The highly praised, step-by-step guide to evicting a problem tenant.

Sooner or later, every landlord is faced with handling an eviction. The California Landlord's Law Book: Evictions shows you how to proceed every step of the way.

Step by step and in plain English, this book explains the different legal grounds for eviction and provides all the forms and instructions necessary to:

prepare and serve 3-, 30-, 60- or 90-day notices

file an unlawful detainer complaint in court

win by default if the tenant doesn't respond

handle a contested case

represent yourself in court

deal with eviction-delaying tactics

collect the unpaid rent after you win

Still the only step-by-step guide through the California eviction process, this edition reflects current law and provides the latest information, forms and instructions you need.

The forms from the CD-Rom, are available under the Appendix 3 of this EBOOK.
*The CD-ROM is not included with the digital version of this book.

Evictions in California: An Overview

Sometimes even the most sincere and professional attempts at conscientious landlording fail, and you have to consider evicting a tenant. This is a do-it-yourself eviction manual for California landlords. It shows you, step by step, how to file and conduct an uncontested eviction lawsuit against a residential tenant. It does not cover how to evict a hotel guest, a tenant in a mobile home park, or a commercial tenant. Neither does it show a new owner, who has just purchased property at a foreclosure sale, how to evict a former owner (or his tenant).

A. The Landlord's Role in Evictions
Strictly speaking, the word "evict" refers to the process of a sheriff or marshal ordering a tenant to get out or be forcibly removed. It is illegal for you to try to physically evict a tenant yourself. The sheriff or marshal will only evict a tenant pursuant to a court order known as an "unlawful detainer judgment." To get such a judgment, you must bring an eviction lawsuit, called an "unlawful detainer action," against the tenant.

The linchpin of an unlawful detainer suit is proper termination of the tenancy; you can't get a judgment without it. This usually means giving your tenant adequate written notice, in a specified way. The law sets out very detailed requirements for landlords who want to end a tenancy. If you don't meet them exactly, you will lose your suit even if your tenant has bounced checks, including your rent check, from here to Mandalay.

This legal strictness is not accidental; it reflects the law's bias in favor of tenants. The law used to be heavily weighted on the landowner's side, but attitudes have changed, and today the law puts more value on a tenant's right to shelter than a landlord's right to property. As one court put it, "Our courts were never intended to serve as rubber stamps for landlords seeking to evict their tenants, but rather to see that justice be done before a man is evicted from his home." (Maldanado v. Superior Court (1984) 162 Cal. App. 3d 1259, 1268-69.)

Because an eviction judgment means the tenant won't have a roof over his head (and his children's heads), judges are very demanding of the landlord. In addition, many California cities go beyond state law, which allows the termination of periodic tenancies at the will of the landlord, and require the landlord to show a "just cause" for eviction. In these cities, nonpayment of rent is still a straightforward ground for eviction, but there are few others.

Why do we emphasize the negatives of evicting a tenant? Because we want you to understand at the outset that even if you properly bring and conduct an unlawful detainer action, you are not assured of winning and having the tenant evicted if the tenant decides to file a defense. In other words, despite the merits of your position, you may face a judge who will hold you to every technicality and bend over backwards to sustain the tenant's position. A tenant can raise many substantive, as well as procedural, objections to an unlawful detainer suit. Essentially, any breach by you of any duty imposed on landlords by state or local law can be used by your tenant as a defense to your action. Simply put, unless you thoroughly know your legal rights and duties as a landlord before you go to court, and unless you dot every "i" and cross every "t," you may end up on the losing side. Our advice: Especially if your action is contested, be meticulous in your preparation.

 

The highly praised, step-by-step guide to evicting a problem tenant.

