A Tenant Installed a Camera or Smart Lock on My South Bay Rental. What Are My Rights in 2026?

Published July 15, 2026

If a tenant swaps locks or adds a camera and blocks your entry, that is the real violation, not the device itself.

A tenant can generally add a smart lock or a visible camera at their own cost, but they cannot use it to lock you out. Under Civil Code section 1954, you keep the right to enter with 24 hours notice for repairs, inspections, or showings, and a device that denies you a working key or access code, not the device itself, is the lease violation. Interior audio recording without your consent can also cross into Penal Code section 632 territory.

We get this call a few times a year from South Bay owners. A tenant installs a video doorbell, or worse, swaps the deadbolt for a keypad model and never gives you the code. It feels like a privacy fight. It is really an access fight, and California law is fairly clear about who wins that one.

Start with the lock, not the camera

Civil Code section 1941.3 puts the deadbolt obligation on you, the owner: every rental unit needs an operable dead bolt on the main entry door, and you are required to rekey or reprogram it between tenancies. That statute covers your duty. It does not give a tenant the right to unilaterally swap your lock hardware mid-lease.

Most Schofield leases (and most standard California leases) require the tenant to get written consent before changing locks, and to provide the owner a working key or code immediately if a change is approved. If your lease is silent, the default rule under general landlord-tenant law is still that a tenant cannot deny the owner access. California abolished self-help lockouts under Civil Code section 789.3, and that statute cuts against a tenant walling you out with a smart lock just as much as it would cut against an owner walling out a tenant. Absent a narrow exception (the tenant is a documented victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking under Civil Code 1941.5), a lock swapped without notifying you and handing over access is a lease violation you can send a notice to cure over.

Cameras are usually legal, audio is where it gets risky

A tenant can generally point a visible camera at their own door or living space. Courts have treated a tenant's interior camera capturing you or a vendor while lawfully inside the unit as fair game on video, because you do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy once you are inside someone else's rented space doing repair work. Audio is a different animal. California is a two-party consent state under Penal Code section 632, which criminalizes recording a confidential communication without the consent of everyone present. If a tenant's camera is quietly capturing audio of your maintenance staff or you during a visit, and no one disclosed the recording, that is a real exposure for the tenant, not for you.

What is not acceptable, camera or no camera, is a tenant using surveillance as a shield to refuse entry or delay repairs. That is a separate issue from the recording itself.

The fix is procedural, not a legal fight

If a tenant has changed a lock or installed a device and you cannot get in, send a written notice referencing the lease's access clause and Civil Code 1954, request a key or code within a set number of days, and document every attempt. If they refuse to cure, a 3-day notice to cure or quit under Code of Civil Procedure section 1161(3) is usually the next step, the same cure notice process used for any other lease violation.

What this means for you

Do not treat this as a fight over whether a tenant can own a smart lock or a doorbell camera. Treat it as an access compliance issue. Put the access requirement in writing in every lease renewal, require 48 hours notice before any lock change, and insist on immediate key or code handoff. That single clause resolves 90 percent of these disputes before they start.

If you would rather not track every device swap across your portfolio yourself, that is what we do at Schofield.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm with a licensed professional before you act.

Sources

Last verified: July 2026.

Topics: playbook, tenant rights, landlord entry, smart locks, security cameras, lease compliance

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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.