BYO-fridge? New bill aims to ban LA’s refrigerator-less apartments

The days of hunting for an apartment in Los Angeles and finding that many come without a refrigerator could soon come to an end.

A new bill in the California Legislature aims to require landlords to provide stoves and fridges in rental housing.

Fridge-less apartments have long been a weird quirk of renting in Southern California. Current state law does not require units to include a refrigerator, and the expectation that renters will pay for their own fridge has taken root in L.A.’s housing market.

According to a 2022 Los Angeles Times story that investigated this issue, L.A. and Orange Counties have the fewest number of units with refrigerators among large urban areas across the country.

Bring your own

Missing fridges are a frequent source of confusion among L.A. apartment hunters. Social media is full of posts and videos from baffled renters, especially those moving here from other parts of the country where refrigerators are standard (and legally required).

“You just assume when you are a tenant that you're going to have these basic appliances,” said Sarah Fraser, a podcast host who moved to L.A. from Washington, D.C., three years ago.

Fraser said while touring apartments with her husband and infant son, she found that about half of the units came without a fridge.

“I had no idea that it was a thing,” she said. “The first thing we noticed was just the lack of refrigerators… You would walk into the unit and they were like, ‘Yeah, you're responsible to get a refrigerator and then remove it when you leave.’ We were like, what?”

Should high move-in costs guarantee a fridge and stove?

State Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, a Democrat representing Inglewood, recently introduced Assembly Bill 628. If passed, the legislation would require California landlords to provide stoves and refrigerators for all apartment leases after Jan. 1, 2026.

In an interview with LAist, McKinnor said apartments in her district often require monthly rents between $3,000 and $4,000, plus an equivalent security deposit.

“When we're paying $6,000 to $8,000 to move in to rent an apartment, the landlords can provide the necessity of a stove and refrigerator,” she said. “I think it's fair.”

Certain types of housing would be exempt

The bill has already incorporated some changes to its original language.

Debra Carlton, executive vice president of state government affairs for the California Apartment Association, said landlord advocates pushed McKinnor’s office to strike one clause that would have required appliances to have been purchased within the last 10 years.

“That would have required owners to throw out and replace perfectly good refrigerators and stoves,” Carlton said. “Environmentally, that was not acceptable.”

The bill now has no age limit on appliances. Instead, it specifies stoves and fridges must be in good working order and “capable of safely generating heat for cooking purposes and capable of safely storing food, respectively.”

Carlton said the apartment association also advocated for new amendments in the bill that would exempt single-room occupancy units, assisted living facilities, permanent supportive housing apartments and other properties that have communal kitchens.

With food costs rising, tenant groups say fridges are essential

For more typical L.A. apartments, renter advocates argue it’s unfair for landlords to make tenants buy and maintain basic kitchen appliances — or go without them entirely.

“It's become prohibitive for many people, families and seniors on fixed incomes to eat out at restaurants,” said Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival.

“These appliances are not amenities,” he said. “They're a necessary part of a home. Without them, it places additional financial strain on renters.”

Many L.A. landlords already choose to provide stoves and refrigerators, even though they’re not required. From her point of view in Sacramento, Carlton said she found it odd that L.A. landlords would not offer a fridge.

“Honestly, I'd never heard about it until the author claimed that she had people carting around refrigerators,” Carlton said. “The fact that a tenant would have to bring in a heavy refrigerator, up and down the corridors, you potentially would create challenges with damage to the walls.”

For some tenants, a fridge is non-negotiable

Apartments that lack a refrigerator are certainly a turn-off for many prospective tenants.

After checking out a number of apartments with empty voids where a fridge would normally be, Fraser said her family decided to rent an apartment in Culver City that included a refrigerator.

“Toward the end of our search, we specifically only looked for buildings where they said there was a refrigerator in the unit,” she said.