Landlord Entry Rules in California

• In an emergency — fire, flood, gas leak, or a comparable threat.
• To make necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations, or improvements.
• To supply necessary or agreed services.
• To show the unit to prospective tenants, purchasers, lenders, workers, or contractors.
• When the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the premises.
• Under a court order.
• To conduct the pre-move-out inspection the tenant requested.

Written notice of at least 24 hours is the default. It must state the date, an approximate time, and the purpose of the entry. Entry must occur during normal business hours unless the tenant agrees otherwise.

Notice may be personally delivered, left with someone of suitable age at the premises, or left on, near, or under the usual entry door. If it is mailed, it must be mailed at least six days before the intended entry.

For the final move-out inspection the notice period is 48 hours, unless the tenant waives it in writing.

There is one narrower path for showings: where the unit is on the market, the landlord may give oral notice 120 days after written notice that the property is for sale, provided the landlord or agent is present and the notice is given in person or by phone.

Entry cannot be used to harass. Repeated, excessive, or pretextual entries — even with notice each time — can support a claim for breach of quiet enjoyment, constructive eviction, or tenant harassment under a local ordinance.

A tenant who unreasonably refuses lawful entry after proper notice is in breach, and that refusal is itself an at-fault just cause. The answer to a refusing tenant is documentation, not a locksmith.