AB 2801: Can Your Landlord Still Charge You for Carpet Cleaning in California?

For years, “professional carpet cleaning — $250” appeared on California move-out statements as reliably as the date. It didn’t matter whether the carpet was stained or merely walked on. It was a line item, applied by default.

That practice stopped being lawful on January 1, 2025.

What AB 2801 actually changed

Assembly Bill 2801 amended Civil Code § 1950.5, the statute governing security deposits. On the carpet question, the operative language is narrow and worth quoting closely:

A tenant cannot be charged for professional carpet cleaning unless it is reasonably necessary to return the premises to the same level of cleanliness as at the inception of the tenancy, exclusive of ordinary wear and tear.

Three conditions have to be satisfied before a carpet cleaning charge is lawful:

1. Reasonably necessary. Not customary, not routine, not policy. Necessary.
2. To restore move-in cleanliness. Not to make the carpet nice. To return it to the condition you received it in.
3. Excluding ordinary wear and tear. Normal use over the length of your tenancy is never chargeable.

Fail any one of those and the deduction isn’t lawful.

Strictly speaking, AB 2801 was a clarification rather than a new rule — § 1950.5 already limited cleaning deductions to restoring move-in cleanliness. But the practice had drifted far enough from the statute that the Legislature wrote the carpet case out explicitly. The effect is the same: an automatic carpet cleaning charge no longer has anywhere to hide.

The three effective dates people keep getting wrong

AB 2801 phased in across 2025, and most articles online collapse the dates into one. They’re distinct, and which one applies to you depends on when your tenancy started.

If you moved out in 2026, all three apply to your deduction. If your tenancy began before July 1, 2025, your landlord had no obligation to take move-in photos — but they still must produce move-out photos supporting whatever they charged you.

When a carpet cleaning charge is still lawful

The law didn’t ban carpet cleaning charges. It banned automatic ones. A landlord can still lawfully charge when the carpet’s condition genuinely exceeds normal use:

• Pet urine staining or odor, including damage that has reached the pad or subfloor
• Spills and stains — wine, coffee, paint, ink, grease — beyond what routine living produces
• Smoke residue or odor requiring specialized treatment
• Heavy soiling substantially beyond the condition at move-in
• Mold or mildew caused by tenant behavior, such as an unreported leak

What is not chargeable:

• Flattened or matted traffic paths
• General fading, including from sunlight
• Carpet that has simply aged through a long tenancy
• Minor, ordinary soiling consistent with normal residential use
• Cleaning performed because the landlord’s policy says to clean between tenancies

There’s also a depreciation question that matters on longer tenancies. Carpet has a finite useful life — commonly treated as somewhere between five and ten years depending on grade. A landlord charging you the full cost of cleaning or replacing carpet that was already most of the way through its life is charging you for their own deferred capital cost. That argument is worth making explicitly.

What to do if you’ve been charged

Step one: read the itemized statement. Since April 1, 2025, a deduction must be supported by photographs, and the statement must specify the basis and amount. A bare “carpet cleaning: $275” with no photograph doesn’t meet the standard.

Step two: request the documentation in writing. Ask specifically for (a) the photographs supporting the carpet deduction, (b) the invoice from the cleaning vendor, and (c) if your tenancy began on or after July 1, 2025, the move-in photographs. Put a date on your request.

Step three: compare against your own evidence. Your move-in checklist, your own move-out photos, and any emails you sent about the carpet’s condition at the start of the tenancy. If the carpet was already worn when you got it, the baseline is that worn carpet.

Step four: send a demand letter. State the statutory standard, state why the deduction doesn’t meet it, and ask for the amount back by a specific date. Most landlords settle at this stage — the letter demonstrates you know the rule, and the cost of arguing exceeds the amount at issue.

Step five: small claims if needed. California small claims handles disputes up to $12,500, no lawyer required, and filing fees are modest. Bad-faith retention of a deposit can expose a landlord to statutory damages of up to twice the deposit amount.

Full step-by-step dispute guide →

The move you should make before you move out

Everything above is remedial — it happens after the deduction has already landed. The preventive version is better and it’s written into the same statute.

You have the right to request an initial inspection no earlier than two weeks before your tenancy ends. Your landlord must give 48 hours' written notice, you can be present, and afterward they must give you an itemized statement of proposed deductions — with time left for you to fix them.

If carpet condition is going to be an issue, this is where it surfaces, in writing, while you can still do something about it. A landlord who inspects the carpet, raises no objection, and then bills you for professional cleaning is in a difficult position.

How to request an initial inspection →

Should you just clean the carpet yourself?

Sometimes, yes — but be clear about which problem you’re solving.

If the carpet has genuine stains that exceed ordinary wear, cleaning it is cheaper than the deduction, and the charge would be lawful anyway. Handle it.

If the carpet is merely used, don’t pay to clean it out of anxiety. You’re not required to, and doing so quietly concedes a standard the law doesn’t impose.

The middle case is the common one: the carpet is fine, but you’d rather have documentation than an argument. A move-out clean that includes carpet treatment, with a dated invoice and before-and-after photos, costs less than most disputed deductions and removes the dispute entirely.

MaidSimple’s move-out cleans include an itemized invoice and photo documentation of every room — built specifically for California tenants dealing with deposit disputes. Move-out cleaning pricing →