California: your license, the purchase agreement, and the rules of a deal
California licenses real estate agents through the Department of Real Estate (DRE). This guide covers how to get the license, what your responsible broker must do, the rules for your ads, agency and the buyer agreement, the purchase agreement and escrow, the disclosures a seller owes a buyer, and the statewide rent rules. Every fact comes from a California statute, a DRE regulation or publication, or another state or federal agency, and links to its source.
Every fact links to its source. Checked Oct 9, 2026
Getting your California license
A salesperson license or a broker license is not issued to a person under 18 years of age. (Source: California DRE)
Before issuing a license, the Real Estate Commissioner may require any other proof the commissioner considers advisable of your honesty and truthfulness, and may call a hearing for this purpose. The commissioner must require you to be fingerprinted before issuing your original license, and may require the fingerprints with your exam application or with your license application. (Source: California Legislative Information)
If you do not live in California, you are eligible for a license if you qualify for it under Chapter 3 of the Real Estate Law, including section 10162, and if your state or jurisdiction lets a California resident qualify for and get a real estate license there. With your application, you file an irrevocable consent that lets a party in a lawsuit against you in California serve you through the Department of Real Estate (DRE), if you cannot be served in person in California after due diligence. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Before you take the salesperson exam, you give the commissioner evidence, satisfactory to the commissioner, that you completed: a three-semester-unit (or quarter equivalent) course in real estate principles at an accredited institution, or an equivalent course of study under section 10153.5; a course in real estate practice at an accredited institution; and one more course listed in section 10153.2, other than real estate principles, real estate practice, advanced legal aspects of real estate, advanced real estate finance, or advanced real estate appraisal. The commissioner waives these requirements for a member of the State Bar of California and for an applicant who qualified for the broker exam under section 10153.2. (Source: California Legislative Information)
DRE lists the choices for that one more course: Real Estate Appraisal, Property Management, Real Estate Finance, Real Estate Economics, Legal Aspects of Real Estate, Real Estate Office Administration, General Accounting, Business Law, Escrows, Mortgage Loan Brokering and Lending, Computer Applications in Real Estate, and Common Interest Developments. DRE says each course must be three semester units or four quarter units at the college level, from an institution accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges or by a comparable regional accrediting agency that the U.S. Department of Education recognizes, or from a private real estate school with courses the commissioner approved. DRE says each course it approved is at least 45 hours, that since January 1, 2024 a real estate practice course must include implicit bias and fair housing components, and that continuing education courses do not count. (Source: California DRE)
The Real Estate Commissioner uses a written exam to find out if you have an appropriate knowledge of English and of real estate math; an understanding of real estate conveyancing, of the purpose and legal effect of documents such as agency contracts, deposit receipts, deeds, mortgages, and leases, and of land economics and appraisals; and a general understanding of the duties between principal and agent, of real estate practice and business ethics, of the Real Estate Law, and of the commissioner's regulations. (Source: California Legislative Information)
DRE says the salesperson exam is 3 hours with 150 multiple-choice questions, and to pass you must correctly answer at least 70% of the questions (75% on the broker exam). If you fail, you may apply to retake it after you get notice of the result. DRE says there is no limit on the number of exams you may take in the two years after you file your original application; to take more exams after those two years, you submit a new application and fee and requalify. (Source: California DRE)
DRE says you submit one set of fingerprints, after you apply for the exam or after you pass it, through the Department of Justice (DOJ) Live Scan Program, which sends them to the DOJ and the FBI. DRE does not issue your original license until it receives and screens the DOJ and FBI report. At a live scan provider, DRE lists a $49 fingerprint processing fee and also a live scan service fee, to be paid directly to the provider, not to DRE. If you do not live in California, DRE also describes another option. (Source: California DRE)
For applications submitted on or after July 1, 2024, DRE lists these fees: salesperson exam or re-exam, $100; salesperson original license, $350; salesperson exam and license filed together, $450; salesperson on-time renewal, $350; broker exam, $150; broker original license (4-year license), $450. (Source: California DRE)
DRE says you may get a salesperson license even if you do not plan to work for a broker right away. But without a responsible broker, you may not do acts that require a real estate license. (Source: California DRE)
