Residential tenancies: return of security.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details about penalties for non-compliance by landlords.

Returning Security Deposits for Renters

This law changes how landlords return security deposits to tenants after they move out, requiring them to use checks or personal delivery unless the tenant agrees otherwise.

What This Bill Does

• Requires landlords to give back any leftover security deposit by check or in person when a tenant moves out.
• If the landlord received the security deposit electronically from the tenant, the landlord must return it electronically unless both parties agree on another method.
• Landlords must notify tenants about their option to receive refunds electronically if payments were made electronically.
• For units with multiple adult renters, landlords need to send checks payable to all adults or deliver them in person.

Who It Names or Affects

• Landlords who manage rental properties
• Renters living in residential units

Terms To Know

Security deposit

Money a tenant pays to the landlord at the start of renting an apartment or house, which is returned when the lease ends if there are no damages.

Itemized statement

A detailed list showing how much money was taken from a security deposit and why.

Limits and Unknowns

• The law does not specify what happens if the landlord fails to return the security deposit on time.
• It is unclear how this affects tenants who do not have access to email or bank accounts.
• This bill only applies to residential tenancies and does not cover commercial properties.

Official Summary Text

AB 414, Pellerin.
Residential tenancies: return of security.
Existing law regulates the terms and conditions of residential tenancies, including generally limiting the amount of security that a landlord may demand or receive to an amount or value equivalent to one month’s rent, as provided, and allowing a landlord to claim of the security only those amounts as are reasonably necessary for specified purposes. Existing law defines a security for these purposes as any payment, fee, deposit, or charge, including any payment, fee, deposit, or charge, except as specified, that is imposed at a tenancy’s beginning to reimburse a landlord for costs associated with processing a new tenant or that is imposed as an advance payment of rent, used for any purpose. Existing law requires a landlord to provide a tenant a copy of an itemized statement, as specified, and return the security’s remaining portion to the tenant by personal delivery or by first-class
mail, postage prepaid, no later than 21 calendar days after the tenant has vacated the premises, as specified. Existing law authorizes a landlord and tenant to mutually agree to have the landlord deposit electronically the security’s remaining portion to a bank account or other financial institution designated by the tenant or provide a copy of the itemized statement to an email account provided by the tenant.
This bill would revise these provisions to generally require the landlord to return the security by personal delivery or by check made payable to the tenant. If the landlord received the security or rental payments from the tenant electronically, the bill would instead require the landlord to return the remainder of the security electronically, as specified,
unless the landlord and tenant designated another method of return, by written agreement. If the landlord received the security or rental payments from the tenant electronically, the bill would require the landlord to notify the tenant in writing of the tenant’s right to receive the security electronically pursuant to these provisions, as specified. The bill would also instead authorize the landlord and tenant to mutually agree, as specified, to provide the itemized statement by either email to an email account provided by the tenant or mail by first-class mail, postage prepaid, to an address provided by the tenant.
If multiple adult tenants reside in the unit, the bill would require the landlord to return the remainder of the security by a check made payable to all adult tenants, as specified, and provide the itemized statement by personal delivery or first-class mail, postage prepaid, to any one of the adult tenants chosen by the landlord, unless the landlord and
all adult tenants, at the commencement of the tenancy or at any time during or after the tenancy, enter into a mutual written agreement containing specified provisions.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF