SB 1335 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Tenancy: disposition of personal property abandoned in common areas.

Summary

Existing law provides optional procedures for a landlord to dispose of personal property that remains on the premises, including common areas, after a tenancy has terminated and the premises has been vacated by the tenant. This bill would establish similar optional disposition of personal property that remains in a common area during a tenancy. The bill would require the landlord to give written notice to the tenant or any other person the landlord reasonably believes is the owner of the personal property, as provided. The bill would require the property to either be left in the common area or stored by the landlord in a place of safekeeping until the landlord releases the property, disposes of the property, or retains the property for the landlord's own use. The bill would prohibit the landlord from requiring the tenant to pay the cost of storage if the tenant reclaims the property within 15 days of having received the notice or 18 days after the notice was mailed, as provided.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 20, 2026 Last action Apr 23, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

02/20/26 - Introduced → 03/25/26 - Amended Senate · 10 edits · Mar 25, 2026

MAJOR

The bill was dramatically expanded from a minor cleanup of definitions in Section 1980 to the addition of an entirely new Chapter 5.3 (Sections 1992-1992.10) to the Civil Code. The new chapter creates an optional procedure for landlords to dispose of personal property abandoned in common areas (lobbies, hallways, laundry rooms, parking areas, etc.) during an active tenancy, with notice requirements, storage rules, and liability protections. This matters because it gives landlords a legal framework for clearing out items left in shared spaces while protecting tenants' rights to reclaim their property within a set timeframe.

SCOPE

Entirely new Chapter 5.3 (Sections 1992-1992.10) added to the Civil Code, creating a procedure for disposing of personal property abandoned in common areas during an active tenancy. The original bill only made minor edits to existing definitions in Section 1980.

Section 1992.1 excludes commercial real property from the chapter's application but includes self-storage units to the extent they do not conflict with existing self-storage law.

DEFINITION

New definition of 'common area' covering lobbies, hallways, elevators, stairwells, laundry rooms, parking areas, gardens, and yard areas. A new definition of 'premises' in this chapter excludes common areas (unlike Section 1980 which includes them).

ELIGIBILITY

Section 1992.2 carves out several exclusions: property governed by other statutes (Sections 1862.5, 2080.8, Article 2 of Chapter 4), utility-owned property, manufactured homes/mobilehomes/commercial coaches and their contents, and animals covered by specific food and agricultural code provisions.

REQUIREMENT

Section 1992.4 requires landlords to give written notice (personally delivered or first-class mail, with optional email) describing the property, where it can be claimed, and a deadline of at least 15 days after personal delivery or 18 days after mailing. Records found in common areas are presumed to belong to the tenant.

Section 1992.6 requires the landlord to either leave property in the common area or store it in a place of safekeeping, exercising reasonable care but not liable for loss not caused by deliberate or negligent acts.

FISCAL

Section 1992.7 requires landlords to release claimed property without any storage charge if the tenant or owner takes possession by the deadline. Section 1992.10 prohibits charging storage costs if property is claimed within 15 days of receiving notice or 18 days after mailing.

Section 1992.10 sets rules for storage cost assessment: tenants pay for all property in common areas, non-tenant owners pay only for their own property, no double-charging is allowed, and if stored in a common area the cost is the fair rental value of the space used.

ENFORCEMENT

Section 1992.8 allows landlords to dispose of unclaimed property in any manner, retain it for their own use, or continue storing it and charge storage costs as a condition of release. Section 1992.9 provides liability protections for landlords who follow the procedure.

TECHNICAL

The Section 1980 amendment was reduced to nonsubstantive changes: removing a redundant parenthetical '(investigation)' and changing 'his or her' to 'their' in the landlord definition.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 8, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

upper

Mar 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Mar 4, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 20, 2026

Introduced

Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors