How to Fill Out C.A.R. Form RLMM: Rent, Deposit, and Disclosures

To fill out C.A.R. Form RLMM, work through the Residential Lease or Month-to-Month Rental Agreement in order: identify the parties and property, choose the tenancy type and term, enter rent and deposit figures that comply with California caps, check off every required disclosure, allocate maintenance duties, add the AB 1482 notice if the property is exempt, and have both sides sign. The form is designed so that an entry in each field maps to a specific legal requirement, so the work is less about drafting and more about matching California law to the right box.

Getting the Current Version of the Form

Form RLMM is a proprietary C.A.R. document available through zipForms, the association’s digital transaction platform.¹ Access requires an active C.A.R. membership, so in practice a licensed agent or broker prepares it. A landlord without an agent can ask a C.A.R. member to prepare the form or use a different California-compliant lease, but the RLMM itself is not available as a free public download.

The digital version auto-updates when C.A.R. revises the form to reflect new legislation. Confirm you are working from the current revision before entering anything. The most recent revision at the time of writing is dated December 2023.

Parties, Occupants, and the Property

The top of the form captures the date the agreement is drafted, the names of the landlord and tenant, and the county where the property sits.² Use full legal names. If the landlord is an LLC or property management company, enter the entity’s legal name exactly as it appears on its formation documents.

Every adult who will live in the unit needs to be listed as a tenant. Children and other occupants who are not signing the lease still get listed separately in the occupants section. Leaving someone off creates a gray area around unauthorized occupancy later, so get the full roster now.

For the property, enter the complete street address including city, zip code, and unit number or designation.² If the rental includes a parking space, storage unit, or detached garage, describe those in the premises section so there is no confusion about what is actually being rented.

California law also requires the lease to disclose the name, telephone number, and street address of the person authorized to manage the property and of the owner or the owner’s agent for service of process.³ The RLMM has dedicated fields for this. Skipping them violates the statute and can complicate any future legal notices the tenant needs to serve.

Choosing the Lease Term

The form works for either a fixed term or a month-to-month arrangement. For a fixed term, enter the start date and the expiration date. One year is the most common duration, though the parties can agree on six months, two years, or any other period. For a month-to-month tenancy, select that option and specify the start date. The agreement then continues indefinitely until either side gives proper written notice to terminate.

The choice carries real consequences. A fixed-term lease locks in the rent for the entire term, and neither party can end it early without consequences or a specific early-termination clause. A month-to-month agreement gives the landlord the ability to raise rent or end the tenancy with proper notice, subject to the AB 1482 rules below.

Rent, Deposit, Late Fees, and Utilities

Monthly Rent

Enter the exact monthly rent amount, the due date (typically the first of the month), and the accepted payment methods. The RLMM includes provisions for online rent payments alongside checks and money orders. Specify where and how rent is delivered: a mailing address, a property management office, or an electronic payment portal.

Security Deposit

California caps the security deposit at one month’s rent for most residential tenancies. There is one narrow exception. A landlord who is a natural person (not a corporation, REIT, or LLC with a corporate member) and who owns no more than two rental properties totaling four or fewer units can charge up to two months’ rent.⁴ That higher cap does not apply if the prospective tenant is a service member. Enter the deposit amount in the designated field.

Late Fees

California does not set a specific dollar cap or percentage for late rent fees. Any late fee must be a reasonable estimate of the actual cost the landlord incurs from receiving rent late, not a punishment.⁵ Courts have struck down late fees that bore no reasonable relationship to actual damages. A fee in the range of 5 to 6 percent of the monthly rent is common in practice, but the amount entered on the form should reflect genuine administrative costs.

Utilities

The form includes checkboxes for each major utility, including water, gas, electricity, and trash, so the parties can mark who pays for what. In multi-unit buildings where utilities run through a master meter, be specific about how costs are allocated. If the property uses any cost-sharing method beyond individual meters, spell it out in the lease or an attached addendum so the tenant knows exactly how their share is calculated.

Occupancy, Pets, and Smoking

The occupancy section limits who can live in the unit to the people named on the lease. Any additional occupant not listed can become a lease violation. The form also addresses subletting, which requires the landlord’s written consent.

Pet policies go in a dedicated section or an attached Pet Addendum. California landlords can prohibit pets entirely, allow them with conditions, or charge a pet deposit, which counts toward the overall security deposit cap. The form also accommodates a Smoke-Free Building Addendum if the property bans smoking. California’s cannabis legalization does not override a landlord’s right to prohibit smoking, vaping, or growing marijuana on the premises, but the restriction has to be written into the lease to be enforceable.

