California Subletting & assignment

Can a tenant sublet an apartment in California?

Civil Code chapter 6 (Assignment and Sublease, §§ 1995.010-1995.340) applies only to transfer of a tenant's interest in a lease of real property for other than residential purposes. A full-text search of Civil Code Title 5, Chapter 2 (Hiring of Real Property, §§ 1940-1954.071) found no general statewide rule that a residential tenant may or may not sublet or assign, or that a landlord's consent may not be unreasonably withheld. Related statewide rules apply in defined cases. Where Civil Code § 1946.2 applies (after the occupancy periods in subsection (a), and subject to the exemptions and local-ordinance rules in subsections (e) and (i)), at-fault just cause includes assigning or subletting the premises in violation of the tenant's lease, as described in Code of Civil Procedure § 1161(4). Section 1946.2 is operative April 1, 2024, and remains in effect only until January 1, 2030. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 1161(4), operative February 1, 2025, a tenant or subtenant who assigns or sublets contrary to the conditions or covenants of the lease thereby terminates the lease, and the landlord is entitled to restitution of possession after a three-day notice to quit. Where Civil Code § 1947.12 applies, a tenant shall not enter into a sublease that results in a total rent for the premises that exceeds the allowable rental rate in § 1947.12(a), and that subdivision does not authorize a sublet or assignment where otherwise prohibited; § 1947.12 also has exemptions and remains in effect only until January 1, 2030. For a dwelling subject to a local rent-control ordinance, Civil Code § 1954.53 does not enlarge or diminish an owner's right to withhold consent to a sublease or assignment, and it states when an owner may increase the rent to a lawful sublessee or assignee if the original occupants no longer permanently reside there, with the other conditions and exceptions in that section. The lease terms control except as these or other laws, including local ordinances, provide. This is not a finding of no restriction. Code of Civil Procedure § 1161(3) separately addresses a tenant who continues in possession after failing to perform a covenant not to assign or sublet, and it includes a three-day performance-or-possession notice and a right to cure when the violated covenant can still be performed. Civil Code § 1951.4 is a landlord-remedy rule after breach and abandonment when the lease gives a right to sublet or assign subject only to reasonable limitations; it is not a general consent-to-sublet rule and is not summarized here as one. Civil Code §§ 1946.2 and 1947.12 have additional occupancy, exemption, notice, and enforcement conditions that are in the official text and are not restated in full.

Verified Source: Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1995.010, 1946.2, 1947.12, 1954.53; Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 1161 · last checked 2026-11-12