The California Landlord’s Legal Companion

• California-Specific Legal Information
• California Forms and Notices
• COVID-19
• California Rent Control Rules
• How (and Why) to Use This Book
• Evicting a Tenant: Our Companion Book
• Renting Out a Condo or Townhouse
• Who Should Not Use This Book

1. Renting Your Property: How to Choose Tenants and Avoid Legal Pitfalls

• Adopt a Rental Plan and Stick to It
• Advertising Rental Property
• Dealing With Prospective Tenants
• Checking Background, References, and Credit History of Potential Tenants
• Choosing—and Rejecting—an Applicant
• Holding Deposits

2. Understanding Leases and Rental Agreements

• Oral Agreements Are Not Recommended
• Written Agreements: Which Is Better, a Lease or a Rental Agreement?
• Foreign Language Note on California Leases and Rental Agreements
• Common Legal Provisions in Lease and Rental Agreement Forms
• How to Modify and Sign Form Agreements
• Cosigners
• Illegal Lease and Rental Agreement Provisions

3. Basic Rent Rules

• How Much Can You Charge?
• When Rent Is Due
• Where and How Rent Is Due
• Late Charges
• Returned Check Charges
• Partial Rent Payments

4. Rent Control

• Statewide Rent Control: The Tenant Protection Act of 2019
• States of Emergency: Wildfires, COVID-19, and the Antigouging Law
• Property Exempt From Local Rent Control (But Not Just Cause)
• Local Rent Control Administration
• Registration of Rental Properties
• Rent Formula and Individual Adjustments
• Security Deposits
• Board Certification of Correct Rent Levels
• Vacancy Decontrol
• Tenant Protections: Just Cause Evictions
• Rent Control Board Hearings
• Legal Sanctions for Violating Rent Control

5. Security Deposits

• Security Deposits Are Always Refundable
• How Landlords May Use Deposits
• Dollar Limits on Deposits
• How to Increase Deposit Amounts
• Last Month’s Rent
• Interest, Accounts, and Record Keeping on Deposits
• Insurance as a Backup to Deposits
• When Rental Property Is Sold
• When You’re Purchasing Rental Property

6. Property Managers

• Hiring Your Own Manager
• Avoiding Legal Problems
• Management Companies
• An Owner’s Liability for a Manager’s Acts
• Notifying Tenants of the Manager
• Firing a Manager
• Evicting a Manager

7. Getting the Tenant Moved In

• Perform Renovations and Repairs During Vacancies
• Inspect and Photograph the Unit
• Send New Tenants a Move-In Letter
• First Month’s Rent and Security Deposit Checks

8. Lawyers, Legal Research, Eviction Services, and Mediation

• Legal Research Tools
• Mediating Disputes With Tenants
• Nonlawyer Eviction Services
• Lawyer Eviction Services
• Finding a Lawyer
• The Cost of Hiring a Lawyer
• Resolving Problems With Your Lawyer

9. Discrimination

• Legal Reasons for Refusing to Rent to a Tenant
• Sources of Discrimination Laws
• Forbidden Types of Discrimination
• Occupancy Limits
• Legal Penalties for Discrimination
• Owner-Occupied Premises and Occasional Rentals
• Managers and Discrimination
• Insurance Coverage for Discrimination Claims

10. Cotenants, Subtenants, and Guests

• Renting to More Than One Tenant
• Subtenants and Sublets
• When a Tenant Brings in a Roommate
• If a Tenant Leaves and Assigns the Lease to Someone
• Short-Term Rentals Like Airbnb

11. The Landlord’s Duty to Repair and Maintain the Property

• State and Local Housing Standards
• Enforcement of Housing Standards
• Maintenance of Appliances and Other Amenities
• The Tenant’s Responsibilities
• The Tenant’s Right to Repair and Deduct
• The Tenant’s Right to Withhold Rent When the Premises Aren’t Habitable
• The Landlord’s Options If a Tenant Repairs and Deducts or Withholds Rent
• The Tenant’s Right to Move Out
• The Tenant’s Right to Sue for Defective Conditions
• Avoid Rent Withholding and Other Tenant Remedies by Adopting a High-Quality Repair and Maintenance System
• Tenant Updates and Landlord’s Regular Safety and Maintenance Inspections
• Tenants’ Alterations and Improvements
• Cable TV
• Satellite Dishes and Other Antennas