The Mandatory Disclosures Checklist

California requires landlords to hand tenants a stack of written disclosures before or at the time the lease is signed. The RLMM includes a checklist section where the landlord marks each disclosure provided. Missing even one can expose the landlord to penalties or give the tenant grounds to challenge the lease. The disclosures the form tracks include:

Bed bugs. Before creating a new tenancy, the landlord must provide a written notice covering bed bug identification, behavior, the importance of reporting suspected infestations, and the reporting procedure. The notice must be in at least 10-point type.⁶
Lead-based paint. Required for any unit built before 1978. The landlord must disclose known lead-based paint hazards, provide the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home,” and include a lead warning statement in the lease.⁷
Asbestos. Landlords of properties built before 1981 must disclose known or reasonably suspected asbestos.⁷
Megan’s Law. The lease must inform tenants of their right to search the state’s sex offender database. The landlord is not required to perform the search, only to notify the tenant that the database exists.
Pest control. If the property is under an ongoing pest-control service contract, the landlord must give new tenants the pest control company’s written notice about the pesticides being used.⁷
Proposition 65. Landlords with ten or more employees must post a conspicuous notice at the property warning of possible exposure to listed chemicals.⁷
Methamphetamine contamination. If a health officer has issued a contamination order, the landlord must give prospective tenants written notice and a copy of the order before signing the lease.⁷
Demolition. If the landlord has applied for a demolition permit, written notice must go to prospective tenants before accepting any fee or signing the lease.⁷
Military ordnance. If the rental is within one mile of a former military base where munitions were stored, the landlord must disclose that fact.

Each disclosure must be initialed by the tenant to confirm receipt. The checklist section tracks these initials, creating a record that every obligation was met before the tenant took possession.

Maintenance and Habitability

The RLMM allocates maintenance responsibilities between the landlord and tenant. California’s implied warranty of habitability requires landlords to keep the unit in a condition that meets health and safety standards, including working plumbing, heating, electrical systems, weatherproofing, and freedom from pest infestations.⁸ This obligation exists regardless of what the lease says, so a clause attempting to shift major repairs onto the tenant will not hold up.

Tenant responsibilities typically cover keeping the unit clean, disposing of trash properly, using fixtures as intended, and promptly reporting maintenance issues. Damage caused by the tenant, their guests, or their pets falls on the tenant. For less serious repairs, the lease can assign responsibility to either party, and the RLMM’s maintenance section is where that line gets drawn.

AB 1482 Rent Cap and Just-Cause Notice

California’s Tenant Protection Act caps most annual rent increases at 5 percent plus the local consumer price index change, or 10 percent, whichever is lower.⁹ The cap applies to the lowest rent charged during the prior 12 months.¹⁰

The same statute requires just cause for eviction once a tenant has occupied the unit continuously for 12 months.¹¹ At-fault grounds include nonpayment of rent, breach of a material lease term, nuisance, criminal activity on the premises, and unauthorized subletting. No-fault grounds include owner move-in, withdrawal of the unit from the rental market, and substantial remodeling, with the landlord owing relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent for no-fault evictions.

Several property types are exempt from both the rent cap and the just-cause requirement. The main exemptions include housing built within the last 15 years, single-family homes and condos owned by a natural person (not a corporation or REIT) where the landlord has provided the required written exemption notice, and owner-occupied duplexes.⁹ If your property qualifies, the RLMM includes space for the required exemption notice language. An exempt property where the landlord never provided the written notice is treated as covered, so completing this field correctly is the difference between an exempt tenancy and a covered one.

Renters Insurance (Optional Clause)

The RLMM includes a section where the landlord can require the tenant to maintain renters insurance as a condition of the lease. California law does not mandate renters insurance, but landlords are free to make it a contractual requirement. A common minimum is $100,000 in personal liability coverage, and landlords often ask to be listed as an interested party on the policy so they receive notice if the tenant cancels or lapses. If the lease requires renters insurance and the tenant lets the policy expire, that is a lease violation.

Signatures and Delivery

Both parties can sign with wet ink or through an electronic signature platform like DocuSign. Either method is legally valid in California. The digital route creates a built-in audit trail showing when each person signed and which version of the document they agreed to.

After signing, the landlord must provide the tenant with a complete copy of the executed lease within 15 days.³ If you used an e-signature platform, the system usually delivers the final PDF to both parties automatically, which satisfies this requirement. The tenant typically delivers the first month’s rent and the security deposit at or before move-in, often by cashier’s check or electronic transfer. Keep a copy of every payment receipt alongside the executed lease.

1
California Association of Realtors. Forms Libraries
2
Bakersfield NovusAgenda. C.A.R. Form RLMM Residential Lease Agreement
3
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1962
4
California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code 1950.5
5
California Department of Real Estate. Landlords’ and Tenants’ Rights Guide – Partial Rent Payments
6
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1954.603
7
California Department of Real Estate. Landlords’ and Tenants’ Rights Guide – Landlord’s Disclosures
8
California Department of Real Estate. Landlords’ and Tenants’ Rights Guide – Dealing With Problems
9
California Legislative Information. AB-1482 Tenant Protection Act of 2019
10
California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 1947.12
11
California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.2