Wildfire, Insurance, and Your Ventura County Rental

Insuring a Rental Property

• A rental needs a landlord policy. A standard homeowners policy is written for an owner who lives in the home. Once it is rented, owners typically need a landlord or dwelling policy that fits a rental.
• The California FAIR Plan. When private coverage is hard to find, the FAIR Plan offers basic coverage for fire, lightning, internal explosion, and smoke, with no liability coverage. The Department of Insurance recommends pairing it with a difference in conditions policy to fill the gaps.
• Renters insurance. No California law prevents a lease from requiring renters insurance, and many owners do. Every lease signed since July 1, 2018 must tell the tenant in writing that the owner’s insurance does not cover the tenant’s belongings and that renters and flood insurance should be considered.

Defensible Space Is the Owner’s Job

In state responsibility areas and in locally designated very high fire hazard severity zones, anyone who owns, leases, or controls a structure must keep 100 feet of defensible space around it, up to the property line, with more intensive fuel reduction within 30 feet. The law also calls for a 5-foot ember-resistant zone next to the home, but the state’s detailed rules for that zone are still being phased in and are not yet in effect for existing homes.

Ventura County Fire runs an annual hazard reduction program in the areas it serves, mailing notices in the spring and inspecting from late May. The cities of Ventura, Oxnard, and Fillmore run their own fire departments and programs. A lease can assign routine yard care to a tenant, but the owner is the one who receives the notice and the bill if work is not done, so we treat clearance as an owner responsibility and schedule it before the deadline.

After a Fire or Disaster: New Rules for 2026

A new state law effective January 1, 2026 applies after a disaster declared by the President or the Governor:

• Cleanup. The owner must remove disaster debris and address smoke, ash, mold, asbestos, and water damage within a reasonable time, following government cleaning protocols and using licensed remediation firms where required. Debris is presumed to make a home untenantable until public health officials say otherwise.
• Return. The owner must tell the tenant in writing when remediation is complete, if the tenant has left a mailing or email address. The tenancy continues, and the tenant may return at the pre-disaster rent once the home is safe. The owner is not required to rebuild.
• Rent during evacuation. Rent is not owed while a mandatory evacuation order prevents occupancy. Rent already paid for that time must be refunded within 10 days after the order lifts, or the tenant may deduct it from the next month’s rent.
• If the home is destroyed. A lease ends when the home is destroyed, and a tenant may end it early if most of the home, or the part that mattered most to them, is destroyed, unless the tenant caused the loss. Advance rent for the time after the tenancy ends must be returned within 21 days, and the security deposit follows the usual return rules.

Rent increases are also limited after a declared emergency. See our emergency rent limits guide.

Related Guides

• Rent Limits After a Declared Emergency
• Repairs, Habitability, and Mold
• Rental Safety Requirements Checklist
• AB 12: Security Deposit Limits

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