12. The Landlord’s Liability for Dangerous Conditions, Criminal Acts, and Environmental Health Hazards

• Legal Standards for Liability
• Landlord’s Responsibility to Protect Tenants From Crime
• How to Protect Your Tenants From Criminal Acts While Also Reducing Your Potential Liability
• Protecting Tenants From Each Other (and From the Manager)
• Landlord’s Liability for Drug-Dealing Tenants
• Liability for Environmental Hazards
• Liability, Property, and Other Types of Insurance

13. The Landlord’s Right of Entry and Tenant’s Privacy

• The Landlord’s Right of Entry
• Entry by Others
• Other Types of Invasions of Privacy
• What to Do When Tenants Are Unreasonable
• Tenants’ Remedies If a Landlord Acts Illegally

14. Raising Rents and Changing Other Terms of Tenancy

• Basic Rules to Change or End a Tenancy
• Rent Increase Rules
• Preparing a Notice to Raise Rent
• How to Serve the Notice on the Tenant
• When the Rent Increase Takes Effect
• Changing Terms Other Than Rent

15. Retaliatory Rent Increases and Evictions

• Types of Prohibited Retaliation
• Proving Retaliation
• Avoiding Charges of Retaliation
• Liability for Illegal Retaliation

16. The Three-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit

• When to Use a Three-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit
• How to Determine the Amount of Rent Due
• Directions for Completing the Three-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit
• Serving the Three-Day Notice on the Tenant
• When the Tenant Offers to Pay Rent
• The Tenant Moves Out
• If the Tenant Won’t Pay Rent (or Leave)

17. Self-Help Evictions, Utility Terminations, and Taking Tenants’ Property

• Forcible Evictions
• Blocking or Driving the Tenant Out Without Force
• Seizing the Tenant’s Property and Other Harassment
• Effect of Landlord’s Forcible Eviction on a Tenant’s Liability for Rent

18. Terminating Tenancies

• The 30-, 60-, or 90-Day Notice
• The Three-Day Notice in Cities That Don’t Require Just Cause for Eviction
• Termination When Just Cause for Eviction Is Required
• The Initial Move-Out Inspection Notice

19. When a Tenant Leaves Voluntarily: Month-to-Month Tenancies, Fixed-Term Leases, Abandonment, and Death of a Tenant

• Tenant’s Termination of Month-to-Month Tenancies
• Terminating Fixed-Term Leases
• Termination by Tenant Abandoning Premises
• What to Do When Some Tenants Leave and Others Stay
• Death of a Tenant

20. Returning Security Deposits

• Basic Rules for Returning Deposits
• Initial Move-Out Inspection and Tenant’s Right to Receipts
• Final Inspection
• Deductions for Cleaning and Damages
• Deductions for Unpaid Rent
• Preparing an Itemized Statement of Deductions
• Small Claims Lawsuits by the Tenant
• When the Deposit Doesn’t Cover Damage and Unpaid Rent

21. Property Abandoned by a Tenant

• Handling, Storing, and Disposing of Personal Property
• Motor Vehicles Left Behind

Appendix

• How to Use the Downloadable Forms on the Nolo Website and Access the Rent Control Chart
• Editing RTFs
• List of Forms Available on the Nolo Website
• Accessing Nolo’s Rent Control Chart

Index

The California Landlord’s Legal Companion

This book is for people who own or manage residential rental property in California. It explains the law as straightforwardly as possible, and will show you how to use this legal knowledge to anticipate and avoid legal problems.

California-Specific Legal Information

This book concentrates on the dozens of state legal rules associated with most aspects of renting and managing residential real property. It also covers key federal laws that affect landlords, such as lead paint disclosure rules, and highlights important local rules, particularly rent control (see below) and health and safety standards.

