California, like most states, has strict ordinances when it comes to tenant-landlord disputes. One of the most common cases that is filed in a superior court of California is the “unlawful detainer lawsuit”. This type of lawsuit is the commencement of eviction proceedings. In an eviction lawsuit, the tenant is the “defendant” and the landlord is the “plaintiff.
Why Landlords Evict their Tenants:
There are several reasons why a tenant will find himself being evicted from an apartment unit or rental home, the most common one is non-payment of rent. A one time late payment or even several late payments does not always lead to evictions, but circumstances that may arise from them. For example, if the tenant fails to comply with the agreement in order to make his obligations and pay what is owed. Most landlords are more than willing to work with the tenants and negotiate some type of payment plan rather than go through the eviction process. This happens more commonly in situations whereby the tenants are experiencing financial hardships. It will serve both parties’ best interests if they try to amicably enter into an agreement of repayment or payment plan that would be good for both. Most landlords try to exhaust every possible effort they can do in order to work with the tenants, but if the tenant continues to fail and not meet the agreed upon arrangements, then the landlord has no other choice but to start the eviction proceedings.
For non-payment of rents, if the landlord has given a 3-day notice to pay-up or move, and the tenant fails to pay-up, the landlord can file the unlawful detainer lawsuit. Another reason to do this is a 30-day notice has been given to vacate the premise to a tenant with month-to-month tenancy, 60-day notice to terminate a lease for tenants with a year or more tenancy, a 90-day notice of termination to tenants in Section 8, but in any of these cases the tenant fails to comply. Read more details HERE
Reasons to give a 3-day notice: failure to pay rent, violation of lease agreement provisions, property damaged, committed nuisance or interfered and harassed other tenants, used the property for unlawful activities such as selling drugs.
As someone with personal experience on this one, I know how time consuming it is for a landlord to go through this process. Luckily, for me the tenant paid off the past due obligations in time before I even filed the unlawful detainer lawsuit. This saved my husband and I a lot of headaches in having to deal with scheduling meeting with lawyers, showing up in court, and the expense involved.
Eviction Process:
1) Complaints are filed and summons are sent to the tenants. If the tenant fails to respond within 1 to 5 days then a default in judgment in favor of the landlord will be given. The tenant will then receive a sheriff’s notice and will be given 6 to 8 days to comply. If after 8 days the tenant has not left the property, then the sheriff eviction will be performed.
2) If the tenant answered the summons within 5 days then a Jury Demand will be requested. A memorandum set to trial will be sent to both parties within 8 to 13 days. A trial will be set after 1 to 4 days in front of a jury. If the plaintiff (landlord) wins, a sheriff’s notice will be sent to the defendant (tenant) within 1 to 5 days, the tenant has 6 to 8 days to vacate, otherwise, a sheriff eviction will be enforced. However, should the defendant (tenant) wins, then tenant stays in possession of the rental unit or home, will pay all back rents or any amount determined by the jury within 5 days after the trial, recovers cost of suite, recovers attorney’s fees (if covered in rental agreement).
3) If after receipt of summons the tenant files a motion to strike (known as demurrer), then within 5 days a hearing will be set. If the landlord loses, he must start all over again. If landlord wins, then the case will go to trial as in #2.
4) If after receipt of summons the tenant files a motion to quash service of summons, then it will proceed as in #3, with results similar to #3.
