way

Tenant screening is where landlords either protect themselves or create their biggest problems. I have seen what happens when screening is skipped or done halfway. Just this last year we had a property owner who almost hired us and then ended up putting in their own tenant without thorough screening. About six months later they called us to process an eviction. The costs of that situation, attorney fees, lost rent, court filings, and turnover, easily ran to five figures. Screening is not optional. It is the most important step in this entire process.

What Proper Tenant Screening Looks Like

A complete screening package for a Long Beach rental should include all of the following:

• Credit check: Look for payment history, derogatory marks, collections (especially from prior landlords), and overall credit score. There is no California law requiring a minimum credit score, but most professional property managers in Long Beach look for 620 or above as a baseline, with more flexibility based on other factors.
• Background check: Criminal history relevant to tenancy. California Fair Employment and Housing Act limits the use of criminal history in housing decisions, but eviction records and verified criminal history directly related to the safety of the property or neighbors remain relevant.
• Income verification: The standard in Long Beach is gross monthly income of at least 3x the monthly rent. For a $2,800/month rental, that means verifying the applicant earns at least $8,400 per month in gross income. Acceptable documentation: two most recent pay stubs, most recent tax return, bank statements showing consistent deposits, or an offer letter for new employment.
• Landlord references: Call prior landlords, not just the current one. The current landlord may have an incentive to give a glowing reference to a problem tenant they are trying to move out. Prior landlords have no stake in the outcome and are more likely to give you an honest picture.
• Rental application: A signed application with consent to screening and accurate information. Any false information on the application is grounds for rejection and, if discovered post-move-in, can be grounds for eviction in some cases.

Screening Component	Standard for Long Beach Rentals	Purpose
Credit Check	Full report; look for eviction-related collections	Payment history and financial reliability
Background Check	FCRA-compliant; consistent application of criteria	Safety and tenancy risk assessment
Income Verification	3x monthly rent in verified gross income	Ability to pay rent on time each month
Rental History	2+ prior landlord references; call prior landlords	Track record of caring for property and paying rent
Application	Signed; consent to screening; all fields completed	Baseline honesty check; legal paper trail

Step 6: Prepare a California-Compliant Lease

California has more required lease disclosures than almost any other state. These are not suggestions. They are legal requirements, and missing them can expose you to penalties, void specific lease provisions, or undermine your rights as a landlord if you ever need to pursue an eviction. Use a California Association of Realtors lease form or one reviewed by a California attorney, and make sure every required disclosure is included at the time of signing.

Required Disclosures for Long Beach Residential Leases

Here is a summary of what California and Long Beach law require you to disclose at lease signing. This list is not exhaustive, and you should confirm current requirements with a California real estate attorney:

• Mold disclosure: If you know of mold or conditions likely to cause mold, you must disclose. California Health and Safety Code Section 26147 requires a Mold and Ventilation Disclosure.
• Sex offender registry notice: California requires notice to tenants that they may check the Megan’s Law database for registered sex offenders. Specific statutory language must be included.
• Proposition 65: If the property was built before 1978 or if there are any Prop 65 warning situations, disclosure is required. For most residential rentals a general Prop 65 warning is included in the standard lease.
• Lead paint disclosure: Federal law requires a lead paint disclosure addendum and the EPA’s lead paint pamphlet for any property built before 1978. This is a federal requirement, not just state law.
• Flood zone disclosure: If the property is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, you must disclose this to the tenant. Check FEMA flood maps for your property’s designation.
• Military airbase proximity: If the property is within one mile of a military training route or within a certain distance of an airbase, California Civil Code Section 1940.7 requires disclosure.
• Death on property: If a person died on the property within the last three years, California Civil Code Section 1710.2 requires disclosure. Natural death is not required to be disclosed beyond three years, but homicide or suicide within three years must be disclosed regardless.
• Bedbug disclosure: California Civil Code Section 1954.603 requires a written disclosure about bedbugs to every new tenant.
• AB 1482 exemption notice: If your property qualifies for the AB 1482 single-family home or condo exemption and you want to preserve that exemption, the notice must be included in the lease at signing.

Step 7: Security Deposit and Move-In Inspection

California’s AB 12, which took effect on July 1, 2024, changed the security deposit rules in a significant way. For unfurnished units, the maximum security deposit is now 2x monthly rent, regardless of the length of the tenancy. The old rule allowed 2x for month-to-month and 3x for fixed-term leases. That is gone. If your property rents for $2,800 per month, the most you can collect as a security deposit is $5,600. Collecting more than the legal maximum creates immediate liability.

