Free California Residential Lease Agreement

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A configurable California residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to current California law — the one-month security deposit cap and its narrow small-landlord exception, the photograph duties added by AB 2801, the 21-day accounting, and all twelve required disclosures.

California Civ. Code 1950.5 One-Month Cap Free PDF 2026 Edition

A California residential lease agreement is the written contract governed by Civil Code section 1940 and following, together with parts of the Code of Civil Procedure, the Government Code and the Health and Safety Code. California has no single landlord-tenant act, which is why a lease that looks complete can still be missing a mandatory term. Three things have changed recently enough that most templates in circulation are wrong about them. Security is now capped at one month’s rent for most landlords, not two, under Civ. Code 1950.5(c). The landlord must now photograph the unit at the start and end of the tenancy and after any repair, under Civ. Code 1950.5(g). And from January 1, 2026 a working stove and refrigerator are part of the habitability standard under Civ. Code 1941.1. This page builds a lease that carries all three, plus the twelve disclosures California actually requires and none of the ones it does not.

Complete the fields below to generate a California residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, including the utility allocations and each disclosure you check, and the generated lease cites the controlling California section at each point. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening — the lease governs the relationship, screening decides whether you want it. Pair the signed lease with a California move-in / move-out checklist, because the itemized accounting you owe in twenty-one days rests on documented condition.

California recognizes the usual range. A fixed-term lease runs for a stated period and expires on its own terms, though a covered tenancy that has run twelve months still needs just cause to end. A periodic tenancy renews each period until one side gives notice under Civ. Code 1946 or 1946.1. A room or roommate agreement covers a tenant renting one room in an occupied dwelling. A sublease passes the tenant’s interest to a subtenant while leaving the original tenant liable to the landlord. A lease-to-own agreement adds a purchase option that sits partly outside landlord-tenant law.

Two categories fall outside this form. A commercial lease is not governed by the residential provisions at all, and the disclosure set on this page does not apply to one. California also has a separate statutory scheme for mobilehome parks, so a space rental in a park is governed by its own law rather than by the Civil Code provisions used here. Attaching the wrong body of law to an arrangement is the most expensive drafting mistake available, because it is usually discovered in court.

One drafting note: a lease for a term longer than one year must be in writing to satisfy the statute of frauds at Civ. Code 1624. Two cities have rules deep enough to warrant their own builders — see the Los Angeles lease builder and the Santa Monica lease builder if the property sits in either.

One month’s rent, in addition to the first month’s rent. Civ. Code 1950.5(c) provides that a landlord shall not demand or receive security in excess of an amount equal to one month’s rent, in addition to any rent for the first month paid on or before initial occupancy. The limit applies to security collected or demanded on or after July 1, 2024.

Two things about that sentence deserve attention. First, the old two-month rule for an unfurnished unit and three-month rule for a furnished one are gone. Furnishing the unit no longer buys extra deposit. Pages still ranking for this query print the pre-2024 figures, and at least one states flatly that the state cap is two months. Second, the cap runs on security, and Civ. Code 1950.5(b) defines security broadly: any payment, fee, deposit or charge imposed at the beginning of the tenancy to be used to reimburse the landlord for a default in rent, for repair of damage other than ordinary wear and tear, for cleaning the unit on termination to the level of cleanliness it had at inception, or to remedy a future default in an obligation to restore, replace or return personal property. Renaming money does not remove it from the cap.

Advance rent is treated separately: the statute permits advance payment of six or more months’ rent where the term of the lease is six months or longer. That is a genuinely different thing from security, and it is not a route around the one-month limit for a twelve-month tenancy. The deeper treatment lives in our California security deposit laws guide.

Very few landlords, and never against a service member. Civ. Code 1950.5(c) allows up to two months’ rent in addition to the first month’s rent only where the landlord is a natural person, or a limited liability company in which all of the members are natural persons, and owns no more than two residential rental properties that collectively include no more than four dwelling units offered for rent.

