Normal Wear and Tear California: What Landlords Can and Cannot Charge For

The phrase "normal wear and tear" is where most California security deposit disputes actually live. Your landlord's itemized statement arrives charging $1,100 to repaint a two-bedroom apartment, $450 for carpet cleaning, and $200 for "wall touch-ups." You know you left the place in reasonable condition. But you don't know whether any of those charges are legal.

California Civil Code § 1950.5(e) is unambiguous: landlords are expressly prohibited from deducting any funds from a security deposit for "ordinary wear and tear." The statute defines wear and tear as the unavoidable, natural deterioration of a property from standard everyday use over time. That deterioration is the landlord's cost of owning a rental property — it is not the tenant's liability.

Here is how to apply that principle to specific situations.

Paint and Walls

Normal wear and tear (landlord's cost):

• Scuffs and minor marks on walls from furniture placement
• Small nail holes from hanging pictures, artwork, or shelving brackets
• Natural fading or dulling of paint from light exposure over time
• Hairline cracks in paint that developed from the building settling
• Faint discoloration near light switches from years of normal contact

Tenant damage (potentially chargeable):

• Large holes requiring drywall patching and joint compound
• Unauthorized paint colors that require primer and full repainting to cover
• Marker, crayon, or paint stains on walls
• Water damage from hanging planters or indoor fountains
• Deep gouges from furniture dragged across a painted surface

The useful life rule on paint: Interior paint has a standard useful life of two to five years under California property standards. If you lived in a unit for three years and the paint was not freshly applied when you moved in, the landlord's charge for a full repaint is almost certainly illegal. They can only charge for the remaining useful life — and after three or more years of a two-to-five-year useful life, that remaining value may be zero.

This means a landlord charging $1,200 for repainting after a three-year tenancy needs to calculate: if the paint was two years old when you moved in, it is now five years old with a useful life fully exhausted. They owe you $0 for paint.

Carpet and Flooring

Normal wear and tear (landlord's cost):

• Carpet worn thin in hallways and primary traffic paths
• Minor color fading from sunlight
• Small indentations from furniture legs (standard over a multi-year tenancy)
• Light scuffs on hardwood floors from normal foot traffic
• Minor surface scratches on linoleum from regular use

Tenant damage (potentially chargeable):

• Pet urine stains that have soaked into the padding — particularly if they have caused odor embedded in the subfloor
• Cigarette burns
• Large tears or rips from moving furniture without protective pads
• Deep gouges in hardwood from dragging heavy items
• Stains from chemical spills or color-fast substances

The useful life rule on carpet: Standard plush carpeting has a useful life of 5 to 7 years under HUD guidelines, with up to 10 years in low-traffic units. If you moved into an apartment with carpet that was already four years old and lived there for two years, that carpet is six years old at move-out — potentially approaching or at the end of its useful life. Even if you genuinely damaged it, the maximum chargeable amount is the percentage of useful life remaining, not full replacement cost.

For example: carpet that costs $1,000 to replace and has a 10-year useful life, destroyed when it's 8 years old, carries a maximum chargeable amount of $200 (20% of $1,000 for the remaining 20% of useful life). A landlord who charges you $1,000 for that carpet is overcharging by $800.

Windows, Blinds, and Screens

Normal wear and tear (landlord's cost):

• Window sticking in its frame due to humidity or building settling
• Minor fading of blinds from sunlight
• Slightly frayed pull cords on older blinds
• Window screens with small holes from age (not from a pet)

Tenant damage (potentially chargeable):

• Shattered window panes from negligence
• Torn or completely broken blinds (bent slats, snapped tilt mechanisms from pet damage)
• Window screens with large tears or holes from a cat or dog

Blinds have a useful life of 3 to 5 years. A landlord cannot charge full replacement cost for blinds that are 4 years old and have reached the end of their serviceable life.

Appliances and Fixtures

Normal wear and tear (landlord's cost):

• Scratched enamel on an older bathtub from years of normal cleaning
• Stiff or slow-running faucet from mineral deposits over time
• Refrigerator shelves cracking from age
• Minor rust on an aging garbage disposal
• Worn oven knobs or burner grate discoloration from use

Tenant damage (potentially chargeable):

• Chipped bathtub enamel from dropping a heavy object
• Broken garbage disposal from putting in items it explicitly cannot handle
• Intentionally broken light fixtures
• Stove grates cracked from impact, not heat

Appliances carry a useful life of 10 to 15 years for refrigerators and stoves. A landlord cannot charge you full replacement cost for a 12-year-old refrigerator.

Cleaning

California law requires you to leave the unit in the same state of cleanliness it was in at the start of your tenancy — not in a professionally cleaned, showroom-ready state.

If the unit was delivered to you with slightly dusty ceiling fan blades, faint watermarks in the shower, and unpolished cabinet hardware, the landlord cannot charge you for a professional deep-clean to bring it above that baseline. They can only charge to restore it to what they gave you.

Illegal cleaning deductions:

• A flat "standard cleaning fee" in the lease that is charged automatically regardless of the unit's condition at move-out. The California Court of Appeal has held that such automatic fee clauses are unenforceable.
• Charging for professional carpet cleaning when there was no damage and the carpets were reasonably clean
• Charging for cleaning appliances that were clean at move-out (which is why your move-out video should show appliance interiors)

AB 2801 and cleaning: As of April 2025, any cleaning charge over $125 requires the landlord to have before-and-after photographs: one taken immediately after you vacate (before they clean) and one after. If they cannot produce these photos, the cleaning charge is legally invalid regardless of what they claim the unit looked like.

When to Challenge a Deduction

If you receive an itemized statement and any deduction looks like it falls into the wear-and-tear category, you have every right to dispute it. Send a written response identifying:

1. The specific charge you are disputing
2. Why it falls under normal wear and tear or violates the useful life rule
3. A citation to Civil Code § 1950.5(e) prohibiting such deductions
4. A demand for return of the disputed amount

If the charge involves appliances, carpet, or paint and you know the approximate age of the item, do the depreciation math and include it. Showing a landlord that their $800 carpet charge is legally capped at $160 based on the carpet's age — in writing, with the calculation — resolves many disputes before they reach a courtroom.

Landlords frequently test the boundaries of the law because most tenants don't push back. The ones who know the rules almost always recover more of their deposit than the ones who don't.

The California Security Deposit Recovery Guide includes a complete illegal deductions checklist, the full useful life table for California rental property components, and the demand letter language for disputing each category of improper charge.