California landlord-tenant law is built mainly on the state’s Civil Code, which sets binding rules on rental agreements, security deposits, habitability, landlord entry, rent increases, and how a tenancy can end. Many of these rules changed recently: since July 1, 2024, most security deposits are capped at one month’s rent, and the Tenant Protection Act limits annual rent increases on covered properties to 5% plus local inflation or 10%, whichever is lower. What follows is a plain-language guide to the requirements that matter most for landlords and tenants in California.
Rental Agreements and Required Disclosures
A tenancy in California can be a fixed-term lease or a periodic arrangement such as month-to-month. Oral agreements are enforceable for terms of one year or less, but written agreements are standard. Within 15 days of signing a written lease, the landlord must give the tenant a copy of the executed agreement. For oral agreements, the landlord must instead deliver a written statement covering the same required information within 15 days.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1962
Every rental agreement must identify the person authorized to manage the property, the owner or agent authorized to receive legal notices and service of process, and how and where to pay rent.1California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1962
Landlords also owe several health and safety disclosures before or at the start of a tenancy. These include a written bed bug notice explaining how to identify and report infestations,2California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1954.603 – Bed Bug Infestations and a written disclosure if the landlord actually knows the property is within one mile of a former federal or state military training area that may contain unexploded munitions.3California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1940.7 For any housing built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to provide the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home,” disclose known lead-based paint hazards, share available testing records, include a lead warning statement in the lease, and keep the signed disclosure for at least three years.4U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Real Estate Disclosures About Potential Lead Hazards
Security Deposit Rules
California caps the total security deposit at one month’s rent, whether the unit is furnished or unfurnished. The old two-month and three-month limits ended on July 1, 2024. The only exception is for small landlords who are natural persons (or an LLC made entirely of natural persons) and who own no more than two rental properties totaling four or fewer units; those landlords can still collect up to two months’ rent.5California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1950.5 – Security for Rental Agreement
What the Deposit Can Cover
The deposit can only be applied to four things: unpaid rent, damage the tenant caused beyond normal wear and tear, cleaning the unit back to its move-in condition, and repairing or replacing personal property when the lease specifically allows that deduction.5California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1950.5 – Security for Rental Agreement Normal wear and tear is the usual battleground. A carpet worn thin from years of foot traffic is normal wear. A carpet stained by a pet or burned by a cigarette is tenant damage. Charging a tenant to repaint walls that simply faded over a multi-year stay is hard to defend.
Return Deadline and Bad-Faith Penalty
Within 21 calendar days after move-out, the landlord must return whatever part of the deposit is not being kept, along with an itemized statement of any deductions. If repairs cannot reasonably be finished in that time, the landlord must send a good-faith estimate instead, then follow up with a corrected statement and any remaining balance within 14 days of receiving the final invoices.5California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1950.5 – Security for Rental Agreement
A landlord who withholds the deposit in bad faith can be hit with a penalty of up to twice the deposit amount, on top of the tenant’s actual damages. The landlord carries the burden of proving each deduction was reasonable.6California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1950.5
Habitability and the Right to Repairs
Every residential landlord must keep the property fit for human occupancy. This implied warranty of habitability cannot be waived by anything in the lease. A dwelling is unfit if it substantially lacks any of these basics:
- Weatherproof roof and exterior walls, including intact windows and doors
- Working plumbing and gas facilities with hot and cold running water connected to an approved sewage system
- A functional heating system
- Safe electrical lighting and wiring
- Clean, sanitary buildings and grounds free from trash, rodents, and other pests
These are minimums.7California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1941.1 A broken heater ignored through winter or a persistent cockroach problem is a legal violation, not just poor management.
Repair and Deduct
If a landlord fails to fix a habitability problem within a reasonable time after being notified, the tenant can hire someone to make the repair and subtract the cost from the next rent payment. The repair cost cannot exceed one month’s rent, and a tenant can use the remedy no more than twice in any 12-month period.8California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1942 Waiting at least 30 days after notice is presumed reasonable, though a shorter wait can be justified for something urgent like a broken front door lock or a complete loss of hot water.
