About this site

California Landlord Tenant Laws is a free public reference to California residential rental law, published and maintained by Rentor, a California property management company.

Why we publish it

We answer the same questions every week. How much can rent go up. How long do we have to return the deposit. Does a 60-day notice still work. What has to be in the lease. The answers exist — spread across the Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Health and Safety Code, a decade of bill numbers, and a few hundred local ordinances.

So we wrote them down: one page per rule, in plain English, with the statute cited and the deadline stated as a number. If it saves someone a phone call, good. If it makes the case that this is genuinely a full-time job, better.

How the pages are written

• Each page answers one question and names the code section it comes from.
• Every number that matters — days, dollars, percentages — is stated as a number, not as "promptly" or "a reasonable amount."
• Where a rule changed, the bill number is named so you can read the change yourself on the law changes page.
• Sources are linked at the bottom of every page, and gathered on the resources page.

What it does not cover

Local ordinances. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, Santa Monica and dozens of other California cities have their own rent stabilization, relocation, and just-cause rules that go further than state law. This site covers the statewide floor. Always check your city.

Your specific situation. This is a reference, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. See the full disclaimer.

Corrections

California rental law changes every January, and sometimes mid-year. If you find something on this site that is out of date or wrong, tell us through Rentor and we will fix it. Content was last reviewed in full as noted at the top of every page.