CIV § 1927

California Civil Code § 1927 - Quiet possession: what a landlord guarantees by letting

Civil Code § 1927 binds a California landlord to secure the tenant's quiet possession of the property for the term against all persons lawfully claiming it.

Official text CIV § 1927 — California

An agreement to let upon hire binds the letter to secure to the hirer the quiet possession of the thing hired during the term of the hiring, against all persons lawfully claiming the same.

Text as published in the 2026 snapshot of the code.

Source: Vaquill Open US Law, compiled from official state publishers (huggingface.co), reproduced under license CC BY 4.0.

Read this provision at the official source →

What it actually says

Section 1927 is a single sentence that supplies a covenant no lease has to mention: an agreement to let upon hire binds the letter to secure to the hirer the quiet possession of the thing hired during the term, against all persons lawfully claiming the same. It is a promise given by the act of letting, so a tenant relying on it is not looking for a clause in the agreement.

The words "against all persons lawfully claiming the same" are the ones that shape the section, and they cut both ways. The guarantee is directed at claims of right to the property — the landlord letting the same premises to someone else, a superior landlord or lender asserting possession, the owner's own re-entry — rather than at every disturbance a tenant experiences. At the same time the covenant is not limited to formal eviction: conduct by the landlord that substantially interferes with the tenant's use and enjoyment is the classic constructive breach, which is why the section is the anchor for complaints about a landlord who will not leave the tenant alone.

The Legislature built on it directly. Section 1940.2(a)(3) makes it unlawful for a landlord to use force, willful threats or menacing conduct constituting a course of conduct that interferes with the tenant's quiet enjoyment "in violation of Section 1927" for the purpose of influencing the tenant to vacate — so the standard in this one sentence becomes the reference point for a statutory penalty. Whether particular conduct rises to a breach, and what follows if it does, depends on how serious and how persistent it was, and is worth discussing with a lawyer.

When it applies

  • The landlord keeps letting himself in or hanging around the property
  • Building work by the landlord that makes the flat unusable for weeks
  • The landlord rented the same unit or the same parking space to someone else
  • A lender or a superior landlord asserts a right to possession against you
  • The landlord blocks access to a garage, garden or storage that came with the tenancy
  • Persistent conduct designed to make you uncomfortable enough to leave

What this section does not say

  • It does not make the landlord answerable for the neighbours. The covenant is against persons lawfully claiming the property; a noisy tenant next door or a stranger is not making a lawful claim to your unit.
  • It is not a habitability guarantee. Repairs and fitness are §§ 1941 and 1941.1; quiet possession is about interference with use and possession, not about the condition of the building.
  • It does not require any wording in the lease. The obligation is imposed by the act of letting, which also means the section does not turn on which form the parties signed.
  • It is not about noise as such. "Quiet" here means undisturbed possession, not silence, and a complaint about sound is usually a nuisance question under § 3479.
  • It does not carry its own penalty. The $2,000-per-violation civil penalty attaches under § 1940.2 where the interference is a course of conduct aimed at making the tenant leave.

Worked examples

Invented situations, written to show how the wording bites. They are not real cases, not judgments and not precedent, and nothing here predicts what would happen in yours.

Illustrative example

A landlord starts a major refurbishment of the unit next door and, for weeks, sends workers through the tenant's kitchen to reach shared pipework, often without warning.

How the wording applies

The covenant of quiet possession is imposed by the act of letting itself, so it does not depend on any wording in the lease. What the outcome turns on is the scale and duration of the interference with the tenant's use and possession, rather than the noise as such, since noise from a neighbour who is not claiming the property is a nuisance question under section 3479 instead.

How the parties settled it

The landlord gives 24 hours of written notice for each entry, confines access to fixed hours on named days, and credits an agreed weekly rent reduction for the remaining weeks of the work.

Illustrative example

A tenancy was let with a garage included. Six months in, the landlord begins storing materials in it and tells the tenant to park on the street.

How the wording applies

Quiet possession covers what was actually let, and the garage was part of it. The fact this hinges on is what the letting included: a garage named in the lease, or shown and handed over with a key at the start, is part of the demise, while informal use of a space the landlord never let is not.

How the parties settled it

The landlord clears the garage by an agreed date and refunds the market cost of alternative parking for the period it was unavailable.

Related sections

CIV § 1940.2 Up to $2,000 penalty for landlord harassment – CIV §1940.2 CIV § 1954 California Civil Code § 1954 - When a landlord may enter, and how much notice is required CIV § 3479 Nuisance defined: harm to health or property | CIV § 3479

That's the law. Now let's settle your problem.

Say what is happening. A neutral mediator hears your side and the other party's, and walks you both to a written agreement. In the advanced settings you can ask for the decision to be reasoned on the California Codes.

This is with

Or open a session directly and invite the other party.

We copy this text from the official publisher and re-check it against that source on every page load, but we cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for any reliance on it. An amendment can take effect before a consolidation catches up. The publisher's own copy is linked below; where the two differ, it is the official one that counts.

This page reproduces the text of CIV § 1927 in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in California.

← All California law pages