Protection Against Retaliation
If a landlord raises the rent, cuts services, or tries to evict within 180 days after a tenant reports a habitability problem, uses repair-and-deduct, complains to a housing agency, or is the reason a code violation is cited, the law presumes the landlord is retaliating. Threatening to report a tenant to immigration authorities also counts as retaliation. A tenant can invoke this protection once per 12-month period.9California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1942.5
When a Landlord Can Enter
A landlord cannot enter an occupied unit at will. Entry is limited to making necessary or agreed repairs, showing the unit to prospective tenants or buyers, conducting a pre-move-out inspection, or complying with a court order. For most entries, written notice stating the date, approximate time, and purpose is required. Twenty-four hours is presumed reasonable, and entry must be during normal business hours unless the tenant agrees otherwise.10California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1954
No notice is required for genuine emergencies such as a fire or serious water leak, or when the tenant has abandoned the unit.
Rent Increases
Under the Tenant Protection Act, a landlord of a covered property cannot raise rent by more than 5% plus the local rate of inflation, or 10%, whichever is lower, over any 12-month period. The landlord is also limited to two increases in any 12-month window. When one tenancy ends and a new tenant moves in, the landlord can set the starting rent at any level; the cap applies only to later increases.11California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1947.12
Properties Exempt From the Cap
The statute exempts several categories:11California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1947.12
- Housing that received its certificate of occupancy within the previous 15 years, calculated on a rolling basis
- Single-family homes and condos, but only if the owner is not a corporation, REIT, or LLC with a corporate member, and the landlord has given the tenant a written notice of the exemption
- Owner-occupied duplexes where the owner lives in one unit for the entire tenancy
- Deed-restricted affordable housing
- Dormitories run by schools or colleges
- Units already covered by a stricter local rent control ordinance
A landlord who claims the single-family or condo exemption but never provided the written exemption notice cannot enforce it.
Notice Required for Any Increase
Whether or not the property is covered by the cap, the landlord must give written notice before raising the rent on a periodic tenancy. An increase of 10% or less of the rent charged over the prior 12 months requires at least 30 days’ notice. An increase over 10%, alone or combined with other increases in the same 12-month window, requires at least 90 days’ notice.12California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 827
Ending a Tenancy
Notice to End a Month-to-Month
Either side can end a month-to-month tenancy with written notice. A tenant must give at least 30 days. A landlord must give 30 days if the tenant has lived there less than a year, and 60 days once the tenant has been in the unit for a year or more.13California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.1
Just-Cause Eviction
For covered properties, once a tenant has lived in the unit continuously for 12 months, the landlord cannot terminate the tenancy without stating a legally recognized reason in the written notice.14California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.2 Valid reasons fall into two groups.
At-fault causes involve tenant conduct: failing to pay rent, violating a material lease term after written notice to cure, maintaining a nuisance, criminal activity on the property, refusing lawful landlord entry, or unauthorized subletting.
No-fault causes cover situations where the tenant has done nothing wrong but the landlord has a legitimate need to end the tenancy, such as the owner or an immediate family member moving in, withdrawing the unit from the rental market, or undertaking a substantial renovation that requires the unit to be vacant. For any no-fault termination, the landlord must either pay the tenant relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent or waive the tenant’s final month of rent.14California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.2
The properties exempt from the rent cap are also exempt from just-cause. A landlord of an exempt single-family home who provided the required written exemption notice can still end a month-to-month tenancy with the appropriate notice period and no stated reason.
Discrimination and Reasonable Accommodations
Federal fair housing law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability. California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act adds protections for source of income (including housing vouchers), sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, ancestry, military or veteran status, medical condition, and genetic information, among others.15California Civil Rights Department. Source of Income General Overview
Source of income is the protection that most often trips landlords up. Refusing to rent to someone in California solely because they plan to pay with a Section 8 voucher or other government rental assistance violates state law, even when the concern is really about paperwork or inspection timing.
Tenants with disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations, meaning landlords must make exceptions to their usual rules when necessary. A common example is allowing an assistance animal in a building with a no-pets policy. Under both federal and California law, landlords must accommodate emotional support and service animals, and they cannot charge a pet deposit or extra rent for them. These protections apply to nearly all housing, including properties exempt from the rent cap and just-cause rules.