As a salesperson, you may not accept pay for licensed work from anyone other than the broker you are licensed under at the time. You may not pay another licensee for licensed work except through that broker, but you may agree to share pay with another licensee if the pay goes through the responsible broker. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Keeping your license
A salesperson license is issued for four years. You may renew it by filing the required application and fee and meeting the continuing education requirements. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Except as section 10170.8 provides, to renew you must have completed, in the four years before your renewal application, 45 clock hours of education, including: a 3-hour ethics, professional conduct, and legal aspects course; a 3-hour agency course; a 3-hour trust fund accounting and handling course; a 3-hour fair housing course with a role-play part; a 3-hour risk management course; a 2-hour implicit bias course; for a broker, a 3-hour office management and supervision course; and at least 18 clock hours of consumer protection courses that the commissioner designates. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Except as section 10170.8 provides, once you have renewed under subdivision (a) of section 10170.5, a later renewal needs 45 clock hours in the four years before your renewal application, including a 9-hour update survey course that covers the subjects of the 3-hour and 2-hour courses above, including the broker's office management and supervision course. (Source: California Legislative Information)
For an original broker license, you show the commissioner that, in the five years before you apply, you held a salesperson license for at least two years, qualified to renew it, and were actively working as a salesperson. Or, with at least the equivalent of two years of general real estate experience in those five years, you may petition DRE, and if the commissioner approves, you may get the broker license when you pass the exam and meet the other requirements. For a petition, the commissioner may count a degree from a four-year college or university with a real estate major or minor as the equivalent of two years of general real estate experience. (Source: California Legislative Information)
For the broker exam, you complete at an accredited institution a three-unit semester course (or quarter equivalent) in each of: real estate practice (with implicit bias and fair housing components), legal aspects of real estate, real estate appraisal, real estate financing, and real estate economics or accounting; plus three of: advanced legal aspects of real estate, advanced real estate finance, advanced real estate appraisal, business law, escrows, real estate principles, property management, real estate office administration, mortgage loan brokering and lending, computer applications in real estate, and California common interest development law. The commissioner waives these requirements for a member of the State Bar of California, and waives a requirement for which you completed an equivalent course of study under section 10153.5. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Working under your responsible broker
Under California law, a person acts as a real estate broker when, for another person and for compensation or the expectation of it, they do or negotiate any of these acts: sell or buy, or offer to; solicit sellers or buyers; solicit or obtain listings; negotiate a purchase, sale, or exchange; lease or rent, solicit rental listings or tenants, or collect rents; or solicit or negotiate loans secured by real property. (Source: California Legislative Information)
It is unlawful to act as, or advertise as, a real estate broker or salesperson in California without first getting a real estate license from the DRE. (Source: California Legislative Information)
As a salesperson, you accept compensation for licensed acts only from the broker you are licensed under, and you pay another licensee only through that broker. Licensees may agree to share compensation when it is paid through the responsible broker. A broker must not pay anyone for licensed acts unless that person is a licensed broker or a salesperson licensed under that broker. A broker may pay a commission to a broker of another state. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The responsible broker exercises reasonable supervision over its salespersons and broker associates. This includes policies, rules, procedures, and systems to review and manage licensed transactions, documents that can affect a party's rights or obligations, the filing and storage of those documents, trust funds, advertising, training on anti-discrimination law, and regular reports of licensed activity. The broker sets up a system to monitor compliance. Associate brokers and salespersons may help, but the broker keeps overall responsibility (10 CCR 2725). (Source: California DRE)
