Standard Residential Lease

Use the disclosure guide to identify the notices and attachments that apply to the home. Check owner and manager contacts, rent-payment instructions, lead and other property-condition materials, shared utilities and required state or city notices. Complete factual disclosures from actual records rather than assuming printed headings answer them.

Review rent-limit and just-cause coverage and any applicable exemption notice. Check the permitted security amount, fees and payment terms, including local rules. Keep move-in photographs, condition records and receipts so the later deposit accounting can be supported.

Keep entry, rent changes and ending a tenancy separate. Do not assume a fixed end date alone permits a landlord to require a move-out. Check any relevant repair, appliance or emergency protections before relying on a lease clause.

Resolve inconsistent dates, amounts and attachments before signing. Give the parties the completed agreement and applicable disclosures, retain the signed copies and condition records, and identify later written amendments clearly.

Record the monthly arrangement. If the agreement uses a month-to-month term, identify its start, recurring rental period, due date and notice-delivery details. A tenant's ordinary thirty-day move-out notice differs from a landlord's ending or nonrenewal process. Review occupancy history, covered or exempt status, lawful grounds and city protections before relying on a thirty- or sixty-day landlord notice; a monthly term does not itself remove just-cause requirements.

Review each rent change. For covered units, the statewide limit generally uses five percent plus the applicable cost-of-living change, capped at ten percent over twelve months. Local rules may be stricter. Check coverage, prior increases, emergency protections and the required thirty- or ninety-day notice and delivery rules before setting an effective date. Keep the calculation and notice record; a longer notice does not make an otherwise prohibited increase lawful. See the California Attorney General's housing resources for current guidance.

Describe the private room and shared routines. Identify the bedroom, furnishings, storage, keys and permitted shared areas. State who signs with the landlord, who pays rent and how utilities and deposits are allocated. Put kitchen and bathroom storage, cleaning, laundry, guests, quiet hours, parking and smoking expectations in a written attachment. If a tenant is subletting, check the main lease and required permission. A roommate side agreement should not be assumed to alter the landlord’s contract or release a signer.

Check the arrangement before choosing a notice process. A room renter, co-tenant, subtenant and qualifying lodger can raise different questions. Living with the owner does not by itself establish that every lodger exception applies; review the California Courts’ lodger guidance, actual facts and local protections. Keep private-room access separate from shared-space use and review applicable entry requirements. Retain room condition photographs, payment and expense records, signed rules and any approved occupant-change amendment; check the proper deposit and possession process when someone leaves.