California security deposit law
Your landlord is on a clock, and most tenants never find out it exists. Here is what the statute actually says - quoted, with a link so you can read it yourself.
21 calendar days after you vacate, your landlord must furnish an itemized statement of any deductions and return whatever remains.
- Itemization
- Required. The itemized statement must show the basis for each amount kept.
- If they get it wrong
- Statutory damages of up to twice the amount of the security deposit, in addition to actual damages, where the retention was in bad faith.
- Statute
- Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5
The part most people miss
California bars deductions for pre-existing damage, ordinary wear and tear, or defects that were there before your tenancy. If a charge is for something that was already broken when you moved in, the statute does not permit it - which is precisely what a dated move-in record proves.
No later than 21 calendar days after the tenant has vacated the premises, the landlord shall furnish the tenant... an itemized statement indicating the basis for, and the amount of, any security received and the disposition of the security.
Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(h)(1)
Where that leaves you
The date you handed back possession, plus the 21-day window above, is the number that matters. If that date has passed and nothing arrived, that fact carries weight under California law - the statute is quoted above, and the conditions attached to it (if any) are noted on this page too.
If you are still living there, or about to move out, the most useful thing you can do takes fifteen minutes. Nearly every dispute reduces to a single question - was that damage there before you were - and dated photographs are the strongest evidence you can bring to that question.
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Last reviewed: 23 Aug 2026 · How this was sourced: Statute text read at california.public.law (§ 1950.5), 19 Aug 2026. Independently re-verified 23 Aug 2026 against FindLaw and california.public.law, both current through Jan 1, 2026: a 2025 amendment (AB 414, Stats. 2025 Ch. 340) shifted the deadline clause from subdivision (g)(1) to (h)(1), and the bad-faith penalty now lives in (m). Subdivision letters have moved before and may move again - check the current official text before relying on a specific subdivision.