Seven changes land on the lease side, and one of them is a refrigerator

A good deal of coordination work is not sale-side. Coordinators running lease files for property managers and landlords pick up a cluster of California changes this year, and unlike the sale-side measures these mostly alter what has to be in the lease itself.

A stove and a refrigerator are now habitability

AB 628 adds to the statutory habitability characteristics at Civil Code section 1941.1 a stove maintained in good working order and capable of safely generating heat for cooking, and a refrigerator maintained in good working order and capable of safely storing food. Neither may be subject to recall, and where a landlord receives notice of a recall they must repair or replace within thirty days.

A tenant may supply their own refrigerator, but only on conditions that land directly on lease drafting. The lease has to carry a statement in substantially the prescribed form, acknowledging that the landlord is required to provide one and that the tenant has asked to bring their own and will keep it working. It must also provide that the tenant can give thirty days written notice to stop, after which the landlord installs one. A landlord may not condition a tenancy on the tenant providing a refrigerator, and is not responsible for maintaining one the tenant supplied.

Exemptions cover permanent supportive housing, single-room occupancy units with exclusive living and sleeping space, units in residential hotels, and dwellings in a housing facility offering shared kitchens. The law does not specify a size for the refrigerator, only that it can safely store food.

Deposits go back the way they came

AB 414 amends Civil Code section 1950.5 so that where a landlord received the security or rental payments electronically, the remainder of the security is returned electronically as the tenant designates in writing, unless the parties agree another method in writing. On notice of termination from either side, the landlord must notify the tenant in writing of the right to receive the deposit electronically.

• The itemised statement still goes by personal delivery or first class mail by default, and only moves to email by mutual agreement.
• Where several adult tenants share the unit, the remainder is returned by a single cheque payable to all of them unless everyone agrees otherwise in writing.
• A written agreement can set out how any remainder is split, in what percentages, and how each tenant receives their itemised statement.
• The provisions bind the landlord's successor in interest, and special rules apply where a tenancy ended on domestic violence grounds.

A duty to clean up after a disaster

SB 610 places on a landlord a duty to remediate dilapidations arising from a disaster, specifically removal of debris and mitigation of hazards including mould, smoke, smoke residue, smoke odour, ash, asbestos and water damage. It must be done within a reasonable time, and where the tenant has given a postal or email address the landlord must confirm compliance in writing and tell the tenant they may view and request copies of any environmental studies, testing or reports.

The presumption is the sharp end. Debris at a rental unit such as ash, sludge or runoff is presumed to render the unit untenantable under the statutory habitability standards, unless a public health official has determined it is not toxic, which opens the ordinary tenant remedies for failure to maintain a habitable property.

The tenancy survives. Unless lawfully terminated, the tenant has the right to return at the rental rate in effect immediately before the disaster, as soon as it is safe and practicable. The landlord is not required to rebuild. Where a tenancy ends on partial or total destruction, advance rent covering any period after termination is returned within twenty-one days. Disaster means an emergency for which the President or the Governor has declared a state of emergency.

The rest of the cluster

AB 1414 prohibits a landlord requiring a tenant to use a particular internet service provider and lets the tenant deduct the subscription cost from rent where the landlord or their agent breaches it, with retaliation barred. Bulk billing arrangements survive provided tenants can opt out.

SB 655 declares a state policy that rental dwellings should attain and maintain a safe maximum indoor temperature. It is codified at Health and Safety Code section 17914 rather than within the habitability sections, which C.A.R.'s analysis notes leaves a tenant's remedy resting on the broader warranty of habitability rather than the specific statutory remedies. Agencies are only required to consider the policy, and not until 1 January 2027.

AB 299 addresses lodging occupied by people displaced by a disaster, delaying the point at which a guest gains the benefit of formal removal procedures from thirty days to two hundred and seventy. AB 246 lets a tenant assert an affirmative defence to an unlawful detainer for non-payment where an interruption in social security benefits caused by federal action or inaction prevented payment, with a stay until fourteen days after benefits resume or six months, whichever is earlier. It does not forgive the rent.