When you accept trust funds for your broker, you give them to the broker at once or, when the broker directs, to the broker's principal, a neutral escrow depository, or the broker's trust fund account. Funds that do not go at once to a neutral escrow depository or to the principal go into the broker's trust fund account at a bank or recognized depository in California. They stay there until paid out on the instructions of the person entitled to them. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The broker places funds received for another person with their owner, a neutral escrow depository, or the broker's trust fund account no later than 3 business days after the broker or the salesperson receives them. A buyer's check may stay uncashed until the offer is accepted when two things are true: the check is not negotiable by the broker, or the buyer instructed in writing not to deposit it before acceptance; and the seller is told before or when the offer is presented. The check then goes in within 3 business days after acceptance, unless the seller authorizes in writing that the broker keep holding it (10 CCR 2832). (Source: California DRE)
A license under a fictitious business name needs a certified copy of the county fictitious business name statement. A responsible broker may, by contract, let a salesperson file for a fictitious business name with the county clerk, apply to the DRE (with the broker's signature) to use it under the broker's license number, pay the fees, and own the name. The salesperson uses the name only as the broker permits, and the broker's duty to supervise does not change. (Source: California Legislative Information)
A team name needs no separate license and is not a fictitious business name when all of these are true: two or more licensees use it to work together or present themselves as a team, group, or association; it includes the surname of at least one licensee member with the word "associates," "group," or "team"; and it has no term, such as "broker," "brokerage," or "real estate brokerage," that suggests a real estate entity independent of the responsible broker. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Advertising and team names
An ad about licensed activity in a newspaper, a periodical, or the mail includes a designation that shows you are a licensee. You put your name, license identification number, and responsible broker's identity on all solicitation materials meant to be the first point of contact with consumers, and on purchase agreements. Solicitation materials include business cards, stationery, flyers, TV, print, and electronic ads, and "for sale," rent, lease, "open house," and directional signs. A sign that shows only the responsible broker's identity, or no licensee information, is exempt. (Source: California Legislative Information)
On first-point-of-contact materials, you show your 8-digit license number and the responsible broker's name as currently licensed. The broker's license number is optional. When more than one licensee is named, each licensee's number appears. In a written ad, the number is in type no smaller than the smallest type in the ad (10 CCR 2773). (Source: California DRE)
That rule covers business cards, stationery, websites you own, control, or maintain, flyers and postal mail, electronic media ads (internet, email, radio, cinema, TV, and the opening section of streaming video and audio), print ads, and signs that show your name. An electronic ad is covered when you buy or place it and control its content. Content another party controls is not covered, unless you forward it to a consumer. (Source: California DRE)
Ads and solicitation materials with a team name, including print, electronic media, and "for sale" signs, conspicuously show the team name and the name and license number of at least one licensed team member. The responsible broker's identity is as prominent and conspicuous as the team name. The materials must not use terms that suggest a real estate entity independent of the responsible broker. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Ads, business cards, and "for sale" signs that use a fictitious business name a salesperson holds by contract with the broker show the responsible broker's identity as prominently as the fictitious business name. They also show the name and license number of the salesperson who uses the name. (Source: California Legislative Information)
From January 1, 2026, an ad or promotional material for the sale of real property that includes a digitally altered image carries a reasonably conspicuous statement, on or next to the image, that the image is altered, and a link, URL, or QR code to a public website that shows the original image. When the ad is on a website you control, the posting includes the unaltered images or a link to them. (Source: California Legislative Information)
A digitally altered image is one changed with photo editing software or AI to add, remove, or change elements, such as furniture, fixtures, flooring, walls, paint color, landscape, views through windows, or neighboring properties. Common adjustments only, such as lighting, sharpening, white balance, color correction, angle, straightening, cropping, or exposure, that do not change how the property is shown, are not alterations. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The Real Estate Commissioner may suspend or revoke your license if you knowingly help publish a material false statement about your designation, certification, credential, trade organization membership, or business. The same applies if you willfully use the term "realtor," or a trade name or insignia of membership in a real estate organization, without being a member of it. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The DRE's advisory of March 17, 2026 says ads written with AI must be truthful, accurate, and not misleading. If you use AI for listing descriptions, marketing emails, or online ads, you check the facts first, such as features, price, availability, and possible uses. When an AI tool produces misleading ads, you and your responsible broker are responsible, not the technology provider. The first-point-of-contact disclosures apply to AI content too. (Source: California DRE)
