The Pasadena Rental Housing Board is scheduled to review its first quarterly report of 2026 on April 16, with a new snapshot of eviction-related notices, petition activity, registration compliance and outreach work under the city’s rent-control system. The report is also expected to ask board members whether certain repeated registration-compliance cases should be treated as “egregious” or as evidence of actors engaging with the board in bad faith for inclusion in the board’s report to the Mayor and City Council.
The quarterly report matters because it is one of the main public scorecards for how Measure H is working on the ground for Pasadena renters and housing providers. According to the staff report, the update is built around first-quarter 2026 activity while also incorporating petition summaries dating back to Feb. 6, 2025, and rental-registry snapshots current as of April 8, 2026, and is intended to satisfy the charter requirement that the board report on written notices to cease, petitions filed or decided by hearing officers and the board, other matters brought before the board, and egregious cases or repeated violations. Staff is recommending that the board receive the report and consider giving direction on what to include, particularly on the standards for identifying bad-faith conduct under Section 1811(e)(14)(d).
The report says 256 notices were filed with the department during the first quarter of 2026, with the majority continuing to be three-day notices to cure or quit for nonpayment of rent. Unlawful detainer filings remained comparatively few. Most notices came from District 3, which the report says also has one of the city’s highest concentrations of rental units, suggesting notice volume tracks housing density. In the hearings system, 22 petitions were filed between Jan. 1 and March 31, including 11 landlord-initiated objections to denied exemptions, one landlord-initiated upward adjustment petition, nine tenant-initiated downward adjustment petitions, one tenant objection to a granted exemption and one petition for rent withholding.
The report also lays out how those matters moved through the system. Nine of the landlord objections were withdrawn before hearing, one was rejected as moot after the Registry Division granted the exemption, and one hearing ended with the Hearing Officer affirming the Registry Division’s denial. Among the nine downward adjustment petitions filed in the quarter, one was withdrawn, one was rejected as deficient, one was rejected because the tenant did not live in a rent-stabilized unit, four were set for prehearing settlement conferences and two were set for hearings. During the same reporting period, the board itself held two administrative quasi-judicial hearings, one on Feb. 5 and one on March 19, according to the report.
One of the most consequential questions before the board may be how to define bad-faith actors. Staff said a review of recent compliance activity identified several potentially egregious cases involving actors with what it described as repeated or numerous violations, including landlords who consistently disregarded registration requirements or supplied incomplete or unreliable information. The report says those properties each received a registration letter on Sept. 1, 2025, followed by multiple email and phone outreach attempts when contact information was available, then an initial notice of noncompliance on Jan. 16, 2026, and a second notice of noncompliance on March 27, 2026. Staff is scheduled to ask the board whether those actors should be included in the report to the Mayor and City Council and what criteria should govern that decision.
The department update adds a broader operational picture. Staff said the board had requested an update on ash, soot and smoke complaints related to the Eaton Canyon Fire, and that rent-stabilization staff met with code enforcement officials and counsel on Feb. 25. The report says officials described a temporary fast-track remediation program, in effect through April 11, 2026, for properties north of the I-210 Freeway and west of Sierra Madre Boulevard, as well as the city’s standard wildfire-related inspection process elsewhere. The report also says the board had completed most of its priorities for the fiscal year, that registration compliance was currently at 91%, and that the online portal was active.
For residents trying to gauge the scale of the department’s work, the report offers several additional benchmarks. Housing counselors received 750 inquiries in the first quarter of 2026. Staff reported outreach appearances at the city’s Black History Festival, a Chats and Snacks event at La Pintoresca Library and a public Ellis Act workshop, while also listing more workshops and community events planned through June. In the rental registry, the department said 6,589 properties had completed registration as of April 8, 2026, with 6,797 properties in substantial compliance, 654 still in open status and total receipts of $5,991,721.40. Staff emphasized that registration remains a fluid process and said final registration numbers are not yet available.
The Pasadena Rental Housing Board is scheduled to meet at 6:00 P.M. on April 16, 2026 in Council Chamber, Pasadena City Hall 100 North Garfield Avenue, Room S249. For more information call (626) 744-7311 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/agendas/.
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