To help rental housing professionals prepare for the new year, the California Apartment Association has updated its rental forms and instruction sheets. The association also published new forms for members to use to comply with the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act’s (CTRA) 15-Day Notice requirement and to be used when terminating a tenancy because the owner needs to move into the unit, or is going out of the rental housing business.  CAA staff create and update forms based on new laws, member requests and questions submitted through CAA’s Landlord Helpline. 

Forms with major revisions, as well as the newly published forms:

Forms CA-040, 041, 042, 043: Rental/Lease Agreements (Updated): Member requests and concerns led to the revision of these forms. Specifically, trampolines were added to the list of prohibitions, the section on NSF fees was clarified, and options were added for returning the security deposit if the unit is rented to roommates. In the month-to-month agreement only, the termination provisions were clarified to address termination of the agreement when the tenancy has not yet started. All instruction sheets now explain the interaction between the security deposit provision in the agreement and the additional deposit provision in the pet addendum.

Form CA-250: Fourteen Day Notice of Resident’s Intent to Vacate (Domestic Violence and Other Special Circumstances) (Updated): Revisions reflect changes in the law extending the right to terminate the tenancy to victims of violent crime and tenants whose household members or family members (who do not live with the tenant) are victims of violent crime.

Form CA-019: Guarantee of Rental Agreement (Update to instructions): Revisions to the instructions include information about the requirement to provide a translated copy of the rental agreement to the guarantor, if the prospective tenant is required to be provided a translation by law. Under existing law, a translation of the agreement must be provided to the prospective tenant, if the agreement is negotiated in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog or Korean.

Forms for Compliance with CTRA: These forms include the Informational Notice; 15 Day Notices for Non-Payment of Rent and other charges; and notices of termination for owner move-in and withdrawal of the property from the rental market. These forms are available on the CTRA compliance page.

Forms for Compliance with AB 1482: New and updated forms for AB 1482 include Form CA-430 Notice of Termination Due to Owner-Move-In (Subject to AB 1482) and Form CA-431 Notice of Termination Due to Withdrawal of the Property from the Rental Market (Subject to Ab 1482). All of CAA’s AB 1482 forms are available on the AB 1482 compliance page.