Each element does work. A landlord holding title through a corporation is out, and so is a landlord holding through a limited liability company with a single corporate member. Owning three small properties is out even if the total unit count is low. Owning two properties containing five units between them is out even though there are only two properties. The statute also treats the settlors and beneficiaries of a family trust — a revocable living trust, or an irrevocable trust whose settlors and beneficiaries are siblings, spouses, domestic partners, children, parents, grandparents or grandchildren — as natural persons, so a family trust does not automatically forfeit the exception.

The service-member carve-out is the part landlords miss. Where a prospective tenant is a service member, the exception is unavailable and the cap is one month, whatever the landlord’s ownership position. The statute also forbids refusing to rent to a service member because the exception cannot be used, which closes the obvious workaround. A separate paragraph, operative from April 1, 2025, requires a landlord who charges a service member higher security on credit or housing-history grounds to explain the reason in writing before the lease is signed and to return the additional security within six months where the tenant is not in arrears.

Three sets, on two different start dates, under Civ. Code 1950.5(g). This is the AB 2801 change, and no template on the first page of the search results carries it.

The landlord must photograph the unit after the tenancy ends and possession is returned, and again after any repair or cleaning is completed. Those two duties took effect on April 1, 2025 and apply to every tenancy. For a tenancy beginning on or after July 1, 2025, the landlord must also photograph the unit immediately before, or at the inception of, the tenancy. The photographs are then included with the itemized statement, alongside the documents showing the charges.

The practical effect is to convert the deposit dispute from an argument into an evidence problem, and the landlord holds the evidence. A landlord who never photographed the unit at move-in is now trying to prove a deduction without the record the statute told them to make, and a tenant who receives an itemized statement with no photographs has an obvious first question. Pair the photographs with a written move-in and move-out checklist so the images have dates, rooms and signatures attached to them.

Twenty-one calendar days after the tenant vacates. Civ. Code 1950.5(h) requires the landlord to furnish the tenant an itemized statement of the basis for, and amount of, any security received and the disposition of it, together with any remaining balance, no later than 21 calendar days after the tenant has vacated. Documents showing the charges, and the photographs the section now requires, go with it.

Unlike several states, California counts calendar days here — weekends and holidays are inside the twenty-one, not outside it. The deadline runs from the tenant vacating, not from the tenant demanding anything, so a landlord waiting for a forwarding address is already on the clock.

The remedy has teeth. Under Civ. Code 1950.5(m), a landlord who retains security in bad faith is liable for statutory damages of up to twice the amount of the security, in addition to actual damages. That is a multiple of the deposit, not of the disputed deduction, which is what makes a sloppy accounting expensive out of proportion to the sum in dispute. Build the accounting with our California security deposit itemization form and close it out with a deposit return letter.

No. Civ. Code 1950.5(n) provides that no amount of the security may be characterised as nonrefundable. There is no lawful nonrefundable cleaning fee, move-in fee or redecoration fee taken as security in California, and calling it a fee rather than a deposit does not help, because 1950.5(b) already sweeps fees and charges into the definition of security.

This is the sharpest single contrast between California and the states whose templates circulate most widely. Several states allow a nonrefundable fee if its purpose is stated in writing. California does not allow one at all, and a lease that contains one is both charging money it must refund and advertising, in writing, that the landlord does not know the rule. The clean way to handle end-of-tenancy cleaning is to deduct the reasonable cost from the security in the twenty-one-day accounting, supported by the photographs, rather than to take it up front under a label the statute forbids.

The tenant can, in the final two weeks, under Civ. Code 1950.5(f). The tenant has the right to request an inspection of the unit during the final two weeks of the tenancy and to be present at it. The landlord must give at least 48 hours’ written notice of the date and time unless the parties waive that notice in writing, and must then give the tenant an itemized statement of the deficiencies the tenant may remedy before the final accounting.

