Recent Changes to California Eviction Law

Changes to California Unlawful Detainer Law, 2024–2026

SB 567 — Stricter No-Fault Just Cause Eviction Requirements

Effective April 1, 2024

SB 567 tightened the rules governing two specific types of no-fault tenancy terminations under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB 1482), codified at Civil Code § 1946.2.

• Owner or family move-in: the intended occupant must reside in the unit as a primary residence for at least 12 months and must move in within 90 days after the tenant vacates. The law also defines who qualifies as an "owner," including individuals, family trusts, and in some cases partnerships or LLCs. Violations can expose a landlord to triple damages plus attorney's fees.
• Substantial remodel evictions: the termination notice must describe the work to be performed, acknowledge the tenant's right to reoccupy if the work is not started or completed, and be accompanied by copies of any required permits. The tenant must be informed of the right to reoccupy and asked to provide updated contact information.

SB 567 does not apply to properties exempt under AB 1482, and it does not change the existing rule that just-cause protections apply only after 12 months of tenancy (extending to 24 months if an additional adult tenant is added before the 24-month mark).

AB 2347 — Extended Tenant Response Time and Demurrer Hearing Schedule

Effective January 1, 2025

AB 2347 amended Code of Civil Procedure § 1167 and § 1170, and is the single most significant procedural change for tenants in recent years.

• Response time: tenants now have 10 court days to respond to an unlawful detainer summons and complaint — doubling the 5-day deadline that had been in place since 1971.
• Demurrer and motion to strike: a tenant may now respond by filing an answer, a demurrer, or a motion to strike. If a demurrer or motion to strike is filed, a hearing must be set no less than five and no more than seven court days later, though the court may order a later date upon a showing of good cause.
• Service by mail: if service is completed by mail, or through the Secretary of State's address confidentiality program, the tenant has 15 days to respond.

Primary source: California Legislative Information, AB 2347 bill text.

Your Response Deadline Under AB 2347, by Method of Service

The deadline to file a responsive pleading is not a single fixed number. It depends entirely on how the Unlawful Detainer Summons was delivered to you. Four methods of service are authorized in California, and each starts the clock differently. Two concepts govern the calculation:

• Court days exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and court holidays. A ten-court-day deadline is therefore usually two calendar weeks or more.
• Completion of service. With substituted service and with posting, service is not legally complete on the day the papers are delivered or posted. The statute deems service complete a set number of days afterward, and the response clock does not begin until that later date.

AB 246 — Social Security Tenant Protection Act of 2025

Effective January 1, 2026 · Sunsets January 20, 2029

AB 246 allows a tenant to assert "Social Security hardship" as an affirmative defense in a nonpayment-of-rent unlawful detainer case. Social Security hardship means a loss of income caused by an interruption in Social Security benefits due to action or inaction by the federal government. The tenant must show the court, to its satisfaction, that benefits were terminated, delayed, or reduced through no fault of the tenant, and that the hardship prevented payment of rent.

If the tenant makes this showing, the court must stay the unlawful detainer action. The stay lasts until 14 days after benefits are restored, or six months from the date of the stay, whichever comes first. This defense applies only to nonpayment-of-rent cases.

AB 1384 — Commercial Unlawful Detainer Demurrer Hearing Timelines

Effective January 1, 2026

AB 1384 further amends Code of Civil Procedure § 1170. If a court sets a later hearing date on a demurrer in a commercial unlawful detainer case, that hearing may be no more than 10 court days after the first date set — meaning the hearing must occur between 15 and 17 court days after the demurrer is filed, unless the parties stipulate in writing to a later date. This law applies to commercial cases only, not residential.

AB 747 — SPARE Act: Service of Process Reform

Signed October 2025 · Operative January 1, 2027

The SPARE Act is described as the most significant reform to California's service-of-process rules in fifty years, aimed at "sewer service" — the practice of process servers failing to properly notify tenants they are being sued.

