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, rape of a spouse, 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 here and information on basic tenants’ rights with contact info for legal assistance here.

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