CA AB 2801: Changes Security Deposit Rules! What You Must Know!

Hey! There's new security deposit laws in California here's what you need to know!

Welcome back inside Uplift Property Management I'm CEO Tommy Perfect and I am really excited to share with you a little bit about the new California law AB2801, it's all changes to the security deposit uh handling and how we can do that as a landlord.

So under our current existing regulations under California civil code you know we have our normal security deposit you know you go in you inspect the unit you see what's wrong you can tell the tenant what damages are there we already have a little bit of provisions behind that but then what we do is you go and you just charge the security deposit for whatever repairs or damages there were and you send your invoices along with it. So that's kind of where we go with these security deposits right now but AB2801 is really just switching that up a little bit and requiring a lot more evidence from you the landlord to prove the value of those charges to the tenant.

The biggest hurdle that you're going to see with this new law here in California is that you're going to have to take a lot more photos now, we already take photos all the time move-in photos, move out photos all those things are great if you're a good property manager a good landlord you're already doing these things this really just codifies some of those requirements so one mandatory move-in inspections you can't just leave it on your tenant anymore to do those inspections for you anymore you really have to go in and have your own date time stamped photos at move-in. Then of course at move out you're going to take and document all of those issues that were there at the property all of those tenant caused damages a real show of the condition of the unit and now the third step the third round of photos now is that you're going to have to take photos of the actual repairs completed and send those along with the itemized statement and invoices for that security deposit disposition for the tenant.

Really important right now for property managers and landlords is this starts going into effect April 1st 2025 that's just a few weeks away right now for all of your moveout photos and those third step those repair photos for your existing tenants so all of those moveouts that happen on or after April 1st 2025 you need to have those date timestamp photos at move out and of completed repairs the movein photo requirement will be established for all new tenencies as of July 1st 2025 so make sure you remember those dates and stay compliant.

I know some of you guys are out there thinking "Oh every time that a tenant moves out you're going to be able to charge for cleaning." Well this really takes away that automatic cleaning fee that any landlord or property manager might have it really makes it specific that you can't just say "Oh yeah no matter what you're going to get charged for cleaning." Now you and I both might know that the tenants never really leave it all the way clean so you can still charge a cleaning fee as long as you are actually returning the property to the initial status and condition when the tenant received it so if you had it professionally cleaned when they moved in you can then charge to make sure that it's professionally cleaned when they moved out or the tenant has that opportunity to pay a professional cleaner to hit those initial conditions when they moved in.

The days of automatically charging for carpet cleaning or automatically charging for cleaning the the house or apartment are long gone those are in the past and we got to move forward under these new regulations one of the lesserk known things that's already part of California landlord tenant law is that the right to an initial inspection or we call it a pre moveout inspection this inspection happens 14 days prior to the tenant moving out now there are some really specific requirements when this happens and it is optional you as a landlord must offer it to the tenant but the tenant has the option to take you up on it if they do take you up on that initial or pre-moveout inspection there are some specific requirements that you need to follow as the landlord.

First off you need to provide an itemized written statement of the potential damages that the tenant may be charged for now that kind of fits you into a box right? you have to get everything on that statement so that you can charge it or if they have personal belongings that are in the unit that are preventing you from being able to see the damage, then you can still charge for those or damages that occur in between that initial inspection and the move out date.

This law changes a little bit when a unit is entirely empty if they've already vacated and they still want that pre-move out they still want to hold possession of the unit so they can make those repairs you have to get all of those things into that statement and give the tenant a chance to cure those damages before you're able to charge their security deposit.

In conclusion AB 281 big thing on photos three stages of photos move in move out after repair got to have it it's required got to start doing that second, no more mandatory cleaning fees and then lastly, changes to those um initial inspections and giving that photo evidence to the tenant that documentation to the tenant to really prove the charge and prove the value that you actually had caused in damages so you got to make sure that we keep up on these laws and you know feel free to call Uplift if you have any questions regarding this and we're happy to help you walk you through these security deposit questions and the pain points that happen.