California adds a stove and refrigerator to the rental habitability list

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.
• A successor in interest is bound by the electronic return requirement only where that successor itself received rental payments electronically from the tenant, which is narrower than a summary reading suggests. 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, until a local public health agency or official determines the debris contains no toxic substances, 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 is usually summarised as prohibiting a landlord from requiring a particular internet service provider. The operative language at Civil Code section 1942.8 does something narrower and more specific: the landlord shall allow the tenant to opt out of paying for any subscription from a third-party internet service provider, covering wired internet, cellular or satellite service offered with the tenancy. It reaches tenancies commenced, renewed or continuing on a month-to-month or other periodic basis on or after 1 January 2026. Where the landlord or their agent breaches it the tenant may deduct the subscription cost from the rent, and retaliation is barred consistent with section 1942.5. Bulk billing arrangements are expressly preserved.

SB 655 declares it the policy of the state that all dwelling units, as defined at Civil Code section 1940, be able to attain and maintain a safe maximum indoor temperature. No temperature is named. Nine named agencies must consider the policy when revising or establishing policies, programmes and criteria including grant criteria, and separately when revising or establishing regulations, that second duty beginning on 1 January 2027. Only the regulations duty carries that date, which several summaries run together. It sits at Health and Safety Code section 17914 rather than among the habitability provisions, which C.A.R. reads as leaving a tenant to the broader warranty of habitability rather than the specific statutory remedies.

AB 299 covers a motel, a hotel or a compliant short-term rental as defined at Business and Professions Code section 17568.8, where the guest is residing there as a result of a disaster that substantially damaged, destroyed or made uninhabitable their prior housing. It pushes the point at which the occupant gains the protections of an unlawful detainer under Code of Civil Procedure section 1161 out to two hundred and seventy consecutive days. Urgency legislation effective 10 October 2025, repealing on 1 January 2031.

AB 246 lets a tenant assert social security hardship as an affirmative defence in an unlawful detainer based on non-payment, where benefits were terminated, delayed or reduced through no fault of the tenant by the action or inaction of the federal government, and that prevented payment of the rent alleged. The court stays the action until the earlier of fourteen days after benefits are restored or six months after the stay issues. It does not relieve the obligation to pay. Where the tenant then pays or agrees a payment plan, the court restores the tenancy and either dismisses with prejudice or sets aside the judgment. It sunsets on 20 January 2029.