1. Evictions in California: An Overview
A. The Landlord's Role in Evictions
B. Proceed With Caution When Evicting a Tenant
C. When Not to Use This Book
D. A Reason for Which You Must Evict: Drug Dealing
E. Evictions in Rent Control Cities
F. Evicting Roommates
G. Evicting a Resident Manager
H. Atorneys and Eviction Services
I. How to Use This Book

2. Eviction for Nonpayment of Rent
A. Overview of the Process
B. Preparing the Three-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit
C. Serving the Three-Day Notice on the Tenant
D. After the Three-Day Notice Is Served
E. When to File Your Lawsuit

3. Eviction by 30-Day or 60-Day Notice
A. Overview of the Process
B. When a Tenancy May Be Terminated With a 30-Day or 60-Day Notice
C. Impermissible Reasons to Evict
D. 30-Day, 60-Day and 90-Day Notices
E. Rent Control Ordinances
F. Should You Use a Three-Day, 30-Day or 60-Day Notice?
G. Preparing the 30-Day or 60-Day Notice
H. Serving the Notice
I. When to File Your Lawsuit

4. Eviction for Lease Violations, Property Damage, or Nuisance
A. When to Use This Chapter
B. The Two Types of Three-Day Notices
C. Using the Three-Day Notice to Perform Covenant or Quit
D. Using and Preparing an Unconditional Three-Day Notice to Quit
E. Serving the Three-Day Notice (Either Type)
F. Accepting Rent After the Notice Is Served
G. When to File Your Lawsuit

5. Eviction Without a Three-Day or Other Termination Notice
A. Lease Expiration
B. Termination by the Tenant
C. Checklist for Uncontested "No-Notice" Eviction

6. Filing and Serving Your Unlawful Detainer Complaint
A. How to Use This Chapter
B. When to File Your Unlawful Detainer Complaint
C. Where to File Suit
D. Preparing the Summons
E. Preparing the Unlawful Detainer Complaint
F. Preparing the Civil Case Cover Sheet
G. Getting the Complaint and Summons Ready to File
H. Filing Your Complaint and Getting Summonses Issued
I. Serving the Papers on the Defendant
J. What Next?

7. Taking a Default Judgment

B. The Two-Step Default Judgment Process
C. Getting a Default Judgment for Possession
D. Having the Marshal or Sheriff Evict
E. Getting a Money Judgment for Rent and Costs

8. Contested Cases
A. What Is Involved in a Contested Eviction Case
B. Should You Hire an Attorney?
C. How to Settle a Case
D. The Tenant's Written Response to an Unlawful Detainer Complaint
E. Responding to the Answer
F. Other Pretrial Complications
G. Preparing for Trial
H. The Trial
I. The Writ of Execution and Having the Sheriff or Marshal Evict
J. Appeals
K. Tenant's Possible "Relief From Forfeiture"

9. Collecting Your Money Judgment
A. Collection Strategy
B. Using the Tenant's Security Deposit
C. Finding the Tenant
D. Locating the Tenant's Assets
E. Garnishing Wages and Bank Accounts
F. Seizing Other Property
G. If the Debtor Files a Claim of Exemption
H. Once the Judgment Is Paid Off

10. When a Tenant Files for Bankruptcy
A. When a Tenant Can File for Bankruptcy
B. Making a Motion for Relief From Stay in Bankruptcy Court

Appendix 1: Rent Control Chart

Appendix 2: How to Use the CD-ROM

Appendix 3: Tear-Out Forms under APPENDIX 3

*The CD-ROM is not included with the digital version of this book.

"An up-to-date book such as this is as necessary as a rent receipt book or a good repair person."

 

"Attorney David Brown discusses virtually every possible situation which might lead to an eviction. I especially liked all the blank forms and checklists."

 

"Recommended by the state Department of Consumer Affairs."

 

David Brown practices law in the Monterey, California area, where he has represented both landlords and tenants in hundreds of court cases -- most of which he felt could have been avoided if both sides were more fully informed about landlord/tenant law. Brown, a graduate of Stanford University (chemistry) and the University of Santa Clara Law School, also teaches law at the Monterey College of Law and is the author of Fight Your Ticket (CA version), Beat Your Ticket (the national version), The Landlord’s Law Book, Vol. 1: Rights and Responsibilities; The Landlord’s Law Book, Vol. 2: Evictions and co-author of How to Change Your Name in California and The Guardianship Book for California.

 

California Landlord's Law Book, The: Evictions by David Brown
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