Domestic Violence and Tenancy: Lease Termination and Lock Changes on Your Timeline

California law refuses to let a lease trap anyone with an abuser. Survivors can terminate early with limited notice, require lock changes, and are protected from eviction over the abuse itself.

What California Law Says

Civil Code section 1946.7 allows tenants who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, elder abuse, or human trafficking to terminate with 14 days written notice and qualifying documentation — a protective order, police report, or a qualified third party statement. Section 1941.5 requires lock changes on request, and retaliation or eviction based on survivor status is prohibited.

How to Protect Yourself, Step by Step

1. Choose your documentation path — the statute accepts several, including a signed statement from a qualified professional, not only police reports.
2. Serve the 14-day termination notice in writing with the documentation attached.
3. Request lock changes in writing where you are staying; landlords must act within statutory time or you may change them yourself.
4. Pay only through the termination effective date — liability ends there.
5. Keep everything confidential and documented; the statute limits what landlords may demand or disclose.

Common Questions

Will breaking the lease this way hurt my rental history?

The statute terminates the obligation lawfully — no lease-break debt should exist to report, and treating survivors adversely creates its own liability.

My abuser is on the lease. Can the landlord remove just him?

Partial eviction of an abuser is available in California — courts and the Civil Code support removing the perpetrator while preserving the survivor’s tenancy.