A fridge for every apartment in California, thanks to a new law
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Starting next year, you won’t have to comb through Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist for a decent used refrigerator because your California apartment doesn’t come with one.
That’s because on Monday Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 628 into law, requiring landlords to equip their rentals with a refrigerator and a stove that are in good working condition.
Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Hawthorne), whose 61st District covers communities from Inglewood to Marina del Rey, previously told The Times that she was inspired to author the bill when she realized refrigerators and stoves were legally labeled as amenities.
A 2022 Times analysis found that California has more apartments on the market without refrigerators than any other state. Existing state law requires landlords to maintain certain “standard characteristics” for a dwelling unit including adequate hot and cold running water, heat, and weather proofing.
McKinnor wanted to include a fridge and stove as necessities for a rental unit to be considered habitable.
Landlords cannot have occupants in a rental “without a refrigerator just like they can’t have you in there without hot running water or a heater,” McKinnor said.
Under the new law, landlords must provide a stove capable of generating heat for cooking and a refrigerator capable of safely storing food for new leases starting Jan. 1, 2026.
The costs associated with moving into a new apartment — first month’s rent and security deposit — can be a burden for renters, especially in the city of Los Angeles, where the average monthly rent is $2,795, about $700 higher than the national average, according to Zillow.
With this law, McKinnor said, renters will have one less payment to think about when moving into their new home.
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