The DRE's Real Estate Advertising Guidelines (RE 27) say that when you own a website or control its content, you show your license number there. On social media, you disclose your license status, meet the first-point-of-contact rules, and keep the ad clear and truthful. (Source: California DRE)
Agency disclosure and the buyer agreement
From January 1, 2025, a buyer's agent and the buyer sign a buyer-broker representation agreement as soon as practicable, and no later than the buyer's offer to purchase. The agreement includes terms on the broker's compensation, the services, when compensation is due, and how the agreement ends. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The agreement lasts no longer than 3 months from the date it was made, and it does not renew automatically. A renewal is in writing, dated, and signed by all parties, and lasts no longer than 3 months. The 3-month limit does not apply when the buyer is a corporation, an LLC, or a partnership. An agreement that breaks these limits is void and unenforceable, and a licensee who breaks the section breaks the licensing law. (Source: California Legislative Information)
From January 1, 2026, DRE regulations (California Code of Regulations, title 10, sections 2906.1 to 2906.3) apply to buyer-broker representation agreements: the term limits, when the agreement is signed, and when an agreement is required. (Source: California DRE)
Under those regulations, "three months" means 90 calendar days, starting the day after the last party signs, or on a later start date the agreement sets. A renewal is in writing, dated, and signed before the original agreement expires, and it starts the day the last party signs it. (Source: California DRE)
Under those regulations, the law presumes, unless shown otherwise, that a buyer's agent can get the agreement signed before the agent, or a salesperson or broker associate of that agent, shows the buyer a property in person or virtually. A seller's agent who acts only for the seller at an open house or other showing is not a buyer's agent. An agreement is required only when the broker does licensed services for the buyer. (Source: California DRE)
In a transaction the agency disclosure law covers, the seller's agent gives the agency disclosure form to the seller before the listing agreement is signed. The buyer's agent gives it to the buyer as soon as practicable before the buyer signs a buyer-broker representation agreement and the offer. The agent gets a signed acknowledgment of receipt. (Source: California Legislative Information)
When the buyer's agent did not prepare the offer, the agent gives the buyer the form no later than the next business day after receiving the offer. (Source: California Legislative Information)
As soon as practicable, the buyer's agent tells the buyer and the seller whether the agent acts for the buyer only or as a dual agent. The purchase contract, or a separate writing signed or acknowledged before or with the contract, confirms the relationship in the form the statute sets. (Source: California Legislative Information)
A dual agent does not tell the buyer the seller's confidential information, or the seller the buyer's, without that party's express permission. Confidential information includes facts that may affect price, such as a seller who will take less than the listing price or a buyer who will pay more than the offer. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The residential purchase agreement
An agreement for the sale of real property is invalid unless it, or a note or memorandum of it, is in writing and signed by the party to be charged. When an agent signs for that party, the agent's authority must also be in writing and signed by that party. (Source: California Legislative Information)
If the seller delivers the Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS), or a material amendment to it, after the execution of an offer to purchase, the buyer may terminate the offer by written notice to the seller or the seller's agent within 3 days after delivery in person, or 5 days after delivery by mail or, when the parties agreed to deal electronically, by electronic record. (Source: California Legislative Information)
That period starts when Sections I and II of the TDS, and Section III when the seller has an agent, are completed and delivered to the buyer or the buyer's agent. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The buyer has the same right for the Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement (NHD): if it, or a material amendment, is delivered after the execution of an offer, the buyer has 3 days after delivery in person, or 5 days after delivery by mail or, when the parties agreed to deal electronically, by electronic record, to terminate the offer by written notice to the seller or the seller's agent. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Before a buyer is bound under a contract to buy housing built before 1978, the seller gives the buyer 10 days to have a lead-based paint inspection or risk assessment, unless the parties agree in writing on another period. The buyer may waive it in writing. The federal rule excepts housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities and 0-bedroom units, unless a child under 6 lives or is expected to live there. (Source: EPA)
