30-DAY NOTICES
In month-to-month rental agreements tenants must give a 30-Day Notice of their intention to vacate the unit, unless there is another agreed upon amount of time in which notice can be given. This notice must be in writing to be legally valid.
NOTICE TO VACATE
For tenants who have are not late in rent or in violation of their lease, a landlord must give a tenant a written 30-Day Notice to Terminate Tenancy and vacate the unit. A housing provider has no legal obligation to state a reason for the termination of tenancy. Terminations of tenancy that are deemed to be discriminatory or retaliatory in nature for a tenant having exercised his or her tenant’s rights are illegal.
Housing providers must serve the notice in one of three ways:
Improperly served notices can invalidate the notice and could cause a housing provider to lose the unlawful detainer lawsuit.
A housing provider who accepts the next month’s rent after the 30-Day Notice to Terminate Tenancy has expired invalidates the notice.
3-DAY NOTICE FOR FAILURE TO PAY RENT
Housing providers may serve a 3-Day Notice to Pay or Quit to tenants who fail to pay rent on the due date. This means that the tenant must pay the rent in full within 3 days (unless the third day falls on a weekend or legal holiday, in which case the rent must be paid in full by the next business day) or give up occupancy of the unit. The 3-Day Notice to Pay or Quit may be served the first day after rent was due, even if there is a grace period clause in the rental contract. The landlord must accept the rent stated in the notice, if it is offered by the tenant within three days after it was served (not counting the day it was served). Any attempt by the landlord to evict the tenant for failure to pay rent will fail if the tenant can prove they unconditionally offered to pay rent within the required period.
3-DAY NOTICE FOR LEASE VIOLATION
A housing provider can terminate a tenancy due to lease violation by serving a tenant a 3-Day Notice to Perform Covenant or Quit or a 3-Day Notice to Quit.
A 3-Day Notice to Perform Covenant or Quit can be issued to a tenant who is violating lease provisions that can be remedied. The tenant has three days in which to come into compliance with lease provisions or give up occupancy of the unit. For example, a tenant who has a pet in violation of a no-pet policy would have three days to come in to compliance with the no-pet policy by getting rid of the pet.
A 3-Day Notice to Quit can be given when there isn’t the option to remedy the lease violation. The tenant has three days in which to move from the unit. This type of notice can be used in only certain situations: when the tenant has violated the rental agreement by subletting; when the tenant is creating a nuisance by interfering with other tenants rights to live normally in their homes; when a tenant has caused severe damage to the premises; or if the tenant uses the property for illegal activity, such as for prostitution or drug dealing.
A housing provider can begin the eviction process in the event that the tenant does not move out after receiving proper notice. The eviction process begins with filing an Unlawful Detainer lawsuit in a court of limited jurisdiction, formerly known as municipal court. A landlord cannot legally evict the tenant without going through the Unlawful Detainer process.
UNLAWFUL DETAINER
After filing an Unlawful Detainer lawsuit, the tenant must be served with the copy of the Summons and Complaint for Unlawful Detainer. The tenant has five days to file a written Answer. The court clerk will set up a court date to hear the trial. Normally, a judge will hear and decide the case within 20 days after the tenant files an Answer. If a tenant fails to file a response to the Unlawful Detainer, a Default Judgment can be issued for the housing provider, and the tenant will be forced to move much sooner.
The official Judicial Council court forms for Unlawful Detainer Actions, (Summons and Complaint, and Answer) can be downloaded from California Courts Self-Help Center: Landlord/Tenant Page.
Housing providers must follow the legal process to evict tenants. Housing providers cannot use self-help eviction measures such as changing the locks on the door or cutting off utilities to force the tenant to move. Housing providers who use unlawful methods to evict tenants may be liable for tenant's damages, as well as penalties of up to $100 per day from the time the unlawful methods were used.
TRIAL
At the trial, a judge listens to evidence from both the tenant and the housing provider and enters a decision. If the judgment is for the tenant, the tenant may stay in the unit. If the judgment is for the housing provider a Writ of Possession is issued.
Judgments for the tenant are generally ones in which the tenant can prove the eviction was retaliatory or discriminatory in nature or in which notices from the housing provider were improperly written or served, or demand too much money. The tenant may also win if they can prove there were serious habitability defects that the landlord knew about but didn’t fix. In that case the judge would order the landlord to make the necessary repairs and, as a condition of staying in the unit, the tenant may be ordered to pay a “fair rental value” (usually a reduced rent for the unit when it was in a substandard condition) within two or three days. If the tenant pays this amount on time, the tenant will win. However, if the tenant fails to pay this amount on time, the landlord automatically wins and the tenant will be evicted. Having that rent money available immediately in case a tenant wins is an important reason why a tenant who chooses to withhold rent should place the rent money in a trust account pending repairs of substandard conditions. If a tenant is not able to demonstrate one of these defenses, the judgment is generally in favor of the housing provider.
WRIT OF POSSESSION
A housing provider obtains the Writ of Possession through either a Default Judgment (tenant files no answer to the unlawful detainer) or a judgment in favor of the housing provider. After posting the Writ of Possession the tenant has at least five days to voluntarily leave the unit. If the tenant does not leave voluntarily, the Writ of Possession gives the housing provider the right to have the sheriff physically remove and lock out the tenant. The tenant has 18 days to reclaim any belongings left behind at the rental unit upon payment of “reasonable storage fees” to the housing provider. The housing provider may not take possession of the rental until after the sheriff has removed the tenant.
NOTE: Credit reporting agencies search court records for filings of Unlawful Detainer eviction lawsuits. These may be added to a tenant’s credit record. This could make applying for housing from another landlord difficult, particularly in Sonoma County’s tight housing market! If, however, the tenant wins the eviction lawsuit, or if the tenant and landlord reach a settlement agreement, it is unlawful for another potential landlord to refuse to rent to the tenant because of that Unlawful Detainer lawsuit (California Civil Code, Sections 1786.18; 1786.50).
The chapter of the California Department of Consumer Affairs' publication, California Tenants, provides a complete description of Unlawful Detainer lawsuits. "The Eviction Process (Unlawful Detainer Lawsuits)," can be downloaded from the California Department of Consumer Affairs' web site.
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