California Forms and Notices

We provide dozens of practical, easy-to-use forms, notices, letters, and checklists throughout this book, including rental applications, leases, repair notices, warning letters, notice of entry forms, security deposit itemizations, move-in and move-out letters, disclosure forms, three-day nonpayment of rent and other termination notices, and more. We clearly explain what form you need for different situations, with clear instructions on how to prepare the form (including how to provide proper legal notice when required). We also provide filled-in samples in the text.

All forms are available for download on the Nolo website on a special companion page for this book, as described below.

TIP
Put it in writing. Using the forms, checklists, and notices included in this book will help you avoid legal problems in the first place, and minimize those that can’t be avoided. The key is to establish a good paper trail for each tenancy, beginning with the application and move-in checklist, continuing with the rental agreement or lease, and ending with the termination notice and security deposit itemization. Such documentation is legally required and extremely valuable in resolving disputes with your tenant.

COVID-19

In March 2020, COVID-19 spread widely in California. The pandemic temporarily changed many rules—shutting down the court system and suspending nearly all evictions and civil lawsuits. Local governments, public health orders, and the state legislature provided differing versions of rent relief, as well as changed time limits for paying rent and how to enforce payment. Some rules and orders required just cause to terminate leases, and even altered the rules used to enforce rental agreements.

As we go to press in early 2023, nearly all of those new rules and procedures have ended, with some laws remaining until 2025. However, as with so much related to COVID-19, nothing is guaranteed and the rules can change again.

If the state or municipalities pass new temporary rules or procedures, we will explain the changes on this book’s companion page on Nolo.com to keep you up to date (see “Get Forms, and More at This Book’s Companion Page on Nolo.com,” below).

California Rent Control Rules

Many of you own rental properties in areas covered by local rent control and/or eviction protection laws, or the new statewide rent control law. These laws not only establish how much you can charge for most residential living spaces, they also complicate state law in a number of other ways. For example, many rent control ordinances and new state laws restrict a landlord’s ability to terminate month-to-month tenancies by requiring “just cause for eviction.”

We handle rent control in three ways: First, as we explain your rights and responsibilities under state law in the bulk of this book, we indicate those areas in which these rent control laws are likely to modify or change these rules. Second, we provide access to a page on Nolo.com where you’ll find an exhaustive summary of the dozens of local ordinances in effect. If you own rental property in a rent control city, it’s crucial that you become familiar with your local ordinance. You can get a copy from your city rent control board or access it online.

How (and Why) to Use This Book

This book provides a roughly chronological treatment of subjects important to landlords—beginning with taking rental applications and ending with returning security deposits when a tenant moves out. But you shouldn’t wait until a problem happens to educate yourself about the law.

With sensible planning, you can either minimize— or avoid—the majority of serious legal problems encountered by landlords. For example, in Chapter 11 we show you how to plan ahead to deal with those few tenants who will inevitably try to invent bogus reasons why they were legally entitled to withhold rent. Similarly, in Chapter 9 we discuss ways to be sure that you, your managers, and other employees know and follow antidiscrimination laws and, at least as important, make it clear that you are doing so. We take you through most of the important tasks of being a landlord. Most of these tasks you can do yourself, but we are quick to point out situations when an attorney’s help will be useful or necessary.

We believe that in the long run a landlord is best served by establishing a positive relationship with tenants. Why? First, because it’s our personal view that adherence to the law and principles of fairness is a good way to live. Second, your tenants are your most important economic asset and should be treated as such. Think of it this way: From a long-term perspective, the business of renting residential properties is often less profitable than is cashing in on the appreciation of that property. Your tenants are crucial to this process, because it is their rent payments that allow you to carry the cost of the real property while you wait for it to go up in value. And just as other businesses place great importance on conserving natural resources, it makes sense for you to adopt legal and practical strategies designed to establish and maintain a good relationship with your tenants.

