A new California law stops the rent during an evacuation. Does your Hermosa Beach loss of rent coverage know that?

Published July 25, 2026

SB 610 took effect January 1, 2026 and suspends a tenant's rent during any mandatory evacuation order. Here is the one question every Hermosa Beach owner should put to their insurance agent this year.

The short version. A new California law, SB 610, took effect January 1, 2026. When your tenant is under a mandatory government evacuation order tied to a declared disaster, their rent obligation is suspended for the length of that order. If they already prepaid rent covering those days, you have 10 calendar days after the order lifts to return it. For a Hermosa Beach owner, that raises one practical question about your insurance, and it is worth asking before the next red flag day, not during one.

I manage rentals a few blocks from where you probably own, so let me give you the version a manager sees. This is not a scary law. It is a sensible one, and most of you would have done the right thing anyway. But it turns something that used to be a judgment call into a legal obligation, and that shift is exactly the kind of thing an insurance policy written a few years ago may not have anticipated.

What SB 610 actually does

The bill, signed October 10, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, adds new sections to the California Civil Code. The core rule is plain. When a tenant is forced out of a unit by a mandatory evacuation order issued because of a disaster, the tenant's obligation to pay rent is discharged for the period they must stay evacuated.

Two conditions have to be met for it to kick in. First, the evacuation has to be a mandatory government order, not a voluntary "you may want to leave" advisory. Second, it has to be tied to a declared disaster, meaning a state of emergency declared by the Governor or the President. The law lists the kinds of events that qualify: earthquake, flood, fire, riot, storm, drought, plant or animal infestation or disease, and pandemic or epidemic outbreak. Down here on the coast, fire and earthquake are the two that most owners will think about first, and both are on the list.

The refund piece is where owners need to pay attention. If a tenant paid rent that covers days they were evacuated, you have 10 calendar days after the order is lifted to return that money. Miss the window and the tenant is allowed to deduct it from the next month's rent themselves. So it is not a soft guideline. There is a self help remedy built in if you are slow.

Who it covers, and why Hermosa owners can assume it means them

There is no small landlord carveout. The law reaches residential rental units broadly, single family homes, duplexes, condos, and apartment buildings alike, with no unit count threshold, and a parallel section covers mobilehome spaces. If you rent out residential property in Hermosa Beach, plan on the assumption that this applies to you. I would not spend energy hunting for an exemption that the bill does not appear to give.

What the law suspends is the obligation to pay rent for the period of the evacuation. That is the term the statute uses, so when you sit down to calculate a refund, work from the rent the tenant owed for the days they were ordered out.

The loss of rent question to put to your agent

Here is the part I actually want you to act on, and I want to be careful about how I say it, because I am a property manager and not your insurance carrier.

Many landlord policies carry a "loss of rent" or "fair rental value" provision. It is the coverage that keeps paying you when a covered event makes a unit unrentable, a kitchen fire, say, that forces a tenant out while repairs happen. It has historically leaned on two ideas: that there was physical damage to the property, and that the lost income was rent the tenant no longer owed because the place was uninhabitable.

SB 610 introduces a scenario that does not always fit that mold cleanly. Picture a mandatory evacuation where your building is never touched. No fire reaches it, no water gets in, the structure is completely fine. But the tenant was legally ordered out, so under this new law their rent is suspended anyway. You have lost income, by operation of a state statute, with no physical damage to point to. Whether a given loss of rent clause responds to that situation is not something I can tell you, because every policy is written differently and the trigger language varies from one carrier to the next.

So I am not telling you that you have a gap. I am telling you it is a fair and specific question, and the person who can answer it is your agent. The way I would frame it on the phone is simple: "If my tenant is placed under a mandatory evacuation order and a new state law suspends their rent even though my building is undamaged, does my loss of rent coverage pay me for that lost rent?" That is a yes or no question a good agent can research against your actual policy. Ask it before fire season, get the answer in writing, and you will know exactly where you stand instead of finding out in the middle of an emergency.

What this means for your building

A few concrete moves, in the order I would do them.

First, make the phone call above. It costs you fifteen minutes and it is the single most valuable thing on this list. If the answer is that your policy does not respond to an evacuation with no physical damage, you can talk to your agent about whether an endorsement or a different product closes it. If the answer is yes, you have peace of mind. Either way you are no longer guessing.

Second, build a simple refund habit now, while it is calm. Know how you would calculate a partial month refund and know that your 10 day clock starts when the order lifts. If you use a manager, confirm they are tracking evacuation orders for your area so the refund goes out on time and the tenant never has the right to deduct it themselves.

Third, do not treat this as a reason to think differently about your property. A coastal building in Hermosa is a strong asset, and this law does not change that. It changes one piece of your paperwork and one line of your insurance homework. Handle those two things and you have handled SB 610.

Common questions

Does SB 610 apply to a single rental unit or only to big apartment buildings? It applies broadly to residential rentals with no unit count threshold, so a single family rental or a duplex is covered the same as a large building. Assume it applies to your Hermosa Beach property and confirm specifics with a licensed professional.

If my building is never damaged but my tenant is evacuated, do I still lose the rent? Yes. The rent obligation is suspended for the period of a mandatory evacuation order tied to a declared disaster, regardless of whether your unit itself was harmed. That is exactly why the loss of rent insurance question is worth asking your agent directly.

How fast do I have to refund prepaid rent? Within 10 calendar days after the evacuation order is lifted, for any rent that covered the evacuated days. If you miss that window, the tenant is allowed to deduct the amount from the next month's rent.

Last verified: July 25, 2026. Terms reflect the text of California SB 610 as chaptered and secondary reporting on it as of that date. This is general information for property owners, not legal advice, and it is not insurance advice. Confirm how SB 610 and your specific policy interact with a licensed professional before you rely on either.

Kellie

Schofield Properties

323 Richmond Street, El Segundo, CA 90245

Topics: market, hermosa-beach, south-bay, insurance, regulation

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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.