For a home of up to 4 units that the buyer, when the contract is made, intends to live in, a clause that lets the seller keep the buyer's payment as liquidated damages when the buyer fails to complete the purchase is valid only to the extent the buyer actually paid it by cash or check, and only if it meets Civil Code 1677 and 1678. (Source: California Legislative Information)
For that home, an amount actually paid of 3% of the purchase price or less is valid unless the buyer shows it is unreasonable as liquidated damages. An amount above 3% is invalid unless the party who wants to keep the clause shows it is reasonable. (Source: California Legislative Information)
A liquidated damages clause in a contract to buy real property is invalid unless each party signs or initials it separately. In a printed contract, it is in at least 10-point bold type, or in contrasting red print in at least 8-point bold type. (Source: California Legislative Information)
When a later payment, such as an increased deposit, is also to count as liquidated damages, it counts only if the total still meets Civil Code 1675 and each party separately signs or initials a new liquidated damages clause for that payment. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Escrow, title, and closing
For a property of 1 to 4 units where the buyer will live in one unit, the buyer and the seller must make sure escrow funds go back to the person who deposited them, or to the person the contract entitles, when the purchase does not close by the contract's closing date or an extension. A party who does not sign the escrow holder's release within 30 days after the other party's written demand is liable for the funds not held for a good faith dispute, damages of 3 times those funds (at least $100 and no more than $1,000), and reasonable attorney's fees. (Source: California Legislative Information)
There is no liability under that rule when a party holds the funds to resolve a good faith dispute. Signing the escrow holder's release, or taking the released funds, does not cancel the purchase contract unless the document says so. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Only a corporation licensed as an escrow agent by the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation may do business as an escrow agent in California. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The Escrow Law does not apply to banks, trust companies, savings and loan associations, credit unions, or insurance companies; to a company whose main business is the title searches a title insurer uses to issue a policy; to an attorney with a bona fide client in the transaction who is not actively in the escrow business; or to a real estate broker doing licensed acts in a transaction where the broker is an agent or a party. The attorney and broker exemptions are personal, and they do not cover escrows done for more than one business. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The California Department of Insurance says the party that pays the title premium is a matter of local custom and practice, not law, and the parties are free to negotiate. In Southern California, the seller customarily pays the premium for title insurance, and in almost every county the buyer pays the lender's policy premium. (Source: California Department of Insurance)
The Department says the choice of title insurer belongs to the person who pays for the policy, and federal law (RESPA) prohibits the seller from requiring the buyer to buy title insurance from any particular company. (Source: California Department of Insurance)
The Department says it is unlawful for a title insurer, underwritten title company, or controlled escrow company to charge less than its filed schedule, and unlawful to pay a commission to anyone for a referral or placement of title insurance. A lender, real estate broker, or home builder who gets free or discounted services or money for steering business to a title company receives an unlawful rebate. (Source: California Department of Insurance)
The DRE warns that criminals hack the email of real estate professionals or escrow officers and pose as them to get homebuyers to send money to fraudulent accounts. It tells buyers to verify payment instructions with a phone call to the escrow officer or real estate agent, especially for wire transfers, and to be careful with unsolicited emails that change payment instructions or come from slightly changed email domains. (Source: California DRE)
State law lets a county impose a transfer tax of $0.55 for each $500, and lets a city in that county impose one-half of that rate. The city tax is credited against the county tax. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The buyer completes the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report and may file it with the recorder when the deed is recorded. The buyer, or an officer of a buyer that is an entity, signs it; an agent acting for the buyer may not sign it. When the deed is recorded without it, the recorder may charge an additional $20 recording fee. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Seller disclosures
