How to Rent to College Students in California: Laws, Licensing, and Local Rules

California capped security deposits at one month's rent on July 1, 2024 under AB 12, and small owners are the exception rather than the rule: if you hold the property as a natural person, as an LLC whose members are all natural persons, or in a family trust, and you own no more than two residential rental properties totaling four or fewer units, you may still collect two months. That exemption disappears the moment your tenant is an active-duty service member. The bigger operational change is AB 2801, which since 2025 requires timestamped photographs at three separate points in every tenancy and bars you from charging students for routine professional carpet cleaning.

Key Takeaways

• One month's rent is the cap. Two months if you qualify as a small owner — and never for a service member tenant.
• The small-owner test is about entity type and portfolio size: natural person, all-natural-person LLC or family trust, two properties, four units.
• Photos are now mandatory at move-in, at move-out before repairs, and again after repairs. Not video. Photographs.
• Routine professional carpet cleaning can no longer be charged to the deposit unless it is genuinely necessary to restore the unit.
• Los Angeles will not let you legally collect rent without a current registration certificate from LAHD.
• The 21-day return deadline survived every one of these changes. It has not moved.

AB 12 Capped California Deposits at One Month, With a Narrow Small-Owner Exemption

Before July 2024 you could take two months' rent unfurnished and three months furnished. Assembly Bill 12, authored by Assemblymember Matt Haney and signed in October 2023, cut that to one month for most landlords effective July 1, 2024. Furnished or unfurnished no longer matters.

The exemption is narrower than people assume, and it turns on two things at once. First, the ownership form: you must hold the property as a natural person, as a limited liability company in which every member is a natural person, or as a family trust. A single corporate member disqualifies the whole LLC. Second, the portfolio: no more than two residential rental properties, together containing no more than four dwelling units offered for rent.

Qualify on both and you may still take two months. That is genuinely useful in a student market where the tenant has no rental history and no credit file.

Then the exception to the exception. Even a fully qualifying small owner is capped at one month when the applicant is an active-duty service member. Near a campus with heavy ROTC or veteran enrollment, that is not a hypothetical, and the safest habit is to ask before you set the number rather than after you have quoted it.

AB 2801 Made Photographs Mandatory at Three Points in Every Tenancy

This is the rule most private owners near USC and UCSD still have not adjusted for, and it phased in across 2025.

From April 1, 2025 you must photograph the unit when you take possession back, before any repairs or cleaning, and photograph it again after the repairs or cleaning you intend to deduct for. From July 1, 2025 you must also photograph the unit immediately before or at the start of a new tenancy. Photographs specifically — video does not satisfy the statute — timestamped, tied to the tenancy, and kept for four years.

Where this bites is the deduction itself. If you withhold for repairs or cleaning, the photographs go to the tenant along with the written explanation of cost. You may deliver them by mail, email, flash drive, or a link to view them online. And if the written move-in description differs from the move-in photographs, the photographs govern.

Three more provisions in AB 2801 quietly reshape what a student turnover can cost you. Claims for contractor, owner or employee labor are limited to a reasonable amount necessary to restore the unit to its condition at the inception of the tenancy, ordinary wear and tear excluded, and the same limit applies to materials. You may not require a tenant to pay for professional carpet cleaning or other professional cleaning unless it is reasonably necessary to reach that same standard. The annual August carpet-cleaning charge that used to come off every student deposit automatically is no longer defensible on its own.

And if you conduct an initial inspection while the tenant's possessions are already gone, you cannot later deduct for items you failed to identify in that itemized statement. You keep the right to deduct for damage occurring between the inspection and handover, and for things genuinely hidden by possessions during the inspection.

Los Angeles Requires a Registration Certificate Before You Can Legally Collect Rent

Annual registration is mandatory for every residential rental unit in the City of Los Angeles, and the Housing Department is explicit that a registration certificate is required to legally collect rent. Certificates issue only after every requirement is met.

Compliance has two halves. You pay the annual per-unit fees, which for the current cycle run $38.75 per unit under the Rent Stabilization Ordinance, $31.05 under the Just Cause Ordinance, and $67.94 under the Systematic Code Enforcement Program, depending on which apply to your property. And you submit the Rent Registry — the rent amount for every unit, plus tenancy and emergency contact information — by the last day of February.

Two details cost owners money every year. The fee is due in January and goes delinquent after February ends, at which point it roughly rises by half or, for SCEP, doubles. And the fees are per unit and not prorated: a unit rented for two months of the year owes the full annual fee. Not receiving the annual bill does not waive any of it, so keep your contact details current with the department.

Deposits Still Come Back in 21 Days, and That Has Not Changed

Every California deposit change since 2023 left the 21-day clock alone. Within 21 calendar days after the tenant vacates, you must return the deposit or deliver an itemized statement of deductions with the balance, under Civil Code section 1950.5.

What AB 2801 added is that a landlord who in bad faith fails to comply with the return requirements is not entitled to claim any of the deposit at all. Combine that with the photograph requirement and the practical rule is simple: if you cannot document a deduction with dated photographs and a real cost, do not take it.

Where to List a California Student Rental

Students at USC, UCLA, UC San Diego, SDSU and the Cal States search by campus, not by metro. Find My Place lets private owners list a place directly — a guest house, a condo, a duplex — with per-bedroom pricing shown natively and verified reviews attached to the property. If you are earlier in the process, start with our guide to renting out your house to college students, and see the state-by-state rental license guide for how California compares.

This is general information about California law as of August 2026, not legal advice. California amends its landlord-tenant statutes every legislative session and city ordinances layer on top. Confirm your city's current rules and talk to a California attorney before you sign anything.

Frequently Asked Questions About Renting to Students in California

How much security deposit can I charge a student in California?

One month's rent, unless you qualify as a small owner — natural person, all-natural-person LLC, or family trust, holding two properties or fewer with four or fewer units total — in which case two months. If the applicant is an active-duty service member, it is one month regardless of whether you qualify.

Do I have to take photos of the unit?

Yes, at three points, and they must be photographs rather than video. Before the tenant moves in, after they move out and before any repairs, and again once repairs or cleaning are done. Keep them four years and hand them over with any itemized deduction.

Can I still charge students for carpet cleaning at move-out?

Not as an automatic charge. AB 2801 bars requiring a tenant to pay for professional carpet or other professional cleaning unless it is reasonably necessary to restore the unit to its condition at the start of the tenancy, ordinary wear and tear excluded. A genuinely trashed carpet is still chargeable. The routine annual clean is not.