Legislative Gossip

Updated April 2, 2026

In March 2026, the California legislature amended the following housing laws:

• SB 911, which requires a seller of property in a high or very high fire hazard severity zone to provide compliance documentation to a buyer and the county assessor;
• AB 1621, which prohibits local agencies from requesting more than two plan checks for a building permit and speeds up the approval timelines to 30 business days for multifamily properties with 25 units or fewer and 45 business days for multifamily properties with 26 units or more;
• SB 894, which establishes a state wildfire resilience loan program to reduce wildfire-related risks and losses through fire hardening and defensible space developments;
• AB 1815, which prohibits local agencies from enforcing stricter than minimum building standards on a housing construction project using factory-built housing;
• SB 1258, which allows urban infill multifamily housing projects proposed on hazardous sites to access streamlined approvals when a state agency has determined the site is suitable for residential use before issuing a first post-entitlement phase permit; and
• AB 1738, which requires a local agency to allow remote building inspections for single and two-family residential housing units.

Several bills significant to California’s housing market were passed in 2025, including:

• AB 628, which requires a landlord to provide a working stove and refrigerator for the unit to be habitable.
• SB 79, which requires that a transit-oriented housing development be an allowable use on any site zoned for residential, mixed or commercial development within one-half or one-quarter mile of a transit-oriented stop.
• AB 1308, which requires building departments to inspect residential construction projects within 10 business days of receiving notice of completion of the work.
• SB 543, which defines a junior accessory dwelling unit (JADU) as a unit with no more than 500 square feet of interior livable space and removes barriers to building JADUs.
• SB 610, which places additional requirements on landlords, mobilehome park owners and mortgage lenders when their properties are affected by disasters, giving tenants and owners greater disaster relief.
• AB 507, which creates a streamlined, ministerial approval process and financial incentives for the adaptive reuse of existing buildings into housing.
• AB 246, which establishes a defense against evictions for tenants who cannot make timely payments when their income from Social Security is interrupted.
• SB 92, which tightens the Density Bonus Law by requiring that mixed-use developments qualify only when at least two-thirds of their square footage is devoted to residential use and by prohibiting the requirement of cities or counties to grant concessions, incentives or fee waivers for transient lodging as part of a housing development.
• AB 1414, which prohibits a landlord or their agent from requiring a tenant to subscribe to a specific internet service provider and allows the tenant to deduct the cost from rent when the landlord violates this requirement.
• AB 130, which requires a current or former mortgage servicer of a second mortgage to prove written communication with the property owner occurred at least once every three years during the existence of the encumbrance.
• AB 238, which requires mortgage servicers to offer mortgage forbearance to homeowners experiencing financial hardship preventing them from making timely mortgage payments due to wildfires.
• AB 1154, which relaxes regulations for the use of junior accessory dwelling units (JADUs).
• AB 87, which prohibits the Density Bonus Law from including short-term rentals.
• AB 245, which requires properties impacted by the 2025 Los Angeles fires to take into account any deductions in value on the assessing of their property.
• AB 253, which speeds up the approval process for new construction by allowing homebuilders to hire a certified third-party reviewer to review housing permit applications when the local government fails to complete their review within 30 days.
• AB 455, which requires sellers of residential property to disclose in writing whether they smoked tobacco or nicotine products on the property.
• AB 723, which requires a real estate broker or agent who includes a digitally altered image in an advertisement or promotional material for a property transaction to include a disclosure that the image has been altered, and when it is posted on an internet website, the unaltered version of the image needs to be included in the posting.
• AB 851, which prohibits a buyer from making an unsolicited offer to purchase residential real estate located in the Los Angeles areas affected by wildfire.
• AB 1529, which requires a trustee recording a notice of default (NOD) on an assisted housing development to provide a copy of the NOD to all affected tenants and public entities.
• SB 625, which creates a streamlined ministerial approval process for rebuilding residential structures damaged in a disaster.
• AB 301, which smooths the process for post-entitlement phase permits.
• AB 712, which entitles housing development applicants to reasonable attorney fees and costs along with other penalties and remedies when a public agency violates housing reform laws.
• AB 462, which allows a local agency to issue a certificate of occupancy for an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) even when the main dwelling on the property hasn’t yet received its certificate of occupancy and exempts ADUs from needing a separate coastal development permit in coastal areas.
• SB 9, which invalidates a local agency’s ADU ordinance when the agency does not submit a copy of the ordinance to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) within 60 days of adoption or does not respond within 30 days to a finding that the ordinance is not in compliance.
• AB 1061, which allows a local agency to adopt objective standards for the purposes of maintaining the historical value of a historic district listed in the California Register of Historical Resources.
• AB 920, which requires a city or county with a population of 150,000 or more persons to make a centralized application portal available on its website to applicants for housing development projects to allow for tracking of the status of an application.
• AB 1007, which reduces the time period that a responsible agency is required to approve or disapprove a development project from 90 days to 45 days.
• AB 1050, which allows property owners to remove or modify covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) or easement agreements that block housing development on commercial sites zoned for residential use.
• SB 655, which establishes a state policy that all dwelling units are required to maintain a safe maximum indoor temperature.
• AB 414, which provides that when the tenant pays rent electronically, the landlord will return the tenant’s security deposit at the end of the tenancy electronically.
• SB 495, which prohibits an insurer from requiring an insured person to provide a proof of loss less than 100 days after a loss relating to a state of emergency.

Editor’s note — Stay tuned to the firsttuesday Journal for a further analysis of all recently passed legislation.

Read on for the full list of bills for the 2025-2026 Legislative Session and DRE Regulations which may substantially affect how you do business as a real estate licensee. Reports on passed bills can be found on our New Laws page. Current real estate law is here. This list is updated monthly.

All recent updates are in red below.

Status Legend:

Introduced = Date the bill was originally introduced for consideration. Bill is still being considered, but not yet law.
Amended = Date the bill was last amended. Bill is still being considered, but not yet law.
Enrolled = Bill approved by both houses and pending the governor’s signature.
Passed = Bill signed by the governor and passed into law.