Lemon Grove repeals notice requirement that exceeded state law after CAA challenge

The Lemon Grove City Council on Tuesday repealed a provision that required rental housing providers to give 120 days' notice for no-fault evictions - double the 60-day period under state law - after the California Apartment Association warned the requirement was preempted.

The council on March 17 amended Urgency Ordinance No. 472, adopted in early February 2026, to eliminate the 120-day requirement. For tenants who have lived in a unit less than one year, state law requires only 30 days' notice, meaning the ordinance would have quadrupled the legal requirement in those cases.

Lemon Grove is a city in San Diego County, where CAA represents thousands of rental housing providers across the region.

CAA Staff Attorney Mallory Homewood sent a letter to Mayor Alysson Snow and the City Council on Feb. 23 laying out the conflict and calling on the city to repeal the provision and make the repeal retroactive.

"CAA's goal is simply to ensure that local regulations remain consistent with binding state law," Homewood wrote. "If the City declines to take corrective action, however, CAA is prepared to pursue all appropriate legal remedies."

CAA's letter cited a line of California appellate decisions establishing that the timing of landlord-tenant notices is a matter of statewide concern that local governments cannot extend. CAA pointed to its recent victories in California Apartment Association v. City of Pasadena (2025) and California Apartment Association v. County of Los Angeles, in which courts struck down local notice requirements that exceeded state law timelines.

The amendment covers only the 120-day notice provision; other provisions of the ordinance were not part of the repeal.