The purpose is to let the tenant fix things rather than pay for them, and it is one of the few places where California builds a cure opportunity into the deposit process. For a landlord it is also a defensive tool: an inspection attended by the tenant, followed by a written list, makes the final statement far harder to attack. Our California pre-move-out inspection notice covers the notice itself.

Reasonable written notice, and twenty-four hours is presumed reasonable. Civ. Code 1954 permits entry in an emergency; to make necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations or improvements; to supply necessary or agreed services; to exhibit the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workers or contractors; to make the initial inspection under 1950.5(f); where the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the premises; or under court order.

Outside an emergency, abandonment or the tenant’s contemporaneous consent, the landlord must give written notice stating the date, the approximate time and the purpose of the entry. Twenty-four hours is presumed to be reasonable notice in the absence of evidence to the contrary — a presumption, not a fixed rule, so a longer period may be required where the circumstances call for it. Where the notice is mailed, mailing at least six days before the intended entry is presumed reasonable, which is the rule landlords most often get wrong when they post a letter the day before. Entry must be during normal business hours except in an emergency, on abandonment, or where the tenant consents otherwise.

There is one narrow oral-notice route. For a showing to a prospective or actual purchaser, oral notice is sufficient only where the landlord has notified the tenant in writing within the previous 120 days that the property is for sale and that the landlord or the agent may contact the tenant orally to arrange showings. The section closes by providing that the landlord may not abuse the right of access or use it to harass the tenant, and Civ. Code 1953 makes any waiver of the tenant’s rights under 1954 void. Serve entry properly with a California notice to enter property, and see California landlord entry laws for the full treatment.

5% plus the change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower. Civ. Code 1947.12 caps the increase over any 12-month period at that figure, measured against the lowest gross rental rate charged in the preceding twelve months and disregarding discounts, incentives, concessions and credits. Rent may not be increased in more than two increments in that period. The section is repealed on January 1, 2030.

The exemptions in subdivision (d) matter as much as the cap: deed-restricted affordable housing, dormitories, housing already subject to a local ordinance with a lower cap, housing with a certificate of occupancy issued within the previous fifteen years, an owner-occupied duplex, and separately alienable single-family homes and condominiums held by an owner who is not a real estate investment trust, a corporation, or a limited liability company with a corporate member.

That last exemption comes with a trap. It is available only if the lease carries the statutory exemption statement at 1947.12(d)(5)(B)(i), word for word. No statement, no exemption — the rent cap and the just-cause requirement apply to a property that would otherwise be outside them. The form above generates the statement verbatim when you check the exemption box, which is the only safe way to include it. See California rent increase laws, and serve an increase with the California rent increase notice.

Once the occupancy thresholds in Civ. Code 1946.2 are met. After all tenants have continuously and lawfully occupied the property for 12 months or more, or at least one tenant has done so for 24 months or more, the landlord may terminate only for just cause stated in writing.

At-fault just cause covers default in the payment of rent, a material breach of the lease after a written cure notice, maintaining or committing a nuisance, waste, refusing to execute a written extension or renewal on similar terms, criminal activity on the premises or directed at the owner, unlawful subletting or assignment, refusing lawful entry, unlawful use of the premises, and an employee or agent failing to vacate after the employment ends.

No-fault just cause covers intent by the owner or a qualifying relative to occupy the unit as a primary residence, withdrawal of the property from the rental market, compliance with a government order or a local ordinance that necessitates vacating, and intent to demolish or substantially remodel. A no-fault termination requires relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent in effect when the notice issued, paid within 15 calendar days of the notice or waived as the final month’s rent. Section 1946.2 is repealed on January 1, 2030. Our California eviction notice laws guide and the California eviction process walkthrough cover the sequence.

Two sections do the work, and they answer different questions. Civ. Code 1946 supplies the general rule for a hiring with no specified term: the notice equals the period of the hiring and need not exceed 30 days. The parties may agree in writing at the outset to a shorter notice, but never less than seven days. The same section forbids a landlord charging the tenant a fee for serving, posting or delivering a notice of termination.

