AB 246 (Bryan D) Social Security Tenant Protection Act of 2025.

Current Text: Amended: 8/18/2025 html pdf
Last Amend: 8/18/2025
Status: 8/29/2025-From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 29). Read second time.
Ordered to third reading.
Location: 8/29/2025-S. THIRD READING
Summary: Current law provides that a tenant is guilty of unlawful detainer if the tenant continues to
possess the property without permission of the landlord after the tenant defaults on rent or fails to
perform a condition or covenant of the lease under which the property is held, among other reasons.
Current law requires a tenant be served a 3 days’ notice in writing to cure a default or perform a
condition of the lease, or return possession of the property to the landlord, as specified. Current law,
until January 1, 2030, prohibits an owner of residential real property from terminating a tenancy
without just cause, as specified. This bill would, until January 20, 2029, enact the Social Security
Tenant Protection Act of 2025 (the Act). The Act would authorize a tenant of residential real property to
assert Social Security hardship as an affirmative defense in an unlawful detainer proceeding based on
the nonpayment of rent. The Act would define “Social Security hardship” as a loss of income due to an
interruption in the payment of Social Security benefits due to the action or inaction of the federal
government. The Act would require a tenant asserting Social Security hardship as an affirmative
defense to provide, to the satisfaction of the court, evidence that Social Security payments typically
received by the tenant’s household have been terminated, delayed, or reduced due to no fault of the
tenant and that the hardship prevented the tenant from paying the rent. If the tenant successfully
provides this evidence, the Act would require the court to issue a stay of the unlawful detainer action,
as specified. The Act would not relieve a tenant of their obligation to pay past due rent, and it would
require a tenant, within 14 days of the Social Security benefits being restored, to either pay all past
due rent or enter into a mutually agreed upon payment plan with the owner of the residential real
property.