The ambulance came twice this year. Now the manager is talking about "disturbances," and a friend says buildings quietly push out tenants who bring the police. In California, that is what the statute was written to stop.
The short answer: not lawfully. Civil Code §1946.8 says "a landlord shall not impose, or threaten to impose, penalties on a tenant or resident who exercises the tenant's or resident's right to summon law enforcement assistance or emergency assistance" as, or on behalf of, "a victim of abuse, a victim of crime, or an individual in an emergency."¹ An "individual in an emergency" is "a person who believes that immediate action is required to prevent or mitigate the loss or impairment of life, health, or property" — a mental-health crisis is squarely inside that sentence.¹ A lease term limiting your right to call is void; a violation is an affirmative defence to eviction; and if the landlord files an eviction within 30 days of the call on a notice that treats the call itself as a lease violation or a nuisance, the law presumes the defence is made out unless the landlord rebuts it.¹ Since 1 January 2025, no city or county may run a "crime-free housing" program that penalises a tenant "solely as a consequence of contact with a law enforcement agency."²
What "penalties" means
The statute defines them broadly: fees; actual or threatened eviction; refusal to renew; and "subjecting a tenant to inferior terms, privileges, and conditions of tenancy in comparison to tenants who have not sought law enforcement assistance or emergency assistance."¹ The manager who says "one more call and we won't renew" is threatening a penalty. So is the building that adds a "police response fee" to the rent ledger.
Who is covered
Three groups, and the third is the one that matters here:¹
- A victim of abuse — domestic violence, elder or dependent adult abuse, human trafficking, sexual assault, stalking.
- A victim of crime — any misdemeanour or felony.
- An individual in an emergency — anyone who "believes that immediate action is required to prevent or mitigate the loss or impairment of life, health, or property."
The call can be made by the tenant, by a household member, or by someone else on their behalf. The person in crisis can be the tenant, a family member, a guest, or a neighbour. What the statute protects is the act of summoning help.
The 30-day presumption
"In an action for unlawful detainer, a tenant, resident, or occupant may raise, as an affirmative defense, that the landlord or owner violated this section."¹ And: "There is a rebuttable presumption that a tenant, resident, or occupant has established an affirmative defense under this subdivision if the landlord or owner files a complaint for unlawful detainer within 30 days" of the call for help — where the eviction notice alleges that summoning help was itself a lease violation or a nuisance; a notice that merely mentions the call in describing other conduct does not trigger it.¹ Thirty days is short. Keep the date of the call — the dispatch record, the ambulance bill, the crisis-team paperwork — because it is the date that starts the clock.
Crime-free housing, ended
For years some cities ran "crime-free" or "nuisance" programs that required or encouraged landlords to evict after a set number of police calls, whoever made them and whatever they were for. Government Code §53165.1, in force since 1 January 2025, says a local government "shall not promulgate, enforce, or implement an ordinance, rule, policy, program, or regulation affecting a tenancy that imposes or threatens to impose a penalty against a resident, owner, tenant, landlord, or other person solely as a consequence of contact with a law enforcement agency."² A landlord who cites "the city's program" is citing something the state has hollowed out: local programs survive only to the extent they are consistent with state law, and a penalty for contact with law enforcement is not.
What this does not protect
The statute protects the call. It does not protect conduct that would independently breach the lease — damage to the unit, threats to neighbours, a genuine nuisance — and a landlord who can prove that, separately from the fact of the calls, is not barred by this section. The practical line: a landlord may act on what happened; it may not act on the fact that help was summoned.
If the crisis involved abuse by someone who does not live in your unit, a separate section stops the landlord from ending the tenancy on the basis of that abuse, on a protective order, police report or a counsellor's or clinician's statement — with an exception where the abuser threatened other tenants' safety and, after notice, you keep letting them onto the premises.³ Can I break my lease after domestic violence? →
Reducing the number of calls
The law protects you; it does not make the fourth ambulance easier. If a crisis is recurring, the path that reduces 911 calls is a crisis plan made in advance: a psychiatric advance directive, a mobile crisis team's direct number, and a therapist who knows the pattern. Getting help in a crisis without police → · Psychiatric advance directives in California → · What a 5150 hold is →
Q&A
Q: My lease says I'll be evicted after two police calls. Is that enforceable? A: No. A lease term that limits or penalises the right to summon law enforcement or emergency assistance is void, and the statute's protections cannot be waived.¹
Q: A neighbour called, not me. Am I still protected? A: Yes. The protection covers calls made "as, or on behalf of" a victim or an individual in an emergency; who dialled does not change it.¹
Q: Can they refuse to renew instead of evicting? A: Refusal to renew is a listed penalty.¹
Q: The city says the building is enrolled in a crime-free program. A: Since 1 January 2025 a local government may not enforce a program that penalises a tenancy solely for contact with law enforcement.²
Our therapist directory: See its current status →
If the ambulance left a bill, two other statutes limit what it and the hospital can charge. Ambulance bills after a 5150 → · Hospital bills after a hold →
If the lease rule itself is the problem — a due date, an occupancy limit, a no-guests policy — you can ask for it to be changed as a disability accommodation. Mental health accommodations from a landlord →
Sources
- Cal. Civil Code §1946.8 — the bar on imposing or threatening penalties for summoning "law enforcement assistance or emergency assistance"; the definitions of "individual in an emergency," "victim of abuse," "victim of crime" and "penalties," including "inferior terms, privileges, and conditions of tenancy"; void lease waivers; the affirmative defence and the 30-day rebuttable presumption where the notice alleges the call as a violation or nuisance; injunctive relief — california.public.law.
- Cal. Government Code §53165.1 — a local government "shall not promulgate, enforce, or implement an ordinance, rule, policy, program, or regulation affecting a tenancy that imposes or threatens to impose a penalty ... solely as a consequence of contact with a law enforcement agency," in force 1 January 2025; local programs otherwise consistent with state law remain permitted — california.public.law.
- Cal. Code of Civil Procedure §1161.3 — "A landlord shall not terminate a tenancy or fail to renew a tenancy based on an act of abuse or violence" against the tenant or a household member, on the stated documentation, where the person responsible is not a tenant of the same unit, with the exception in subdivision (b)(2)(B) for a perpetrator who threatened other tenants and is still permitted on the premises after notice — california.public.law.
Paid for by participating therapists. Inclusion is computed from availability data — never purchased. No ads, no data sold.