Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Security Deposit

Security deposits are governed by Civil Code section 1950.5.

If you have a fixed-term lease that automatically expires at the end of a year, the landlord can probably obtain a new security deposit, but the landlord has to return the deposit, with a full accounting of any deductions, for the previous year.

In other words, the landlord cannot simply keep collecting new deposits each year without refunding and accounting for the old deposits.