Civil Code 1946.7: Notice, Documentation, and 180-Day Deadline

California Civil Code 1946.7 lets you end a lease early, without penalty, if you or someone in your household has been the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, elder or dependent adult abuse, or certain other violent crimes. To use it, you give your landlord written notice with specific documentation attached, and you owe at most 14 more days of rent after the notice.¹ The paperwork is what makes the right enforceable, so the details below matter.

Who Qualifies to Terminate

The law covers you if you, a member of your household, or an immediate family member was the victim of any of the following:¹

Domestic violence
Sexual assault
Stalking
Human trafficking
Elder or dependent adult abuse
A crime that caused bodily injury or death
A crime involving a firearm or other deadly weapon
A crime involving force or a threat of force

Those last three categories are broader than people often assume. A robbery at gunpoint in your apartment, an assault by a neighbor, or a credible threat of physical harm can qualify even if it doesn’t look like a classic domestic violence case. The victim does not have to be the person who signed the lease. If your child, spouse, or parent lives with you and was victimized, you can still terminate.

Documentation You Must Attach to the Notice

A letter saying you want to leave is not enough. You must attach one of three types of supporting documents:²

A copy of a temporary restraining order, emergency protective order, or other court-issued protective order.
A written police report confirming that you, a household member, or an immediate family member reported one of the qualifying crimes.
A statement from a qualified third party who is working with the victim, confirming the person is seeking help for injuries or abuse from a qualifying crime.

The statute defines “qualified third party” specifically. It includes physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, registered nurses, licensed clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, licensed professional clinical counselors, domestic violence counselors, sexual assault counselors, human trafficking caseworkers, and victim-of-violent-crime advocates.¹ A victim advocate can qualify if they work for an organization with a documented history of serving crime victims, or one operating under court or law enforcement supervision.

If you go the third-party route, the statute lays out a two-part form: your own written statement with your name, the date of the most recent incident, and a description of what happened, plus the professional’s statement confirming you reported being a victim and are seeking assistance. When a counselor or advocate signs rather than a licensed medical professional, the document must be on the organization’s letterhead.²

There is also a self-certification option in the statute, but it is weaker: if you use it instead of one of the three primary documents, you give up the right to collect statutory damages against a landlord who violates the law. Using a protective order, police report, or qualified third-party statement gives you the strongest enforcement position.

Giving Notice and the 180-Day Deadline

Deliver a written notice to your landlord stating that you intend to terminate the lease, with the documentation attached. The statute doesn’t require a specific delivery method, but certified mail or hand delivery with a signed acknowledgment gives you proof of the date the landlord received it. That date starts the financial clock, so proof matters.

Timing is tight. The notice must be given within 180 days of whichever applies: the date a protective order was issued, the date a police report was filed, or the date the qualifying crime occurred.¹ Missing the window does not necessarily end your options, because the statute also permits notice within the time period described in Civil Code 1946, which governs standard lease termination. But the 180-day window is the one built for this situation, and acting inside it keeps your protections at full strength.

What You Owe After You Give Notice

Once your notice is delivered with proper documentation, you owe rent for no more than 14 calendar days after the date of the notice. If the lease or Civil Code 1946 would require a shorter period, the shorter one wins. After those 14 days, you are released from all remaining rent and financial obligations under the lease, without penalty.¹

If the landlord re-rents the unit before those 14 days are up, your rent obligation is prorated to the days the unit was actually vacant.¹ You should not be charged for days a new tenant was already paying.

Security Deposit

The landlord cannot make you forfeit any security deposit or prepaid rent because of the early termination. The statute explicitly states that a tenant who ends the lease this way has not breached it.² Some landlords try to keep deposits anyway, framing the early departure itself as the harm. The law doesn’t allow that.

Standard deposit rules still apply. Under Civil Code 1950.5, the landlord has 21 calendar days after you vacate to return your deposit with an itemized statement of any deductions.³ Allowable deductions are limited to unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear, and cleaning needed to return the unit to its move-in condition. Future lost rent and remaining months on the lease are not deductible.

Confidentiality of Your Documentation

Once your landlord has your documentation, they cannot share it with anyone unless you give written consent or a court orders disclosure. The one narrow exception is that the landlord may contact the qualified third party who signed the documentation to verify its contents, and that call is not treated as a prohibited disclosure.² A landlord who passes your police report to a property manager, other tenants, or a screening database is violating the statute.

Protection in Future Rentals

A landlord cannot refuse to rent to you or refuse to keep renting to you because you previously used your rights under this law.¹ If a future landlord sees that a prior tenancy ended through a 1946.7 termination, that is not a legal basis for denial.

Separately, Code of Civil Procedure 1161.3 prohibits a landlord from terminating or refusing to renew a tenancy based on an act of violence against the tenant or a household member, once documentation has been provided.⁴ There are limited exceptions, including when the abuser is a co-tenant and the victim does not take steps to exclude them after being asked. The general rule is that being a victim is not grounds for eviction.

If the Landlord Violates the Law

A landlord or their agent who violates any part of Civil Code 1946.7 is liable for your actual damages plus statutory damages between $100 and $5,000.² Actual damages can include losses from a refused early termination, a wrongfully withheld security deposit, or an unauthorized disclosure. Statutory damages apply on top, even if your out-of-pocket losses are small.

The one exception: if you used the self-certification option rather than a protective order, police report, or qualified third-party statement, you can only recover actual damages, not statutory damages.¹

What Happens to Your Roommates

Your termination doesn’t automatically free your co-tenants. The statute says it does not relieve other tenants of their obligations unless they also qualify as victims or are members of your household.² A roommate who isn’t a household member and wasn’t victimized remains bound by the full lease.

If another co-tenant was also a victim of the same incident, they can give their own notice and documentation independently. Each qualifying person uses the right separately. For remaining roommates who want out but don’t qualify, the practical path is negotiating new terms with the landlord.

Changing the Locks

Lock changes are governed by a separate statute, not 1946.7. Civil Code 1941.5 applies when the person you need protection from is not a co-tenant. On receiving your written request with a court order or police report, the landlord must change the locks within 24 hours. If they don’t, you can change the locks yourself, as long as the new locks are of equal or better quality and you give the landlord a key.⁵

Civil Code 1941.6 covers the harder case: when the restrained person is a co-tenant of the same unit. The landlord must change the locks at the landlord’s own expense within 24 hours of receiving a copy of a court order excluding that person. The excluded co-tenant remains liable for rent under the lease.⁶ If the landlord misses the 24-hour deadline, you can change the locks and the landlord must reimburse you within 21 days.

Federally Subsidized Housing

If you live in federally assisted housing, you have an additional layer of protection under the Violence Against Women Act. Under 34 U.S.C. § 12491, a tenant in covered housing cannot be denied assistance, terminated from a program, or evicted because they are or have been a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Covered programs include Section 8, public housing, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit properties, and other federal rental assistance programs.⁷

VAWA also allows housing authorities to split a lease to remove an abuser while keeping the victim housed. If the removed person was the only tenant eligible for the housing program, remaining household members must be given time to establish their own eligibility or find alternative housing. Documentation submitted to a housing authority to certify victim status must be kept confidential and cannot be entered into shared databases or disclosed without the tenant’s written consent.⁷

These federal protections run alongside California’s state-level rights. A tenant in a Section 8 unit, for example, can use Civil Code 1946.7 to end the lease early and rely on VAWA to prevent the housing authority from treating that termination as a disqualifying lease violation.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.7 – Hiring of Real Property
2
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.7
3
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1950.5
4
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1161.3
5
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1941.5
6
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1941.6
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 12491 – Housing Protections for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking