Recalled Appliance in Your Rental? AB 628 Gives You a Repair Deadline

Published August 10, 2026

AB 628 sets a hard 30-day clock. Once a landlord receives notice that a rental's stove or refrigerator is subject to a manufacturer or public entity recall, the appliance is legally treated as broken, and the landlord has 30 days to repair or replace it.

The short answer

Under Civil Code section 1941.1(c)(1), added by AB 628, a landlord has 30 days from receiving notice that a rental's stove or refrigerator is subject to a manufacturer or public entity recall to repair or replace it. Until fixed, the statute treats the appliance as not capable of performing its function, which makes the unit untenantable. The requirement applies to leases entered into, amended, or extended on or after January 1, 2026.

Last verified: August 10, 2026

Why a recall now triggers a habitability clock

Before AB 628, a recall notice on a rental's stove or refrigerator was mostly a safety issue between the landlord and the manufacturer. It had no defined place in California's habitability statute. AB 628, signed October 6, 2025 as Chapter 342, changed that by writing recalls directly into Civil Code section 1941.1, the statute that defines when a dwelling is untenantable under section 1941.

The bill added this language to the stove and refrigerator paragraphs of section 1941.1(a): a stove or refrigerator "that is subject to a recall by the manufacturer or a public entity is not capable of" safely generating cooking heat or safely storing food. That sentence is doing real work. It means the legal status of the appliance changes the moment a recall notice attaches to it, independent of whether the unit still appears to function normally.

The deadline itself

Subdivision (c)(1) of the amended statute states it plainly: "A landlord shall repair or replace a stove or refrigerator that is subject to recall by the manufacturer or a public entity, as described in paragraphs (10) and (11) of subdivision (a), within 30 days of receiving notice that the stove or refrigerator is subject to recall."

| Step | What happens |

|---|---|

| Day 0 | Landlord receives notice that the stove or refrigerator is subject to a manufacturer or public entity recall |

| Day 0 to 30 | Appliance is treated by statute as not capable of performing its safety function, even if it still appears to work |

| By day 30 | Landlord must have repaired or replaced the recalled appliance |

| After day 30 without a fix | Unit remains subject to the untenantability standard of section 1941.1, and the tenant retains any remedy already available under section 1942 |

The statute does not spell out what qualifies as "receiving notice." It does not say whether a recall listed on a federal or state agency database counts on its own, or whether the clock only starts once the landlord is actually informed, whether by the manufacturer, a tenant, or another channel. That gap is not resolved in the bill text, and this article is not going to guess at an answer. If you are disputing when your 30 days started, confirm the standard with a landlord-tenant attorney.

What "repair or replace" means in practice

The statute gives landlords a choice. You can repair the recalled unit, for example if the manufacturer's recall remedy is a free part replacement or an in-home fix, or you can replace the appliance outright with a working, non-recalled unit. The law does not require the more expensive option. It requires that within 30 days, the tenant has a stove or refrigerator that is not subject to an open recall.

This does not replace the existing repair-and-deduct remedy

AB 628 added a sentence to section 1941.1 making clear that the new 30-day recall duty "shall not be construed to prohibit a tenant from exercising any remedy authorized under Section 1942." Section 1942 is the existing California statute that lets a tenant, after giving notice and a landlord's neglect to repair, either repair a habitability defect and deduct the cost from rent or vacate the unit.

In plain terms, the 30-day recall deadline is a floor on the landlord's obligation, not a ceiling on the tenant's options. If a landlord misses the 30-day window, the tenant is not limited to waiting. The ordinary section 1942 repair-and-deduct and vacate remedies remain available on top of whatever enforcement or habitability claim arises from the missed deadline.

Who this does not apply to

The same four exemptions that apply to the base stove and refrigerator requirement apply to the recall deadline, because the recall duty is written into the same paragraphs. Permanent supportive housing, single-room occupancy units, residential hotel units, and units inside a facility with shared or communal kitchen spaces are excluded. If your property is not one of those four categories, the 30-day clock applies once a covered lease event happens on or after January 1, 2026.

What to do now

Do not wait for a tenant to raise a recall. Check the stove and refrigerator model and serial numbers against manufacturer recall pages for any unit you supplied, particularly in older properties where appliances have been in place for years. If you find an open recall, document the date you learned of it, since that date is what starts your 30-day clock, and move on a fix or a replacement immediately rather than after a complaint arrives.

FAQ

Does the 30-day clock start on the date the manufacturer issued the recall, or the date I found out about it?

The statute says "within 30 days of receiving notice," which points to the date the landlord actually received notice, not the date the recall was first issued. The statute does not define what qualifies as notice, so if the timing is disputed, confirm with a landlord-tenant attorney.

Can I just tell the tenant to stop using the recalled appliance instead of fixing it within 30 days?

The statute requires the landlord to repair or replace within 30 days. Telling a tenant not to use a legally required appliance does not satisfy that duty, and it leaves the unit without a working stove or refrigerator, which is itself a separate habitability problem under section 1941.1.

What if the recall repair from the manufacturer takes longer than 30 days to schedule?

The statute sets a 30-day deadline for the landlord's repair or replacement, without a stated exception for manufacturer service delays. If a manufacturer cannot complete a repair in time, replacing the appliance is the option that keeps the landlord within the statutory window. Confirm your specific situation with a landlord-tenant attorney.

Does this apply to a lease that started before January 1, 2026?

The recall duty lives inside the same section 1941.1 paragraphs that apply to a lease entered into, amended, or extended on or after January 1, 2026. Whether an older, unmodified lease is covered is a fact-specific question worth confirming with an attorney.

Is a recalled appliance automatically grounds for a tenant to withhold rent?

Not automatically. The recalled appliance makes the unit untenantable under the statute, but a tenant's specific remedies, including any repair-and-deduct action under section 1942, come with their own separate notice and procedural requirements. Confirm the applicable process with a landlord-tenant attorney before assuming any remedy applies.

This is general information about a recently enacted state law, not legal advice. Confirm how the AB 628 recall deadline applies to your specific property and appliance with a licensed California landlord-tenant attorney.

Topics: compliance, habitability, AB 628, appliance recall, South Bay

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