August 31, 2024 - Sacramento, CA –Security deposits can be expensive and take extended periods of time to save for. For most renters, getting them back feels a little bit like playing the lotto or taking a trip to Las Vegas. Renters expect to lose it all, but if they walk away with anything, that’s a win. But for renters, that gamble can be debilitating. That lost income isn’t easy to replace and can frequently be a barrier to moving into a new apartment or finally saving enough money for a down payment on a home.

Enter AB 2801, proposed by Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Burbank), mandates that renters, so long as the premises they’re vacating is as clean as it was upon move-in, get their deposit back–in full. A wildly popular bill, AB 2801 passed the California Legislature today with a resounding vote of 52-16. “Whether or not you get your security deposit back or how little or how much of it will be returned, shouldn’t be one of the great mysteries of the universe,” said Assemblymember Friedman.

Housing costs in the state of California are all too often insurmountable. According to Zillow, the median price of a home in California currently stands at $900,720. Meaning with current incomes, only 39% of Millennials own or qualify to own a home in the state of California, leaving a full 61% of our state’s largest generation dependent upon renting. “Mortgage and rent prices are high enough in California. Unfairly retained security deposits cannot be one more financial hurdle we expect Californians just trying to keep a roof over their heads to jump over successfully,” said Assemblymember Laura Friedman.

There is a certain amount of wear and tear that naturally occurs. Carpet only lasts for so long. Pictures and paintings can scuff walls. Nails and screws can put small holes in them. And all of that is already accounted for under current law. Landlords cannot keep deposits for average wear and tear. They account for that, or should account for that, with rent prices.

Cleaning though, is among the most common cited reasons by landlords for keeping deposits. AB 2801 will no longer allow deposits to be retained to pay for cleaning, provided that the tenant left the residence as clean as they found it. Rentals turn over. Cleaning between tenants, even above and beyond a simple cleaning, is understandable. But standard rent should cover that. Landlords know to plan and charge for that.

Under AB 2801, any portion of the deposit kept will require the landlord to present photographic evidence of why any portion of the deposit was retained. Currently, tenants are afforded a walk through with the property manager or landlord. The intention of the walk through is that it affords the owner or property manager one last chance to notify the tenant that something still needs to be done to enable the tenant to receive their full deposit back.

“I was determined to get as much of my security deposit back so I could apply the money to my next place,” said college student Rebecca Martinez. “Several friends came to help me, and the four of us cleaned all weekend. We wiped down baseboards and walls, cleaned inside the cracks and crevices of windows and mopped the floor several times. I left the apartment cleaner than I received it. The property manager noted the good condition of the apartment during the walk-through and said I’d get all or most of my deposit back. So, I was shocked and frustrated that management took more than half of my total deposit for carpet cleaning and scrubbing behind the toilet. All of that fell under average wear tear protections. I should have gotten all or most of my deposit back. Yet, I had no legal recourse to recover the money management unfairly took from me.”

Unfortunately, Rebecca’s experience is all too common in an increasingly hot rental market. According to Zillow, only 39% of Millennials qualify to own or already own a home, leaving 61% of the largest generation rental dependent at a time when Gen Z is also beginning to enter the housing market. Indeed, Gen Z has the least protection against deposit abuse.

“With the majority of California’s higher education institutions failing to guarantee undergraduate housing, the majority of students will have to pay off-campus rent while in college,” said Kate Rodgers, Chief of Policy at GenerationUp, AB 2801’s co-sponsor. “Without access to the financial or legal resources that less vulnerable renters would have, student renters are less likely to contest unfair leasing practices or avail themselves of relief that might be brought by the small claims court process.”

So pernicious is rental deposit abuse, that Attorney General Rob Bonta fined Arnel Management, a property manager in Los Angeles and Orange County, $1,000,000 for contravening California state law and illegally withholding deposits to cover cleaning fees. “California tenants have rights,” said Assemblymember Bonta in a press release about the settlement. “For renters, especially those from lower income backgrounds, affording a security deposit entails a great deal of sacrifice. Arnel…failed to return to tenants the entire security deposit that they were legally entitled to and worked hard to save up for.”

As one of the most housing impacted states in the country, California will not take a back seat to tenant protection. AB 2801 is a commonsense bill that protects the most vulnerable among us from abuse.

AB 2801 now moves to the Governor’s desk. The Governor will have until September 30th to sign the bill into law.

Laura Friedman represents 44th Assembly District, which includes the cities of Burbank, Glendale, and Los Angeles, as well as the communities of La Crescenta, Lake View Terrace, Montrose, North Hollywood, Shadow Hills, Sherman Oaks, Sunland-Tujunga, Studio City, Toluca Lake, and Valley Village. 
Source: Assemblymember Laura Friedman