• Reasonable diligence, redefined: requires a good-faith attempt at personal delivery on at least three occasions, on three different days, at different times. Proof of service must include a photograph of the service location, a readable date/time stamp, and GPS coordinates.
• Complaint requirements: the unlawful detainer complaint must describe the date, time, and location of the termination notice's service.
• Challenging defective service: a party who was not properly served may move to set aside or vacate a default judgment, or seek leave to defend the case. The burden falls on the party who obtained the default to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that service was lawful.

Primary source: California Legislative Information, AB 747 bill text.

AB 863 — Multilingual Unlawful Detainer Summons Form

Form due by January 1, 2027

AB 863 requires the California Judicial Council to create a single unlawful detainer summons form, translated into English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean, for mandatory use statewide.

What Changed in California Rental Law in 2026

A further group of statutes took effect on January 1, 2026, broadening what landlords owe their tenants in four areas: the physical condition of the unit, the return of security deposits, the disclosure of charges, and the treatment of tenants displaced by declared emergencies. Although these statutes are not eviction procedure as such, each one bears directly on the defenses a tenant may raise in an unlawful detainer action — a habitability standard that a landlord has failed to meet, or a charge that a landlord was not entitled to demand, may defeat the notice on which the entire case rests.

AB 628 — A Working Stove and Refrigerator Are Now Conditions of Habitability

Effective January 1, 2026

AB 628 amends Civil Code § 1941.1 to place a functioning stove and a functioning refrigerator among the features a dwelling must have before it qualifies as legally tenantable. Appliances had previously fallen outside the statutory definition of habitability altogether, and it was not unusual — particularly in Southern California — for units to be let without either one.

What the statute requires

• Which tenancies are covered. The obligation attaches to leases entered into, amended, or extended on or after January 1, 2026. A fixed-term lease already running on that date is untouched until it is renewed or amended. A month-to-month tenancy renews each month and is therefore covered from January 1, 2026 forward.
• What must be supplied. A stove or cooktop and a refrigerator, each maintained in working condition throughout the tenancy.
• Recalled appliances. Where a supplied stove or refrigerator becomes the subject of a manufacturer or government recall, the landlord has 30 days from receiving notice to repair or replace it — whether or not the appliance is still operating.
• Tenant-supplied refrigerators. A tenant may furnish their own refrigerator, but only under a written agreement made when the lease is signed. A landlord may not condition the tenancy on the tenant supplying one. A tenant who initially agrees to supply their own may afterward request in writing that the landlord provide one.
• No cost pass-through. Rent may not be increased for the sole purpose of recovering the expense of complying with AB 628.
• Exempt housing. Certain categories fall outside the statute, among them permanent supportive housing and units served by a shared kitchen, such as some boarding houses and student accommodations.

Primary source: California Legislative Information, AB 628 bill text.

AB 414 — Security Deposits Must Now Be Returned Electronically in Some Cases

Effective January 1, 2026

AB 414 amends Civil Code § 1950.5 to bring the mechanics of returning a deposit into line with how tenants now actually pay. The central rule is one of symmetry: where the landlord received rent or the deposit from the tenant by electronic means, the balance of the deposit must be returned by electronic means, unless the parties have agreed in writing on another method.

What the statute requires

• The deadline is unchanged. Twenty-one calendar days after the tenancy ends, as before.
• Written notice of the right. Where rent or the deposit was paid electronically, the landlord must inform the tenant in writing that the refund may be received electronically.
• Agreeing on another method. If the parties would rather use a different method — a paper check, for instance — that choice must be recorded in a written agreement. Departing from prior law, the agreement may be made at the outset of the lease or at any time during the tenancy, and need not wait until the tenant has moved out.
• Multiple adult tenants. Absent a written agreement to the contrary, the default is a single instrument payable to all adult tenants together.
• Itemized statements by email. The itemized statement of deductions may now be sent by email where the tenant has agreed in writing, and that agreement too may be given at any point during the tenancy.

The statute governs any tenancy ending on or after January 1, 2026.

Primary source: California Legislative Information, AB 414 bill text. See also our guide to California security deposit laws.

SB 610 — Landlord Obligations Following a Declared Disaster

Effective January 1, 2026

SB 610 answers the confusion that followed the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, when landlords and tenants found themselves without clear rules on who was responsible for cleanup, whether rent continued to accrue, and whether a tenant retained any right to come back. The statute fixes a set of obligations that bind a landlord whenever a rental property is caught up in a declared state of emergency.

What a landlord must do

• Suspend rent and fees during a mandatory evacuation. While a government evacuation order is in force, no rent or fee accrues. Rent already paid for a period covered by the order must be refunded within 10 calendar days after the order is lifted; failing that, the tenant may subtract the amount from the following month's rent.
• Clear the debris and remediate the hazards. Smoke damage, ash, mold, water intrusion, and asbestos must be addressed before the unit may be treated as habitable again. The statute creates a legal presumption that a unit containing disaster debris is uninhabitable until a local public health agency finds otherwise.
• Confirm safety in writing. Once remediation is finished, the landlord must notify the tenant in writing that the unit is safe to reoccupy.
• Honor the right to return. The tenant may return to the unit at the rent that was in effect before the disaster, unless the tenancy has been lawfully terminated.
• Refund prepaid rent. Where the unit is destroyed, or rendered uninhabitable beyond remediation, any prepaid rent must be returned.
• Release the tenant from the lease. A tenant whose unit is destroyed or permanently uninhabitable may terminate the lease without penalty.

Primary source: California Legislative Information, SB 610 bill text.

Mandatory Fee Disclosure in Rental Advertising

Effective 2026

California now requires that every mandatory fee be disclosed at the front end — in the advertisement, in any price quoted to a prospective tenant, and in the charging of recurring fees. The object is to put an end to charges that surface only after a prospective tenant has toured the unit or started an application. Where a fee falls on every tenant as a condition of renting, it belongs in the stated total rental price rather than in the fine print of the application process.

Charges that must be disclosed in this way commonly include trash and sewer surcharges passed through to tenants, parking fees required as part of the tenancy, utility connection charges, and administrative fees billed monthly. Fees a tenant is genuinely free to decline — pet rent, or an optional storage unit — may still be listed separately.

Other Protections Now Fully in Force

Several protections enacted in earlier sessions have now taken full effect:

• Security deposit cap. Most landlords may collect no more than one month's rent as a deposit (SB 567 / AB 12, operative July 1, 2024). CC § 1950.5
• Positive rent reporting. Landlords must offer tenants the option of having on-time payments reported to a credit bureau (AB 2747, operative April 2025 for larger properties).
• Lock changes at the landlord's expense. On written request from a tenant who is a victim of domestic violence or abuse, the landlord must change the locks and bear the cost. CC § 1941.5
• Screening fee cap. The tenant screening fee is adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index and currently stands at $62.02. CC § 1950.6
• Screening data security. Third-party tenant screening services must meet cybersecurity standards protecting tenant data (AB 1414).
• Unbundled parking. Tenants in qualifying newer multifamily buildings may decline to pay for bundled parking.

Primary Legal Sources

The following are the authoritative government and statutory references for California landlord–tenant law:

• California Civil Code §§ 1940–1954.06 — hiring of residential real property
• California Code of Civil Procedure §§ 1159–1179a — unlawful detainer
• AB 1482, Tenant Protection Act of 2019 — full bill text
• California Department of Consumer Affairs, California Tenants guide
• California Courts Self-Help Guide — Eviction

Seeking Help With an Eviction Matter?

These changes can be complex, and more than one may apply to your situation at once. Call our office at (657) 510-6534 to discuss your circumstances with a staff member.

Tenant Eviction Defense is a nonprofit organization. This page is general legal information about California law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Statutes, effective dates, and local rules change, and pending legislation may be amended before it becomes operative. Confirm anything time-sensitive with the court named on your summons or with a licensed California attorney before you rely on it.