AB 924 gives tenants — and certain household members or immediate family members — a clear statutory right to terminate a residential lease when they or a covered relative have been the victim of specified violent crimes, including domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, elder/dependent adult abuse, or crimes with bodily injury or weapons. The tenant must provide written notice and attach one of several enumerated forms of verification; the bill limits the tenant’s rent obligation after notice and prevents forfeiture of security deposits for the terminating tenant.
The measure matters because it codifies a detailed, document-driven exit path for survivors while shifting verification, timing, and financial-allocation mechanics onto landlords, co-tenants, and victim-service providers. Property managers, landlords (including small-scale owners of shared units), and agencies that issue qualifying documentation will need new procedures to comply and to manage the resulting allocation of deposit and rent liabilities.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill allows a tenant to terminate a lease if the tenant, a household member, or an immediate family member was a victim of enumerated crimes and attaches specified documentation (court protective orders, police reports, or a certified third‑party form). It limits the tenant’s rent responsibility to no more than 14 calendar days after notice and bars forfeiture of the tenant’s share of the security deposit.
Who It Affects
Residential landlords and their agents, property managers of multi-tenant units, tenants on shared leases, and qualified third‑party providers (victim advocates, licensed clinicians, domestic violence or human trafficking counselors) who will supply or verify documentation.
Why It Matters
AB 924 standardizes the exit process for survivors, prescribes a third‑party form (with a tenant statement and a qualified third‑party attestation), and reallocates short-term financial risk away from terminating tenants — while creating new compliance, verification, and reimbursement pathways for landlords and co-tenants.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
AB 924 establishes a statutory right to terminate a residential lease when the tenant, a household member, or an immediate family member is the victim of a specified violent act — the list includes defined forms of domestic violence, sexual assault under certain Penal Code sections, stalking, human trafficking, elder or dependent adult abuse, crimes causing bodily injury or death, use or threat with a firearm or other deadly weapon, or use/threat of force. The right is available to the tenant even when the victim is an immediate family member who did not live with the tenant at the time of the incident, subject to an extra written explanation about the relocation and safety rationale.
To exercise the right, the tenant must provide written notice and attach one of several kinds of verification: a qualifying restraining or protective order, a police report documenting a complaint, or a completed qualified third‑party form. The bill prescribes the third‑party form’s structure: a tenant statement describing the incident(s) and a separate attestation from a qualified third party (licensed health practitioner, sexual assault or domestic violence counselor, human trafficking caseworker, or victim-of-violent-crime advocate) including business contact information and a declaration that the tenant sought assistance.
Certain counselors’ attestations must carry the employer’s letterhead. The statute allows “any other form of documentation that reasonably verifies” the incident but also imposes a 180‑day deadline measured from the order, the report, the incident, or the timeline in Section 1946.Once notice is given, the terminating tenant owes rent for no more than 14 calendar days after the notice (or a shorter period if earlier specified in Section 1946 or the lease) and is released from future rent and other lease obligations once those short-period obligations end; if the landlord relettes the unit sooner, rent is prorated.
The law forbids landlords from forcing the terminating tenant to forfeit security deposit money or advance rent and sets a mechanism when multiple tenants are on the lease: the landlord must pay the terminating tenant a calculated share of the deposit (deposit minus permissible claims divided by number of tenants), and the remaining tenants are jointly and severally liable to reimburse the landlord for that share within 14 days of the landlord’s payment.Privacy, nondiscrimination, and civil remedies are also addressed. Landlords may not disclose the information a tenant provides except with written consent or by court/legal requirement, and communications with qualified third parties to verify documentation are not treated as prohibited disclosures.
Landlords may not refuse to rent to someone solely because they previously exercised rights under this section. A violating landlord faces actual damages and statutory damages between $100 and $5,000, though statutory damages do not apply when the tenant provided only documentation under the catch‑all “other reasonable verification” category.
Remedies are cumulative with other legal rights.
The Five Things You Need to Know
A tenant must give written notice and attach qualifying documentation within 180 days of the protective order, police report, or incident (or as otherwise allowed under Section 1946).
After notice, the terminating tenant is liable for no more than 14 calendar days of rent (or a shorter period set by Section 1946 or the lease), after which the tenant is released from further obligations.
Landlords cannot force forfeiture of the terminating tenant’s security deposit; when multiple tenants are on the lease the landlord must pay the terminating tenant a "calculated share" (deposit minus allowable claims, divided by number of tenants) and the remaining tenants must reimburse the landlord within 14 days.
Landlords who violate the statute are liable for actual damages plus statutory damages of $100–$5,000, but statutory damages do not apply if the tenant provided only the statute’s permissive "other" form of documentation.
The statute requires a standardized third‑party form (tenant statement plus qualified third‑party attestation) and treats a landlord’s verification contact with that third party as not constituting an unlawful disclosure.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Which crimes qualify for a termination right
Lists the specific categories of acts that permit a tenant to terminate: domestic violence (Family Code §6211), certain Penal Code sexual assault sections, stalking, human trafficking, elder/dependent adult abuse, crimes causing bodily injury or death, crimes involving firearms or other deadly weapons, and crimes involving force or threats. The provision defines the substantive trigger for the statutory exit right and therefore sets the outer boundary of the law’s applicability.
