AB 2747 Rent Reporting: California Owner Coverage and Election Steps

AB 2747 created a California residential rent-reporting offer, not a mandate that every resident participate or a promise that anyone’s credit score will rise. The operating source is current Civil Code section 1954.07. An owner should determine coverage building by building before preparing a written offer and resident election.

Start with the building and owner-entity test

A landlord of a residential rental building with 15 or fewer units is generally exempt unless the landlord both owns more than one residential rental building and is a qualifying REIT, corporation or LLC with a corporate member. The statute also exempts an assisted housing development as defined there. Check the entity conditions even for a small building. A hypothetical 12-unit single-building owner can be exempt under the small-building clause; a 12-unit building in a qualifying multi-building corporate portfolio requires the other coverage conditions to be checked. The actual deed, entity and building count control.

Time the offer and keep a complete written election

For leases entered on or after April 1, 2025, covered landlords offer positive reporting at signing and at least annually. For leases outstanding as of January 1, 2025, the first offer was due no later than April 1, 2025 and repeats at least annually. The offer may be mailed or emailed; a mailed offer requires a self-addressed stamped return envelope. The written election identifies the reporting agency, any fee, how to accept, how to opt out, the optional nature of the service, the six-month resumption restriction and a dated signature block. A lease clause alone is not a complete substitute for those offer contents.

Report only the information the statute describes

The program is for complete, timely rent payments, reported through a qualifying consumer reporting agency route. A resident can elect after the original offer and can later ask in writing to stop. The landlord must stop; the resident then waits at least six months before electing again. The landlord should retain the agency identity, election, start and stop dates and the payment record used for each report. Under section 1954.07(k), authorized repair-and-deduct or withholding under Civil Code sections 1941–1942 is not treated as a late payment when the resident notifies the landlord of the deduction or withholding before rent is due. It does not guarantee a score change, prevent default or improve retention.

Keep the fee separate from rent and deposits

A participating resident’s monthly fee cannot exceed the lesser of actual landlord cost or $10; if the landlord has no actual reporting cost, no fee may be charged. Fee payment or nonpayment is not reported. Rent or other lease payments cannot be diverted to the reporting fee. An unpaid fee is not a tenancy-termination ground and cannot be taken from the security deposit. If a fee remains unpaid for at least 30 days, the statute allows reporting to stop and sets a six-month wait tied to when that fee first came due.

Assign an owner for errors and resident questions

A practical file records property coverage, annual offer date, delivery method, signed election, reporting agency, vendor charge, resident fee, ledger data and opt-out or dispute date. Assign someone to reconcile the ledger with transmitted data and route errors and resident questions. Before reporting begins, verify the vendor, data-security responsibilities and any applicable federal furnishing or dispute process with the parties responsible for that implementation.

The useful next action is to compare the current building and owner entity with section 1954.07, then inspect the actual offer and election record. This is a voluntary resident option with an owner documentation duty, not a tenant-payment enforcement tool.