Guide
The filing doors, jurisdiction by jurisdiction — because the right letter to the wrong office is a delay, not a remedy.
Capped cities file with their boards. Los Angeles tenants go to LAHD (city) or DCBA (unincorporated county); San Francisco, Oakland (RAP) and Berkeley run Rent Board petition processes built for tenants without lawyers; New York stabilized tenants file overcharge and surcharge challenges with DHCR; DC tenants file a tenant petition with the Rent Administrator (RAD); Montgomery County tenants ask DHCA’s landlord-tenant office to review.
Cap states without boards file with enforcers and courts. Washington’s Attorney General enforces HB 1217 and tenants may also sue (treble damages on the excess). Oregon runs through legal aid and the courts. Seattle tenants start with the Renting in Seattle helpline for the city’s 180-day and EDRA defects.
Park residents file with park agencies. New Jersey hardship questions sit at the Department of Community Affairs; Delaware justification disputes run through its manufactured-housing process; Florida’s Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes administers chapter 723 disputes.
Everywhere: the state Attorney General’s consumer-protection complaint is the universal second step — free, online, and answered by landlords at a rate private letters envy. Whatever you file, the attachments are always the same trio: the notice, the lease, and a month-by-month ledger. The kit’s §5 builds the ledger and §6 walks each door above.
Rules checked October 2026