Existing law authorizes a tenant to provide a landlord with 180-day written notice, as specified, that the tenant, household member, or immediate family member, as defined, was a victim of an act of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, abuse of an elder or a dependent adult, or of other specified crimes, and that the tenant intends to terminate the tenancy. Existing law prohibits a landlord from, due to the termination, requiring a tenant who terminates a lease or rental agreement to forfeit any security deposit money or advance rent paid.

This bill would require a landlord to pay a calculated share of the security deposit, as provided, to the tenant who terminated tenancy according to the above-described provisions if there are multiple tenants on the lease and a tenant states in their written notice that they are terminating tenancy because another tenant committed the specified crime. The bill would require any tenants remaining on the lease to pay the calculated share of the security deposit to the landlord no later than 14 days after the landlord delivers payment to the tenant who terminated tenancy, and would provide that the remaining tenants are jointly and severally liable for the calculated share of the security deposit.