Is there a legal cap on how big my security deposit could have been?

Two months' rent used to be the standard number tenants heard, and landlords still quote it out of habit. That changed. As of July 1, 2024, a California residential deposit generally can't exceed one month's rent, regardless of what the lease says or what was customary before.

The exception is narrow and specific: an individual small-scale landlord, someone renting out property in their own name rather than through an LLC or corporation, whose entire rental holdings top out at two properties and four units combined, gets to keep the older two-month standard. Being a servicemember overrides that exception entirely, dropping the cap back to one month regardless of who your landlord is. Paying above the legal ceiling on a tenancy that began after the cutoff isn't folded into your deposit fight, it stands on its own as a separate thing to raise.