The one sentence every California lease is legally required to include

Published July 26, 2026

California Civil Code Section 2079.10a requires one specific sentence in every residential lease. Downloaded templates usually leave it out, and that gap is on you, not the template site.

California Civil Code Section 2079.10a requires most residential leases in the state to include one specific sentence pointing tenants to the Department of Justice's Megan's Law website. Use the exact statutory language and the disclosure is satisfied. Downloaded lease templates, especially ones written for another state, routinely leave this sentence out entirely.

I read the actual statute for this one rather than working from memory, because I wanted to hand you the real sentence, not a paraphrase.

The exact sentence the law requires

Civil Code Section 2079.10a spells out the required notice in full, and here it is, word for word, straight from the current text of the statute:

"Notice: Pursuant to Section 290.46 of the Penal Code, information about specified registered sex offenders is made available to the public via an Internet Web site maintained by the Department of Justice at www.meganslaw.ca.gov."

That is the whole disclosure. It has to appear in a type size of not less than 8 point, so it cannot be buried in tiny fine print smaller than the rest of your lease. Once you have delivered that notice, the statute is explicit that you are not required to provide any additional information about registered offenders in the area, and giving this notice does not create a cause of action against you. In plain terms, deliver the sentence correctly and you are covered. You do not need to research anything about the neighborhood yourself, and you should not try to.

Who this applies to

The requirement covers single family residential leases, leases on multiunit residential property with more than four units, and contracts for the sale of one to four unit residential property, per the statute's applicability language. It has applied to leases entered into on or after July 1, 1999, so this is not a new rule. What changed over time is the wording of the notice itself, and the version above is the one that has been current since April 1, 2006. If you are working from an old template, or one built for a different state, this is exactly the kind of line that gets left out entirely rather than just out of date.

Why generic templates miss it

I see this constantly when an owner is deciding whether to manage the building themselves. They find a lease template online, it looks thorough, it has a pet clause and a late fee clause and a security deposit clause, and it feels complete. But a lot of those templates are built to be usable in many states at once, or built around federal fair housing language, and California has its own list of required disclosures that a general template was never written to cover. The Megan's Law notice is one of them. Lead paint disclosures, the CalFire wildfire disclosure in some counties, and the flood hazard disclosure are others that follow the same pattern: state specific, statutory, easy to skip if the template was not built here.

This is not a knock on your judgment for wanting to manage your own building. Plenty of owners run their own buildings well. It is a knock on the idea that a downloaded PDF is the same thing as a California compliant lease. The form looks finished. Whether it is actually compliant is a separate question, and it is not one a template site is answering for you.

What this means for your building

If you are managing the building yourself and working from a template you found online, pull it out and check for this exact sentence, in at least 8 point type, somewhere in the body of the lease. If it is not there, add it verbatim. Do not summarize it, do not shorten it, use the statutory language as written above.

If you are managing several units or you are about to sign a new tenant, this is a good moment to have your whole lease reviewed rather than patching one clause at a time. A missing disclosure rarely travels alone. Once you find one gap in a template, it is worth checking the rest of the document against California's actual disclosure list rather than assuming the other clauses are fine because this one got caught.

None of this is legal advice. It is a reading of the statute as it stands today. Confirm your specific lease and situation with a licensed attorney before you rely on it, especially if a lease is already signed and you are trying to fix it after the fact.

Common questions

Do I have to say anything more than the statutory sentence? No. Once you deliver the exact notice in at least 8 point type, the statute says you are not required to provide any additional information about registered sex offenders in the area, and the disclosure itself does not create a cause of action against you.

Does this apply to every rental in California? It applies to single family residential leases, leases on multiunit residential property with more than four units, and contracts for the sale of one to four unit residential property, for agreements entered into on or after July 1, 1999. The current wording of the notice has been in effect since April 1, 2006.

What if my template does not have this clause? Add the exact statutory sentence to your lease before you sign a new tenant, and have the rest of the document checked, since a missing disclosure like this one is often a sign the template was not built for California in the first place.

Last verified: July 26, 2026, against the current text of California Civil Code Section 2079.10a. This is general information for property owners, not legal advice. Confirm your lease language with a licensed professional before relying on it.

Kellie

Schofield Properties

323 Richmond Street, El Segundo, CA 90245

Topics: self-management, legal, south-bay

Get a free management quote

Back to the Schofield Properties blog

Schofield Properties is a family run property management company at 323 Richmond St, El Segundo, CA 90245. We have managed the South Bay since 1972 and personally oversee about 186 doors today. Book a call to talk about your property.