Housing Laws

There is a housing law in California that allows you (the tenant) to terminate your lease before it expires if you, a member of your household, or an immediate family member is a victim of any of the following crimes:

• domestic violence;
• sexual assault, which means any of the following crimes: rape, unlawful sexual intercourse with person under 18, sodomy, oral copulation, or forcible acts of sexual penetration;
• stalking;
• abuse of an elder or dependent adult;
• human trafficking;
• a crime that caused bodily injury or death;
• a crime that included the showing, taking out, brandishing, or using a firearm or other deadly weapon or instrument; or
• a crime that included the use of force against the victim or a threat of force against the victim.¹

You will not be considered to have violated (breached) your lease if you properly terminate your lease under this law.²

Note: If you are a victim of one of these crimes mentioned above, and you are not asking to terminate your lease, there still may be reasons why a landlord can terminate your tenancy. To read what the law says about when a landlord can terminate a victim’s tenancy, go to our Selected California Statutes page. If you have questions about your housing rights, you can get information on an anti-discrimination law called the Fair Housing Act on the Civil Rights Division website and information on basic tenants’ rights with contact info for legal assistance on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website.

¹ Cal.Civ.Code § 1946.7(a)
² Cal.Civ.Code § 1946.7(f)