Residential leases are drafted by one side, and California responded with a statute that pre-invalidates the worst of it. Civil Code §1953 declares void, as contrary to public policy, any lease provision by which a tenant purports to waive: the right to habitability repairs, statutory notice rights, the right to assert a cause of action against the landlord, procedural rights in litigation — including the right to a jury — and the landlord’s duty of care. Signing it changes nothing; the clause is a nullity the day the ink dries.
The companion provisions do the same work elsewhere. §1942.1 voids habitability waivers specifically (Green v. Superior Court made the warranty implied in every tenancy). §1950.5(m) bans “non-refundable” deposits — every deposit in California is refundable by law, whatever label the lease attaches. Late fees must be a valid liquidated-damages provision under §1671 — a reasonable estimate of actual damage from late payment — and the routine “10% of rent” penalty clause is widely vulnerable as an unlawful penalty. Attorney’s-fee clauses drafted one-way become reciprocal by operation of §1717: if the lease gives fees to the landlord when he wins, the tenant gets fees when she wins, whether the lease says so or not.
Add the entry rules (§1954 — no clause can authorize no-notice entry), the ban on waiving the security-deposit statute, and the Tenant Protection Act’s mandatory disclosures, and a pattern emerges: a California lease’s harshest clauses are frequently decoration, kept in the form because tenants obey what they believe they signed.
The practical method: when a landlord invokes a lease clause — a fee, a waiver, an inspection right, a “no repairs” provision — check the clause against the Civil Code before complying. The courts’ housing self-help center and the Attorney General’s tenant resources cover the recurring ones. The Legislature already litigated much of your lease. Collect the winnings.
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The Hedge 