California: Working stove and refrigerator now required

Before AB 628, Civil Code § 1941.1 already listed specific characteristics a dwelling needed to be considered tenantable: weatherproofing, working plumbing and gas facilities, hot and cold running water, functioning heating, and safe electrical wiring. A stove and a refrigerator weren't on that list. Landlords could, and often did, provide them, but doing so wasn't a statutory habitability requirement. [Cite: Cal. Civ. Code § 1941.1, pre-AB 628]

AB 628 closes that gap. Signed by Governor Newsom on October 6, 2025, it adds a stove that's maintained in good working order and capable of safely generating heat for cooking, and a refrigerator maintained in good working order and capable of safely storing food, to the same statutory list. Both requirements apply regardless of whether the stove is gas or electric. [Cite: AB 628, Chapter 342, Statutes of 2025]

The bill changed during the legislative process in a way worth knowing about. An earlier version would have required the stove and refrigerator to be no more than 10 years old, on top of being in working order. The author agreed to drop that age limit, since a well-maintained appliance often lasts well past a decade, and requiring replacement on a fixed schedule regardless of condition would have created unnecessary waste. The version that became law ties the requirement to whether the appliance actually works and is safe, not to its age. [Cite: Assembly Judiciary Committee analysis of AB 628, Mar. 25, 2025]

The sharpest compliance risk in this law isn't the baseline requirement, it's what happens when an appliance already in a unit gets recalled. If a stove or refrigerator becomes subject to a manufacturer or public-entity recall, it's automatically deemed incapable of meeting the statutory standard, regardless of whether it still technically works. [Cite: Cal. Civ. Code § 1941.1, as amended by AB 628]

From the point a landlord receives notice of that recall, there's a 30-day window to repair or replace the appliance. Missing that window doesn't just create a maintenance backlog; it can render the unit legally uninhabitable, which opens the door to rent withholding, repair-and-deduct remedies, and a habitability defense in an eviction proceeding tied specifically to that missed deadline, not to the underlying recall itself.

That timing risk is why tracking appliance models and subscribing to recall alerts matters more under this law than it did before AB 628. A recall notice starts a clock regardless of whether anyone at the property has noticed the appliance is affected yet.

The statute allows one specific carve-out, and only for the refrigerator. A landlord and tenant can agree at the start of a tenancy that the tenant will supply and maintain their own refrigerator instead of the landlord providing one. [Cite: Cal. Civ. Code § 1941.1, tenant-refrigerator provision]

That arrangement only holds up if the lease itself states it clearly, and tells the tenant they can change their mind. If the tenant gives the landlord 30 days' written notice that they no longer want to maintain their own refrigerator, the landlord then has to provide one in good working order. A landlord can't flip this around and require a tenant to supply their own refrigerator as a condition of renting the unit, and this exception never extends to the stove.

The new requirements don't reach every kind of housing. Civil Code § 1941.1(b) excludes permanent supportive housing, single-room occupancy units where residents share food preparation facilities, and residential hotels. These carve-outs exist because a stove or refrigerator in every individual unit isn't the norm or the expectation in those housing models, which often rely on communal kitchens instead. [Cite: Cal. Civ. Code § 1941.1(b)]

There's no exemption tied to landlord size or portfolio. A single-unit owner and a large multi-property operator face the same requirement once a covered lease is signed, renewed, amended, or extended.