The seller of single-family residential property delivers the completed TDS to the prospective buyer as soon as practicable before transfer of title. The seller shows compliance in the purchase contract, an addendum, or a separate document. A real estate agent may complete the agent's part by giving all the information in the agent's inspection disclosure on the form. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The seller and the seller's agent use the statutory Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement to say whether the property is in each of these areas: a FEMA special flood hazard area (any Zone A or V), an area of potential flooding on a dam failure inundation map, a high or very high fire hazard severity zone, a wildland area that may contain substantial forest fire risks, an earthquake fault zone, and a seismic hazard zone (landslide or liquefaction). They can mark that the statement is based on a report from a third-party disclosure provider. (Source: California Legislative Information)
A broker who has a written contract with the seller to find a buyer, and a broker who cooperates with that broker, owes a prospective buyer of residential property of one to four units (or a manufactured home) a reasonably competent and diligent visual inspection of the property. The broker discloses to that buyer all facts that materially affect the value or desirability of the property that the inspection would reveal. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Every contract for the sale of residential property of one to four units contains, in at least 8-point type, the statutory Megan's Law notice that information about registered sex offenders is on the Department of Justice website at www.meganslaw.ca.gov. After the notice is delivered, the seller and the broker need not give more information about how near registered sex offenders live. (Source: California Legislative Information)
For most housing built before 1978, before the buyer signs the contract, the seller and the real estate agents disclose known lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards, give all available records and reports, give the EPA pamphlet "Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home," and give the Lead Warning Statement. A signed copy of the disclosures is kept for 3 years after the sale. (Source: EPA)
A single-family dwelling (one or two units) that is sold must have an operable smoke alarm. The seller delivers a written statement that the home complies, in the deposit receipt, an addendum, or a separate document, as soon as practicable before transfer of title. The only remedy for a failure is actual damages of no more than $100, not counting court costs and attorney's fees. (Source: California Legislative Information)
New, replacement, and existing residential water heaters must be braced, anchored, or strapped to resist falling or horizontal movement in an earthquake. The seller of any real property with a water heater certifies this to the buyer in writing. The certification can be in the purchase contract or deposit receipt, the TDS, or the Homeowner's Guide to Earthquake Safety. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The seller of a home in a high or very high fire hazard severity zone that was built before January 1, 2010, gives a notice that the home was built before the wildland-urban interface building codes. The notice lists the features the seller knows of that can make the home vulnerable to wildfire and embers, such as vents with openings over 1/8 inch, untreated wood shingle or shake roofs, and combustible materials within 5 feet of the home. On or after July 1, 2025, the notice also lists the state's low-cost retrofits and says which ones were completed while the seller owned the home. A seller in the zone who has a final inspection report under Government Code 51182 gives the buyer a copy or says where to get one. (Source: California Legislative Information)
On or after January 1, 2026, the seller or the seller's agent gives the buyer the statutory statement that an inspection of the electrical systems by a qualified professional may be advisable. The statement says that substandard, recalled, or faulty wiring may be a fire risk and may make property insurance hard to get, and that limited capacity may make it hard to add solar, electric heating, or electric vehicle charging. It does not apply to the sale of a building within 3 years after its certificate of occupancy. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The seller or the seller's agent gives the buyer the notice titled "Notice of Your 'Supplemental' Property Tax Bill." It says the buyer may get one or two supplemental tax bills, that the bills are not mailed to the lender, that an impound account will not pay them, and that the buyer pays them directly to the tax collector. (Source: California Legislative Information)
For a property with a Mello-Roos special tax, the local agency's designated office gives a "Notice of Special Tax" within 5 working days of a request, for a fee of no more than $15, so that the seller can meet the disclosure duty of Civil Code 1102.6b. The notice gives the maximum special tax and the last tax year it can be levied. It tells the buyer that the purchase contract can be terminated, by written notice to the owner or the selling agent, within 3 days if the notice was received in person, or within 5 days after it was mailed. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The statewide rent cap, just cause, and deposits