Evicting a Tenant: Our Companion Book

This book, The California Landlord’s Law Book: Rights & Responsibilities, has for years been the first of a two- volume set. It explains how to terminate a tenancy, but if you need to evict a tenant you should consult the second volume, The California Landlord’s Law Book: Evictions. In the wake of the ever-changing rules and procedures concerning evictions, we updated the book (for the 19th edition) at the end of 2022. Use that edition or a newer one (check the edition at Nolo.com).

Whether you should do an eviction on your own is another, fundamental question. If your property is not within the Southern or Northern California rent control cities, you should be able to handle the matter with our latest edition. In the major rent control cities, it might not be practical to attempt to represent yourself in an eviction. In any case, whether you are in doubt or simply have questions, you should see a knowledgeable landlord/tenant lawyer in your area.

Renting Out a Condo or Townhouse

If you are renting out your condominium or townhouse, use this book in conjunction with your homeowners’ association’s CC&Rs (covenants, conditions, and restrictions). Be forewarned—many CC&Rs and homeowners’ associations place limits on the number of units that can be rented in the condominium development. You need to check the condominium governing documents to see if you can rent your unit.

These rules also might affect how you structure the terms and conditions of the rental and how your tenants may use the unit. For example, many homeowners’ associations control the number of vehicles that can be parked on the street. If your association has a rule like this, your renters will need to comply with it, and you cannot rent to tenants with too many vehicles without running afoul of the rules.

You need to be aware that an association rule might be contrary to federal, state, or local law. For instance, an association rule that banned all persons of a certain race or religion from the property would not be upheld in court. And owners of condominium units in rent-controlled areas must comply with the ordinance, regardless of association rules to the contrary. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to know whether an association rule will pass legal muster. To know whether a particular rule is legally permissible is an inquiry that, in some cases, is beyond the scope of this book.

Who Should Not Use This Book

Do not use this book or its forms in the following situations:

• Renting commercial property for your business. Legal rules and practices vary widely for commercial rentals—from how rent is set to the length and terms of leases.
• Renting out a space or unit in a mobile home park or marina. Different rules often apply. For details, check out the California Department of Housing and Community Development website, which has forms, laws, regulations, and helpful information. (www.hcd.ca.gov/ manufactured-and-mobilehomes/mobilehome-assistance-center/mobilehome-residency-law- protection-program)
• Renting out a live/work unit (such as a loft). While you will be subject to state laws governing residential units, you may have additional requirements (imposed by building codes) that pertain to commercial property as well. Check with your local building inspector’s office for the rules governing live/work units.

Abbreviations Used in This Book
We make frequent references to the California Civil Code (CC) and the California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP), important statutes that set out landlords’ rights and responsibilities. We use the following standard abbreviations throughout this book for these and other important statutes and court cases covering landlord rights and responsibilities. There are many times when you will surely want to refer to the complete statute or case. See Chapter 8 for advice on how to find a specific statute or case and do legal research.
California Codes
CC	Civil Code
CCP	Code of Civil Procedure
UHC	Uniform Housing Code
B&P	Business and Professions Code
H&S	Health and Safety Code
CCR	California Code of Regulations
Ed. Code	Education Code
Federal Laws
U.S.C.	United States Code
Cases
Cal. App.	California Court of Appeal
Cal. Rptr.	California Court of Appeal and California Supreme Court
Cal.	California Supreme Court
F. Supp.	United States District Court
F. 2d, F. 3d	United States Court of Appeal
U.S.	United States Supreme Court
Opinions
Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen.	California Attorney General Opinions

 

---

We hope you enjoyed this sample chapter. The complete book is available for sale here at Nolo.com.

This Book Comes With a Website

Nolo’s award-winning website has a page dedicated just to this book, where you can:

DOWNLOAD FORMS - All forms in this book are accessible online. After purchase, you can find a link to the URL in Appendix B.

KEEP UP TO DATE - When there are important changes to the information in this book, we will post updates

And that’s not all. Nolo.com contains thousands of articles on everyday legal and business issues, plus a plain-English law dictionary, all written by Nolo experts and available for free. You’ll also find more useful books, software, online services, and downloadable forms.