California Lease Agreements for Landlords

Every California residential lease should contain the Megan's Law database notice, your contact and rent payment details, the state flood-information statement, and, for most units, the Tenant Protection Act notice or the exemption statement that keeps a qualifying home outside the state rent cap. Before the tenant signs, you also give a bed bug notice, the state mold booklet, and, depending on the property, notices about known flood zones, shared utility meters, a pending demolition permit, nearby former military ordnance sites, pest control service, and lead paint in housing built before 1978. If you negotiate the lease in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, the tenant must get a full translation before signing. Clauses that waive a tenant's deposit, notice, court, or repair rights are void under Civil Code sections 1953 and 1942.1.

What must every California lease include?

Megan's Law notice. Civil Code section 2079.10a requires this text, in at least 8-point type, in leases of single-family homes and of buildings with more than four units. The state's tenant guide tells landlords to put it in every rental agreement, so include it in yours:

"Notice: Pursuant to Section 290.46 of the Penal Code, information about specified registered sex offenders is made available to the public via an Internet Web site maintained by the Department of Justice at www.meganslaw.ca.gov. Depending on an offender's criminal history, this information will include either the address at which the offender resides or the community of residence and ZIP Code in which he or she resides."

Giving the notice satisfies your duty to tell the tenant about the database; you do not have to research offenders nearby.

Owner, manager, and rent details (Civil Code section 1962). The lease must state:

• the name, phone number, and usual street address for personal service of the property manager and of an owner or agent authorized to accept legal papers and notices;
• the name, phone number, and address of the person who receives rent, plus the usual days and hours if rent can be paid in person, or instead a bank account at an institution within five miles of the property, or electronic transfer instructions; and
• the forms of payment you accept.

Give the tenant a copy of the signed lease within 15 days, and a new copy once a year on request. With an oral agreement, give the same information in a written statement within 15 days. A new owner or manager has 15 days to update it and cannot evict for nonpayment of rent that came due while the information was out of date.

Flood statement (Government Code section 8589.45). Every lease signed since July 1, 2018 must state, in at least 8-point type, that the tenant can look up hazards on the Office of Emergency Services MyHazards website (with its address), that your insurance does not cover the tenant's belongings and renter's and flood insurance are recommended, and that you are not required to provide more flood information. If you know the unit is in a special flood hazard area or an area of potential flooding, the lease must say so. You are treated as knowing if a public agency told you in writing, your lender requires flood insurance, or you carry flood insurance.

Bed bug notice (Civil Code section 1954.603). Before a new tenancy starts, give a written notice with the statute's general information on bed bugs and your procedure for reporting a suspected infestation.

Mold booklet (Health and Safety Code section 26148). Give every prospective residential tenant the California Department of Public Health mold booklet before entering the lease, even if you know of no mold.

Which Tenant Protection Act notice does your lease need?

The Tenant Protection Act (Civil Code sections 1946.2 and 1947.12) caps annual rent increases and requires just cause to end many tenancies. If your unit is covered, every lease started or renewed since July 1, 2020 must include, in the lease, an addendum, or a notice the tenant signs, this text in at least 12-point type:

"California law limits the amount your rent can be increased. See Section 1947.12 of the Civil Code for more information. California law also provides that after all of the tenants have continuously and lawfully occupied the property for 12 months or more or at least one of the tenants has continuously and lawfully occupied the property for 24 months or more, a landlord must provide a statement of cause in any notice to terminate a tenancy. See Section 1946.2 of the Civil Code for more information."

A single-family home or condo that can be sold separately is exempt only if the owner is not a real estate investment trust, a corporation, or an LLC with a corporate member, and the tenant received the exemption statement in section 1946.2(e)(8). For tenancies started or renewed since July 1, 2020, that statement must be in the lease itself. Without it, the home is covered even if the owner qualifies. Our California rent control guide covers the current cap and other exemptions, and the California eviction guide covers just cause.

Which disclosures depend on the property?

Missing the demolition notice can cost a new tenant's actual damages and moving expenses plus a civil penalty of up to $2,500. The California Department of Public Health reports that California has no science-based mold exposure limits. Visible mold that endangers health or safety and is identified by a health or code enforcement officer is a habitability defect, but Health and Safety Code section 17920.3 excludes minor mold on surfaces that normally get wet during proper use, such as shower surfaces. As a precaution, disclose known mold hazards in writing. Repair those hazards; see California repair obligations.

When must you disclose a death on the property?

Under Civil Code section 1710.2, you do not have to disclose a death in the unit that happened more than three years before the tenant applies to rent, or that a past occupant had HIV or died of AIDS-related causes. The state's tenant guide treats a death and its manner within the past three years as something you must disclose. The law never protects a false answer: if a prospective tenant asks directly about deaths on the property, answer truthfully.

When do you need a translated lease?

Under Civil Code section 1632, if you negotiate a lease of more than one month mainly in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, orally or in writing, you must give the tenant and every other signer a translation of the full agreement before anyone signs. The translation may keep names, addresses, numbers, dollar amounts, and dates in English. The duty does not apply if the tenant negotiated through their own interpreter who is an adult, fluent in both languages, and not provided by you. If you skip a required translation, the tenant can cancel the lease. The Tenant Protection Act notice and the flood statement are subject to the same rule.

Which lease clauses are void in California?

Civil Code section 1953 voids any lease term in which the tenant gives up:

• rights under the security deposit law (section 1950.5) or the entry law (section 1954);
• the right to sue you over something that may happen later;
• a notice or hearing required by law;
• procedural rights in a lawsuit over the tenancy; or
• your legal duty of care to prevent injury or property damage.

A waiver of any other statutory right is void unless the tenant saw the lease before moving in. Section 1942.1 separately voids a tenant's waiver of the right to a habitable unit and to the repair remedies, with two exceptions: a tenant can agree to repair or maintain all or part of the unit as part of the rent bargain, and a written lease can send habitability disputes to arbitration. For deposit terms that do hold up, see California security deposit laws.

Two recent laws change standard clauses. For leases entered into, amended, or extended on or after January 1, 2026, Civil Code section 1941.1 requires a working stove and refrigerator. Only the refrigerator may be tenant-supplied, by mutual agreement when the lease is signed. The lease must include the statutory checkbox acknowledgment that the tenant asked to supply and maintain their own refrigerator despite your duty to provide one. It must also let the tenant require you to install a working refrigerator at the end of 30 days' written notice. You cannot make supplying a refrigerator a condition of tenancy. If your building has 16 or more units, or you are a REIT, corporation, or LLC with a corporate member that owns more than one residential building, Civil Code section 1954.07 requires you to offer tenants the option of reporting on-time rent to a credit bureau when the lease is signed and once a year. For the other standard terms, see what terms a rental agreement usually includes.