Over any 12 months, an owner may raise the gross rent by no more than 5% plus the percentage change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower, over the lowest rent charged in the previous 12 months. The cost of living index is the CPI-U for the property's metropolitan area as the statute lists them, such as Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim for Los Angeles and Orange Counties and San Diego-Carlsbad for San Diego County; elsewhere, it is the California CPI-U that the Department of Industrial Relations publishes. A tenant who stays for 12 months gets no more than two increases in that period. The owner sets the first rent of a new tenancy freely. The section stays in effect until January 1, 2030. (Source: California Legislative Information)
The rent cap does not apply to, among others, housing with a certificate of occupancy issued within the previous 15 years; a structure with two units where the owner lived in one unit at the start of the tenancy and still lives there (when neither unit is an ADU or a JADU); deed-restricted affordable housing; and a dwelling that can be sold apart from any other dwelling unit, when the owner is not a REIT, a corporation, or an LLC with a corporate member, and the tenants got the statutory written notice that the property is exempt from the rent cap and from Civil Code 1946.2. (Source: California Legislative Information)
After a tenant has lawfully lived in the home for 12 months, the owner needs a just cause, stated in the written notice, to end the tenancy. When an adult tenant joins before the 24-month mark, this applies when all tenants have 12 months or one tenant has 24 months. For a no-fault cause, the owner pays relocation assistance equal to one month's rent within 15 calendar days of the notice, or waives the final month's rent in writing. A local just cause ordinance applies instead when it was adopted on or before September 1, 2019, or when it is more protective and the city made a binding finding that it is. (Source: California Legislative Information)
From July 1, 2024, a landlord may not demand or receive security of more than one month's rent, in addition to the first month's rent. An advance payment of at least 6 months' rent is allowed on a lease of 6 months or longer. (Source: California Legislative Information)
A landlord may take up to two months' rent as security when the landlord is a natural person, or an LLC whose members are all natural persons, and owns no more than two residential rental properties with no more than four rental units in total. A settlor or beneficiary of a family trust counts as a natural person. This exception does not apply when the prospective tenant is a service member, and the landlord may not refuse to rent to a service member because of it. (Source: California Legislative Information)
No later than 21 calendar days after the tenant moves out, the landlord sends an itemized statement of the deposit and returns the rest. When repair and cleaning deductions total more than $125, the statement includes copies of the bills, invoices, or receipts. (Source: California Legislative Information)
A landlord or their agent may charge each applicant, a guarantor or cosigner included, a screening fee no greater than the actual out-of-pocket cost of gathering information on the applicant, which includes a screening service and the reasonable value of their time. The cap is $30 per applicant, which the landlord or agent may adjust each year with the Consumer Price Index from January 1, 1998. (Source: California Legislative Information)
Not in this guide
Restricted licenses, licenses for military members and their spouses, late renewal, and the continuing education extension and exemption: DRE.
License denial for a criminal conviction, the exam content outline, exam rescheduling and its fees, and the broker's notice to DRE when a broker retains a salesperson: DRE.
Advertising by a person who has no license, and mortgage loan advertising: your responsible broker.
Trust account records, reconciliations, and the commingling exceptions: your responsible broker.
The compensation and services of a given buyer agreement, the deposit amount and the days to deliver it, and who pays title, escrow, and other closing costs in a given deal: the contract itself.
Whether a buyer may cancel, or get a deposit back, in a given case: an attorney.
Which transfers are exempt from the TDS: Civil Code 1102.2, or an attorney.
Other seller disclosures in Civil Code 1102 to 1102.19, such as defensible space documentation in a fire hazard zone, and a seller statement about carbon monoxide devices: Reddy has no reviewed summary of them.
Exemptions from the documentary transfer tax: the escrow or title company confirms them. Proposition 19 and other base year value transfers: Reddy has no reviewed rule.
Fair housing and tenant screening for a rental listing, the disclosures a lease must carry, and eviction notices and court procedure.
Your city's and county's rules, a local transfer tax rate, local tenant protections, and your MLS's rules: the local pages below, and your broker.
Go deeper: one topic per page
Each page covers one rule or one form in this state, with a source for every fact.
