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In response to rising heat-related deaths driven by climate change, Los Angeles County will soon require landlords to maintain a maximum indoor temperature of 82\u00b0F for their renters.<\/p>\n
After years of consideration<\/a>, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to pass the county\u2019s first cooling mandate in rental housing. The fifth county supervisor, Kathryn Barger, was not present for the vote.<\/p>\n L.A. landlords have long been required to provide heat in their units, but not air conditioning. Public health officials and tenant advocates say changing that will save lives as heat waves continue to get deadlier. Opponents argued the new rules could put a heavy financial burden on landlords.<\/p>\n Supervisor Hilda Solis, one of the authors of the proposal, said the county will look for sources of financial support for landlords who need to retrofit their buildings. But she said landlords in some areas could likely comply without installing any cooling appliances.<\/p>\n \u201cI would want to rephrase it from being called an air-conditioning ordinance, because that\u2019s not what this is,\u201d Solis said.<\/p>\n She said in many buildings, cooling methods such as blackout curtains, reflective roofing and double pane windows may be enough to keep indoor temperatures to 82\u00b0F. However, county officials acknowledged that in hotter regions, AC units may be necessary.<\/p>\n Where cooling will be required<\/p>\n The rules will apply in unincorporated parts of L.A. County<\/a>, such as East L.A. and pockets of South L.A. The requirement could also end up applying in L.A. County\u2019s 88 incorporated cities, but only if local officials in those areas choose to adopt the county\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n According to a 2025 report<\/a> from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, heat is the nation\u2019s leading cause of weather-related death \u2014 and dangerous heatwaves are becoming increasingly common. The report recommended 82\u00b0F as a safe maximum limit on indoor temperature.<\/p>\n A handful of other cities across the country have set different thresholds. Palm Springs requires indoor temperatures to not exceed 80\u00b0F, while Dallas, Texas, sets a limit of 85\u00b0F.<\/p>\n Between 2013 and 2022, seven extreme heat events in California caused 460 deaths and more than 5,000 hospitalizations, according to a report<\/a> from the California Department of Insurance. A two-week heatwave in 2022 that affected L.A. County and other coastal regions up and down the state was the deadliest event, killing 200 people.<\/p>\n Tenant advocates said the requirement can\u2019t come soon enough. Jannet Torres, an organizer with Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, said her family is not allowed to plug in an AC unit because their landlord told them the building\u2019s electrical system can\u2019t handle it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou become very depressed or you can’t move \u2014 you’re not as productive as you wish you were,\u201d Torres said about living at home during extreme heat. \u201cMy mom gets nosebleeds sometimes, and it makes it really hard for her to be able to get to and from work.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s changing \u2014 and when<\/p>\n Thirty days after Tuesday\u2019s vote, the county\u2019s rules will give renters protections against eviction and landlord retaliation for installing their own cooling appliances. Landlords will ultimately be responsible for keeping units in compliance with the 82\u00b0F limit. But the county will not begin enforcing the rules until Jan. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n