California Lease Agreements

• The full legal names of every adult occupant and the landlord or agent.
• The property address and, where applicable, the specific unit.
• Rent amount, due date, accepted payment methods, and where payment goes.
• Term — fixed-term with dates, or month-to-month.
• Security deposit amount and the conditions for its return.
• Late fee terms, if any are to be charged at all.
• Utilities: which are the tenant's responsibility and which are the landlord's.
• The name and address of the person authorized to receive notices and legal process.
• Every required disclosure.

California voids a number of clauses that appear in leases constantly. Signing does not save them:

• Waiver of the implied warranty of habitability.
• Waiver of the right to a jury trial or to notice before eviction.
• Non-refundable deposits or cleaning fees.
• Waiver of the tenant's rights under the security deposit statute.
• A clause making the tenant liable for the landlord's negligence.
• Automatic forfeiture of possession without the statutory process.
• A blanket prohibition on displaying a political sign in the tenant's window or on their door.
• A clause preventing the tenant from calling law enforcement or emergency assistance.

Where a lease is negotiated primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, the landlord must deliver a written translation of the lease in that language before signing. The English version still governs, but failure to provide the translation gives the tenant the right to rescind.

This applies to how the deal was actually negotiated, not to what language the tenant speaks at home — a lease negotiated in English does not trigger it.

A fixed-term lease that runs out without either party acting generally converts to a month-to-month tenancy on the same terms. If AB 1482 covers the property, that conversion does not reset just-cause protection — the clock runs on occupancy, not on the paperwork.