California Security Deposit Law: What Your Landlord Can Actually Charge You for Cleaning

Your landlord kept $400 of your deposit for “professional cleaning.” You left the place cleaner than you found it. Is that legal?

Usually, no.

California has one of the most tenant-protective security deposit statutes in the country, and it was tightened again in 2025. But the protections only work if you know what the law actually says — and most tenants don’t, which is exactly why unlawful cleaning deductions are so common.

Here’s the short version: your landlord can only charge you for cleaning that is reasonably necessary to return the unit to the level of cleanliness it was in when you moved in, minus ordinary wear and tear. That’s the entire standard. Not “professionally cleaned.” Not “spotless.” Not “better than you found it.” The condition it was in at the inception of the tenancy.

The four things a deposit can lawfully cover

California Civil Code § 1950.5(b) is a closed list. A landlord may claim your security deposit for exactly four things:

1. Unpaid rent.
2. Repair of damage to the premises, excluding ordinary wear and tear.
3. Cleaning the unit — but only to return it to the level of cleanliness it was in at the inception of the tenancy.
4. Restoring or replacing personal property or appurtenances, where the lease provides for it, excluding ordinary wear and tear.

If a deduction on your itemized statement doesn’t fit one of those four categories, it isn’t lawful. Not “administrative fees.” Not “turnover costs.” Not a flat cleaning charge applied to every tenant regardless of condition.

That third category is where most disputes live, so it’s worth reading slowly. The statute does not say “cleaning.” It says cleaning necessary to return the premises to the level of cleanliness at the inception of the tenancy.

Two consequences follow, and both favor you:

If the unit was dirty when you moved in, the standard is low. A landlord who hands you a unit with grimy baseboards and a greasy oven cannot then charge you to deliver it back gleaming. The baseline is what you received, not what the landlord wishes they had.

If you already cleaned it to that level, the charge is zero. The landlord isn’t entitled to a cleaning fee simply because a cleaning happened. They’re entitled to be made whole against a specific baseline. Meet the baseline, owe nothing.

What “ordinary wear and tear” covers

The phrase appears three times in the statute and it does a lot of work. Ordinary wear and tear is the deterioration that happens through normal, reasonable use over time — and you can never be charged for it.

Generally treated as ordinary wear and tear:

• Faded or slightly worn paint, and minor scuffs on walls
• Small nail holes from hanging pictures
• Carpet that’s flattened or lightly worn in traffic paths
• Loose grout, minor caulk discoloration, worn finish on fixtures
• Faded curtains or blinds from sun exposure
• Minor scratches on flooring from normal furniture use

Generally treated as tenant damage:

• Large holes in walls, or wall damage from anchors and shelving
• Pet urine staining or odor in carpet or subfloor
• Burns, deep gouges, or tears in flooring
• Broken fixtures, appliances, windows, or doors
• Heavy grease buildup, mold from neglected ventilation, or infestation caused by the tenant

Carpet is the classic battleground, and it has its own rule now.

AB 2801: the carpet cleaning change

Assembly Bill 2801 amended § 1950.5 and phased in across 2025. It changed three things, on three different dates — which is why so much of what you’ll read online is wrong.

January 1, 2025 — the carpet cleaning clarification. 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 move-in, excluding ordinary wear and tear.

This closed a loophole landlords had leaned on for years. Routine end-of-tenancy carpet cleaning, billed automatically to every departing tenant regardless of the carpet’s actual condition, is not lawful. If the carpet is merely used — not stained, not damaged, not soiled beyond what normal living produces — it’s ordinary wear and tear and you don’t pay for it.

April 1, 2025 — photographs required to support deductions. A landlord who makes a deduction must now include photographs with the itemized statement documenting the condition that justified it. No photo, no support.

July 1, 2025 — move-in photos for new tenancies. For tenancies beginning on or after this date, landlords must take photographs of the unit immediately before, or at the inception of, the tenancy. This is the baseline your move-out condition gets measured against.

That last one matters more than it sounds. The move-in photo requirement means the “what condition was it in when you got it?” question — historically a swearing contest you usually lost — now has documentary evidence attached to it. If your tenancy started on or after July 1, 2025 and your landlord is claiming you left the unit dirtier than you found it, ask for the move-in photographs. They’re required to exist.

The 21-day rule and what the itemized statement must contain

Within 21 calendar days after you vacate, your landlord must return your deposit and, if anything was withheld, provide an itemized statement.

The statement isn’t a summary. It has to specify the basis and the amount of each deduction, and include supporting documentation — receipts and invoices for work done, and now photographs. Where the landlord’s own staff did the work, the statement must describe the work performed, the time spent, and the hourly rate charged.

A deduction you can’t trace to a specific documented item is a deduction you can challenge. “Cleaning: $450” with nothing behind it doesn’t meet the statutory standard.

Miss the 21 days entirely and the landlord’s position gets substantially weaker — courts have treated the failure to comply as forfeiting the right to retain the deposit, and bad-faith retention can expose a landlord to statutory damages of up to twice the deposit amount on top of the deposit itself.

Your right to a pre-move-out inspection

This is the single most underused protection in California tenancy law, and it’s the one that prevents disputes instead of litigating them.

Under § 1950.5(f), you have the right to request an initial inspection before you move out. Here’s how it works:

• You can request it no earlier than two weeks before your lease ends or the tenancy terminates.
• The landlord must give you at least 48 hours' written notice of the inspection time.
• You have the right to be present.
• After the inspection, the landlord must give you an itemized statement of proposed deductions.
• You then have the remainder of the tenancy to fix the identified problems and avoid those deductions.

Read that last point again. The statute gives you a written list of everything your landlord intends to charge you for, in advance, with time left to fix it. A landlord who inspects, says nothing about the oven, and then bills you $150 for the oven is on visibly weak ground.

Request it in writing. Keep a copy. This one step converts a post-move-out argument into a pre-move-out to-do list.

What this means practically

If you’re a month out from moving:

Find your move-in documentation. The condition checklist you signed, any photos you took, any emails you sent about problems on day one. For tenancies starting after July 2025, your landlord’s own move-in photos are the baseline.

Request the initial inspection in writing. Two weeks out, no earlier. Ask for the itemized statement of proposed deductions in writing too.

Photograph everything on your last day. Every room, every appliance interior, the floors, the walls, timestamped. This is the cheapest insurance available and it takes fifteen minutes.

Clean to the move-in standard, not to perfection. Perfection isn’t the legal test, and chasing it wastes money. But meeting the standard cleanly and demonstrably is what makes a deduction indefensible.

If a deduction looks wrong, ask for the documentation. Photos and receipts are required. Request them in writing and give a deadline.

Where a move-out cleaning service fits

You don’t have to hire anyone. The law doesn’t require professional cleaning, and no lease clause can require it beyond the move-in-condition standard.

What a professional move-out clean actually buys you is evidence and leverage. A dated, itemized invoice from a cleaning company describing exactly what was cleaned is documentation your landlord has to argue against — and photographs of the finished unit that a third party took. Against a $400 disputed cleaning deduction, a $250 documented clean that eliminates the dispute is straightforward math.

It’s most worth it when the deposit at stake is large, when the unit needs genuine deep-cleaning work to reach the move-in standard, or when your landlord has a history of aggressive deductions.

MaidSimple’s move-out cleans come with a dated, itemized invoice and before-and-after photographs of every room — the documentation package, not just the clean. See move-out cleaning pricing →