Workshop Breaks Down When a Landlord Can Legally End a Tenancy

To be proper and enforceable, an eviction notice in Pasadena has to clear a specific legal bar — and on Tuesday, July 14, the city’s Rent Stabilization Department will spend an evening explaining exactly where that bar sits.

The free workshop walks tenants and landlords through the just-cause eviction protections written into Pasadena’s Rent Stabilization Charter, according to the department’s announcement: the grounds that allow a tenancy to legally end, the notice steps a landlord must follow, and when a displaced tenant may be owed relocation money.

Those protections exist because, under just cause rules, a landlord generally needs a legally recognized reason to end a tenancy, the department said. The charter, the department said, is meant to ensure evictions rest on specific legal grounds and follow required procedures.

The session covers three areas, according to the announcement. It explains what qualifies as just cause under Pasadena law. It lays out the notice requirements and procedures a landlord must follow to terminate a tenancy. And it addresses relocation assistance — when benefits may apply, who may qualify, and how amounts are set.

The workshop is open to tenants, landlords, and community members, according to the department, and is offered free of charge. It is the department’s monthly session, held on the second Tuesday of each month, and part of a 2026 series that has already covered the Ellis Act and habitability-based rent reductions, according to city materials. An earlier session addressed a general overview of the rent stabilization ordinance, and an August workshop is set to cover rent rollback procedures, the department has said.

The protections at the center of Tuesday’s session flow from Article XVIII of the city charter, the voter-approved measure known as Measure H, according to city records. The Rent Stabilization Department was created in December 2023 to carry out that measure, which passed in November 2022 with 53.8% of the vote and took effect the following month.

Measure H requires landlords to have just cause before ending a tenancy in a covered unit and, for no-fault evictions, to provide relocation assistance consideration to displaced tenants, according to the department’s summaries of the law. The measure generally applies to multi-unit rental properties built before February 1, 1995, according to published guidance on the ordinance.

Since taking effect, the department has registered more than 21,900 rental units across nearly 5,500 properties, according to its annual report. The department is led by Helen Morales, who became director in 2024.

The session runs at 6:00 p.m. at the Los Robles Building, 199 South Los Robles Avenue, in the First Floor Conference Room, according to the department.

Attendees may come in person or join by Zoom at Bit.ly/MonthlyRSDWorkshops. Questions can go to the department at 626-744-7999 or RentStabilization@CityOfPasadena.net.