Civ. Code 1946.1 then overlays the residential rule. A landlord must give at least 60 days’ written notice to end a residential periodic tenancy. That drops to 30 days in two situations: where any tenant has resided in the dwelling for less than one year; or where the unit is separately titled, the owner has contracted to sell to a bona fide purchaser who is a natural person intending in good faith to reside in the property for at least one full year after the tenancy ends, the notice is given within 120 days of establishing escrow, and no prior notice was given under the section. A tenant gives notice at least as long as the period of the tenancy.

Serve the tenant’s side with our California tenant notice to vacate and the landlord’s side with the California notice to vacate. For a tenant leaving a fixed term early, see California breaking lease laws and California lease termination laws.

Three days — excluding Saturdays, Sundays and other judicial holidays. Code of Civil Procedure 1161 uses that formula twice, and both are routinely miscounted.

For unpaid rent, the landlord serves three days’ notice, excluding Saturdays and Sundays and other judicial holidays, requiring payment or surrender of the premises. The notice must state the amount due and the name, telephone number and address of the person to whom payment is to be made, together with the usual days and hours payment may be made in person, or the account number of a financial institution within five miles of the property, or the electronic-transfer procedure previously established. A notice missing that payment information is defective on its face.

For a breach of a condition or covenant other than rent, the landlord serves three days’ notice, on the same exclusion, requiring performance or surrender. Performance within the period saves the tenancy. Build them with our California three-day notice to pay rent or quit and notice to cure or quit.

On money: California caps the returned-payment charge. Civ. Code 1719 permits a service charge not exceeding twenty-five dollars for the first returned check and not exceeding thirty-five dollars for each subsequent one. Late charges are governed instead by Civ. Code 1671 — there is no statutory figure, and a late charge survives only as a reasonable estimate of the landlord’s actual loss from late payment. See California late fee laws.

Civ. Code 1941 requires the landlord to put the dwelling into a condition fit for human occupation and to repair subsequent dilapidations that render it untenantable. Civ. Code 1941.1 then lists what tenantable means: effective waterproofing and weather protection of roof and exterior walls including unbroken windows and doors; plumbing and gas facilities maintained in good working order; a water supply with hot and cold running water connected to an approved sewage disposal system; heating facilities maintained in good working order; electrical lighting with wiring and equipment maintained in good working order; building, grounds and appurtenances kept clean, sanitary and free from debris, filth, rubbish, garbage, rodents and vermin; adequate garbage receptacles in good repair; and floors, stairways and railings maintained in good repair.

The list grows on January 1, 2026. For a lease entered into, amended or extended on or after that date, Civ. Code 1941.1 also requires a stove maintained in good working order and a refrigerator maintained in good working order. A narrow written arrangement allows the tenant to supply a refrigerator instead, terminable by the tenant on thirty days’ notice, and the landlord may not condition the tenancy on the tenant doing so. There is no equivalent opt-out for the stove. This is the single most likely omission in any California lease signed from 2026 onward, because it is newer than every template in circulation.

Civ. Code 1941.3 adds security hardware: an operable dead bolt lock on each main swinging entry door, with a bolt projecting at least thirteen-sixteenths of an inch beyond the strike edge of the door and into the doorjamb; operable window security or locking devices on windows designed to be opened, excluding louvered and casement windows and windows more than twelve feet vertically or six feet horizontally from the ground or a platform; and code-compliant locking mechanisms on exterior doors giving access to common areas in a multifamily development.

The tenant’s side is Civ. Code 1941.2: keep the occupied part clean and sanitary, dispose of rubbish and garbage properly, use and keep clean the electrical, gas and plumbing fixtures, permit no wilful or wanton damage, and occupy the premises as a dwelling using rooms for their intended purposes. Our