How to Handle the Security Deposit

California does not require landlords to hold security deposits in a separate trust account, but you need to track the money carefully. Within 21 days of the tenant moving out, you must provide an itemized statement of any deductions, with receipts for any work over $125, and return the balance. Failure to do this correctly can result in the tenant being awarded up to 2x the deposit amount as a penalty. The 21-day clock is firm.

The Move-In Inspection

This step is crucial, crucial and cannot be skipped. Before the tenant moves in, walk the property together and document the condition of every room, every appliance, every surface. Use a move-in inspection form that both you and the tenant sign. Take timestamped photos of every room, including inside closets, under sinks, and any area with existing wear. This documentation is your proof of pre-existing conditions if there is a dispute at move-out. Without it, a landlord’s ability to make deductions from the security deposit is severely limited by California law.

Step 8: Long Beach-Specific Requirements

Long Beach has requirements that go beyond California state law. These are specific to the City of Long Beach and apply regardless of what the state says. Ignoring them is not a legal defense.

Business License for Rental Units

The City of Long Beach requires a business license for all rental units. This applies whether you own one rental property or twenty. The license is obtained through the Long Beach Finance Department and must be renewed annually. Renting without a business license exposes you to City fines and can complicate any legal proceedings involving the tenancy. Get the license before you collect first month’s rent. The process is straightforward and the cost is modest relative to the risk of operating without one.

AB 1482 Applicability Check

As covered in Step 3, AB 1482 applies to most Long Beach rental properties built before 2007 unless the property is a single-family home or condo with the proper exemption notice in the lease. Take the time to determine whether your property is covered or exempt before you set rent and draft the lease. The determination affects your lease language, your pricing strategy, and your ability to raise rent in subsequent years.

Long Beach Just Cause Ordinance

Long Beach adopted a Just Cause Eviction Ordinance. Under this ordinance, once a tenant has lived in a rental unit for 12 months, the landlord cannot terminate the tenancy without a qualifying just cause reason. This applies regardless of whether the property is covered by AB 1482’s rent caps. Just cause reasons include non-payment of rent, lease violations, owner move-in under specific conditions, and certain other enumerated grounds. No-fault evictions of long-term tenants require relocation assistance payments. This is a significant change from how evictions worked in Long Beach prior to the ordinance. If you are renting out your house in Long Beach, this rule will apply to your tenancy once the tenant has been there for 12 months.

Long Beach Requirement	Details	Penalty for Non-Compliance
Business License	Required for all rental units; annual renewal	City fines; complications in legal proceedings
AB 1482 (State + Local)	Rent increase cap 5% + CPI, max 10%; applies to most pre-2007 buildings	Illegal rent increase claim; tenant can seek damages
Just Cause Ordinance	After 12 months of tenancy, just cause required to terminate	Wrongful eviction claim; relocation assistance owed for no-fault terminations
Security Deposit Cap (AB 12)	Max 2x monthly rent for unfurnished units (general rule)	Up to 2x deposit amount as penalty
Landlord Insurance	Required change from homeowner’s policy to landlord policy	Uncovered claims; potential personal liability judgment

What Landlords Get Wrong About Renting Out Their House in Long Beach

These are the mistakes I see most often from Long Beach homeowners who decide to rent their property without professional guidance. Every one of them is avoidable, and every one of them has cost real landlords real money.

When to Call RPM Southland Instead of Going It Alone

Committing to a property manager is a big, big deal. When done right, it can be one of the best things you have ever done for your asset. When done wrong, it can be catastrophic. That is exactly why we built our three guarantees into every management agreement. We wanted to give you real outs, not fine print.

We manage over 730 properties across SE LA County with a 95% client retention rate. Over 50% of our portfolio has been with us for more than five years. That retention number is not an accident. It is the result of transparent pricing, consistent communication, and a management approach that treats your property as the investment it is, not as a source of ancillary fee revenue.

We have over 900 five-star reviews and a 4.8 star rating on Google. Miles Williams founded RPM Southland in 2014 while finishing grad school at Long Beach State. Our management fees for single-family homes and condos run from 5.9% (Basic) to approximately 7% (Premium) to 8.9% (All-Inclusive). Our leasing fee is $399 flat, compared to an industry standard of one full month’s rent. On a $2,800/month property, that is a difference of over $2,400 each time you turn a tenant.

Here are our three guarantees, and what each one means for you as a Long Beach homeowner renting your property for the first time:

Frequently Asked Questions

This content is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, tax, or investment advice. Readers should consult with licensed professionals regarding their specific circumstances.

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