Required written notice and acceptable attachments
Requires a written termination notice with one of four types of attached verification: (1) a qualifying temporary restraining or protective order, (2) a law‑enforcement report stating a complaint was filed, (3) a two‑part qualified third‑party form (tenant statement plus third‑party attestation) with detailed signatory and credential requirements, or (4) any other documentation that reasonably verifies the incident. The third‑party path includes explicit credential checks and, for certain advocates, a letterhead requirement — standardizing what counts as acceptable professional verification.
Special rule for non-cohabiting immediate family and timing
If an immediate family member (who did not live with the tenant) was the victim and no part of the crime happened in or within 1,000 feet of the tenant’s unit, the tenant must include a written statement explaining the relationship, intent to relocate, and safety/financial rationale. Notice must be served within 180 days of the order, police report, incident, or consistent with Section 1946 timing — putting a clear statute-of-limits window on claims under the section.
Rent liability after notice and security deposit mechanics
Caps the terminating tenant’s rent obligation to 14 calendar days after notice (or a shorter period under the lease/Section 1946), then releases the tenant from further rent and other lease obligations; reletings prorate rent. The landlord may not require forfeiture of the security deposit, and when multiple tenants share a lease the landlord must pay the terminating tenant a calculated share (deposit minus legitimate claims, divided by the number of tenants). Remaining tenants are jointly and severally liable to reimburse that share to the landlord within 14 days of the landlord’s payment.
Who remains liable and defined terms
Clarifies that other tenants (unless they themselves are the victim-party) remain subject to their lease obligations, and sets definitions: household member, health practitioner, immediate family member, qualified third party, and victim‑of‑violent‑crime advocate. These definitions narrow who can trigger the right and who can supply verification, and they affect the pool of eligible third‑party certifiers.
Privacy limits on landlord disclosures
Prohibits landlords from disclosing information provided under the section except with the tenant’s written consent or as legally required; explicitly states that landlord communications to a qualified third party for verification are not treated as prohibited disclosure — enabling verification while protecting other dissemination of sensitive details.
Anti‑discrimination for exercising the right
Prohibits owners or agents from refusing to rent or continuing to rent solely because the prospective or existing tenant previously exercised the termination right under this section — an explicit anti‑blacklist provision tied to use of the statute.
Remedies and interaction with other law
Creates a private right of action for tenants against landlords who violate the section, awarding actual damages and statutory damages between $100 and $5,000 (with an exception that statutory damages do not apply where the tenant provided only the permissive 'other' documentation). States that these remedies are in addition to any other legal remedies — preserving concurrent claims under other statutory or common-law theories.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Housing across all five countries.
Explore Housing in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Tenants who are victims (or whose household or immediate family members are victims): gain a clear statutory exit path, limited short‑term rent liability, protection against losing their security deposit, and a private right of action if landlords violate the statute.
- Immediate family members who must relocate for safety: may trigger relocation rights for a non‑cohabiting tenant (with a required written safety/relocation rationale), enabling moves without long-term lease penalties.
- Qualified third‑party providers and victim‑service organizations: receive a standardized attestation form that clarifies what information landlords accept, which can streamline referrals and documentation processes.
Who Bears the Cost
- Small landlords and individual property owners: face the financial risk of vacancy and lost rent beyond the 14‑day cap, administrative burden verifying documentation, and potential exposure to statutory damages and actual damages in litigation.
- Co‑tenants who remain on a shared lease: bear the risk of joint and several liability to reimburse the landlord for the departing tenant’s calculated share of the security deposit within a 14‑day window, which can create intra‑household financial conflicts.
- Victim‑service organizations and licensed practitioners: may incur administrative burdens and liability risk from preparing or signing attestations (including the requirement to include business contact information and letterhead for certain counselors).
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between maximizing survivors’ ability to leave dangerous living situations quickly and with minimal financial penalty, versus protecting landlords and co‑tenants from sudden financial losses and preventing fraud or abuse; strengthening one side necessarily creates compliance burdens and financial risk on the other, with unclear lines where safety‑preserving flexibility ends and landlord protection must begin.
The bill attempts to balance survivor safety with procedural rigor, but it leaves several implementation flashpoints. The statute’s acceptance of a broad catch‑all "other" form of reasonably verifying documentation protects access for survivors without formal orders or police reports, yet the statute simultaneously restricts statutory damages when only that permissive documentation is supplied—creating an awkward incentive structure where landlords face lower statutory exposure but also more ambiguity about proof.
That ambiguity is likely to generate disputes about what counts as "reasonable" verification and push more cases into litigation or fact‑intensive landlord verification calls.
The deposit‑allocation scheme also creates practical friction. Requiring landlords to pay a departing tenant a calculated share and then collect reimbursement from remaining tenants within 14 days transfers short‑term liquidity risk to remaining tenants and places landlords in the middle of potentially acrimonious roommate disputes.
Small landlords with limited cash reserves may struggle to advance deposit shares promptly; conversely, landlords who delay may face statutory liability. Finally, the privacy protections are strong in principle but complicated in practice: the law allows verification communications with qualified third parties while broadly forbidding other disclosures, raising operational questions about what staff may document or relay, and how to store or destroy sensitive records safely.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.