Deposit Record Statute-cited public record

Does a California Tenant Have to Give a Forwarding Address?

No. California never conditions the security deposit on a forwarding address, and the 21-day clock does not pause while a landlord waits for one. What the address actually decides is narrower than most guidance suggests: it fixes where mailings go, and the unit the tenant just left is a perfectly valid destination. What it never decides is the channel the money travels by, which since 2026 is a separate rule with its own answer. Statute verified July 4, 2026.

The short answer

A California tenant does not have to provide a forwarding address to be entitled to the deposit or to the itemized statement, and a landlord cannot make one a condition of paying. The statute knows perfectly well how to require a written designation when it wants one: it demands exactly that for the bank account used in an electronic refund. It asks for nothing of the sort for a forwarding address.

What the statute actually says

One sentence does the work, and it is worth reading closely because it answers the question by assuming the tenant might give no address at all:

Any mailings to the tenant pursuant to this subdivision shall be sent to the address provided by the tenant. If the tenant does not provide an address, mailings pursuant to this subdivision shall be sent to the unit that has been vacated. Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(h)(6)

A note for anyone checking this against an older source. AB 2801 relettered § 1950.5 effective January 1, 2025, so guidance written before then cites this mailings rule as subdivision (g)(6). Here the letter moved and the wording did not. The 21-day provision is a different story: AB 414 restated it effective January 1, 2026 and added new subparagraphs covering how the refund is returned, so a pre-2025 citation to (g)(1) is stale on both the letter and the text.

The 21-day clock runs either way

The deadline starts when the tenant vacates, and nothing in the section tolls it, suspends it or pushes it back because no address arrived. A landlord sitting on the statement waiting for one is only burning their own deadline.

There is a second half to the timing rule that often gets dropped, and it limits how early a landlord may act rather than how late. The statement cannot go out before either party gives notice terminating the tenancy, or before 60 days prior to the end of a fixed-term lease. It is a floor on early performance, never a grace period on the 21 days. (Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(h)(1))

Where the statement goes when there is no address

To the unit the tenant just left. That is the fallback the statute names, and using it satisfies the mailing requirement even though everyone involved knows the tenant is no longer there. Keep proof of what was sent and when.

How the refund travels is a different rule

This is the part that changed, and the part most guidance still gets wrong. Where mailings go and how the money goes back are governed by two different provisions. Since January 1, 2026, a landlord who ever received the deposit or the rent electronically must return the remainder electronically:

(A) (i) Subject to subparagraph (C), and except as provided by clause (ii), the landlord shall return the remainder of the security by personal delivery or by a check made payable to the tenant and mailed by first-class mail, postage prepaid. (ii) (I) If the landlord received the security or rental payments from the tenant electronically, the landlord shall return the remainder of the security electronically to a bank account or other financial institution designated by the tenant in writing, or by any electronic or virtual method available to the landlord if agreed to in writing by the tenant. Alternatively, the landlord and tenant may, by written agreement, designate another method of return, including, but not limited to, by personal delivery or by a check made payable to the tenant and mailed by first-class mail, postage prepaid, to an address provided by the tenant. ... Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(h)(1)(A) (extract)

Read the two rules together and the picture is precise. The mailings rule covers any mailing under this subdivision, so for the many landlords who never took an electronic payment, a first-class-mail cheque to the vacated unit is both the default channel and correctly addressed. What changes is narrower than it first looks: a landlord who collected the deposit or the rent electronically cannot assume that posting a cheque discharges the obligation, because for them the statute has already chosen a different channel. The address question and the channel question simply are not the same question.

One combination the statute does not resolve. If the tenant paid electronically and then left without designating an account or agreeing to a method in writing, the electronic route has no destination and the statute does not say what replaces it. That is a genuine gap rather than a settled answer, so this tool does not invent one. Meet the 21-day deadline for the statement, document what you attempted, and get advice from a licensed California attorney on the payment channel.

This is not the Texas rule

The most common mistake on this question is importing a rule from another state. In Texas a landlord genuinely is not required to return the deposit or give a written description of deductions until the tenant gives a written forwarding address. California has no equivalent provision anywhere in § 1950.5. A landlord who applies the Texas approach in California does not gain time; they simply miss the 21-day deadline. Missing it does not by itself make a retention bad faith, but it forfeits the safe ground and opens the door to a bad-faith finding, and where a court makes one it may award statutory damages of up to twice the deposit on top of actual damages.

Work out the return

The free California deposit tool computes the 21-day deadline from your dates, applies the deduction rules, and generates a statute-cited return letter that uses the vacated unit’s own address when no forwarding address was given, and says why. If the rental is in a city that requires it, see deposit interest by city.

About this page

Every quoted passage above is the statute’s own wording, taken from the official text of Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5 at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and checked against it rather than against a summary. The subsection letters are the current ones, post AB 2801 and AB 414. How we verify the law explains the process and what a “last verified” date means. This is general information that cites the statute, not legal advice, and Orygn LLC is not a law firm.

Forwarding addresses in California: common questions

Does a California tenant have to give the landlord a forwarding address?

No. Nothing in Civil Code section 1950.5 conditions the tenant’s right to the deposit or to the itemized statement on providing an address. The statute plainly knows how to require a written designation when it wants one, since it requires exactly that for the bank account used for an electronic refund, and it imposes no such requirement for a forwarding address.

Does the 21-day deadline pause while the landlord waits for a forwarding address?

No. The clock runs from the day the tenant vacated, and nothing in the section tolls, suspends or extends it because an address is missing. A landlord who holds the statement waiting for an address is simply running out their own deadline.

Where does the landlord send the itemized statement if the tenant left no address?

To the unit the tenant vacated. The statute says mailings go to the address the tenant provided, and that if the tenant does not provide one, mailings go to the unit that has been vacated. Sending it there satisfies the mailing requirement even though the tenant has obviously moved out.

Can the landlord just mail a cheque to the vacated unit as well?

Not necessarily, and this is where the answer changed. The rule about where mailings go is not the rule about how the refund travels. Since January 1, 2026, a landlord who ever received the deposit or the rent electronically must return the remainder electronically, to an account the tenant designates in writing or by an electronic method the tenant agrees to in writing, unless a written agreement designates something else. A landlord who took rent through a portal or an app cannot assume a posted cheque discharges the duty.

What if the tenant paid electronically and then vanished without designating an account?

The statute does not expressly resolve that combination. It requires an electronic return where payments were electronic, but the electronic route depends on the tenant designating an account or agreeing to a method in writing. If neither exists, the safe course is to document what was attempted, meet the 21-day deadline for the itemized statement, and get advice on the payment channel rather than assume either method is automatically correct.

Is this the same as the Texas rule?

No, and confusing the two is the most common mistake here. In Texas the landlord is not obliged to return the deposit or give a written description until the tenant gives a forwarding address. California has no equivalent provision. A landlord applying the Texas approach in California will simply miss the 21-day deadline.

Does the forwarding address have to be in writing?

California imposes no writing requirement for a forwarding address, because it imposes no forwarding-address requirement at all. Practically, a written address is still worth keeping, since it is what determines where the statement is mailed and it is evidence of where things were sent.

What happens if the tenant provides an address after moving out?

Use it. The statute directs mailings to the address provided by the tenant, and the vacated unit is the fallback for when none is provided. An address that arrives before the statement goes out is the address the tenant provided.

Can a landlord refuse to return the deposit until the tenant provides an address?

No. There is no such condition in the statute, and the 21-day clock keeps running regardless. Withholding on that basis risks the bad-faith exposure in section 1950.5, which can reach statutory damages of up to twice the deposit on top of actual damages.

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