A Landlord's Guide to Evictions in California

As a landlord, you have the right to protect your property and interests from damage and loss of financial gain. You do not have to tolerate lease breaking, disruptive, destructive, or non-paying tenants. However, there is a protocol which you must follow in order to legally remove the undesired tenants from your properties in the state of California.

You must file (and win) an unlawful detainer lawsuit. This is the legal term for the paperwork in filing the eviction with the court. If the tenant wants to file an answer to the lawsuit, they have five days in which to do so. A hearing will take place about twenty days from the initial filing, in which both parties, landlord and tenant, will have a chance to make their cases in front of the court. If the tenant wins, they do not have to vacate the premises. If the landlord wins, a writ of possession is ordered by the court. A writ of possession is the final vacate order from the court, enforceable only by the local sheriff or sheriff's office. Once the writ of possession is served to the tenant, the tenant has five days in which to vacate the premises. At the end of the five days, the writ of possession allows the sheriff or sheriff's representative to forcibly remove the occupants from the dwelling and take possession of the property. At no time during those five days is the landlord legally allowed to take possession of the unit or the unit's contents.

In the event that no answer is filed by the tenant, a default judgment may be granted to the landlord by the court which allows for the writ of possession to proceed unhindered. However, it is exceedingly difficult to get a default judgment granted in the case of the tenant being in the military or involved in bankruptcy proceedings. Both instances normally result in a stay of eviction being granted to the tenant and the landlord being forced to wait.

At no time are you, the landlord, legally able to take the eviction matters into your own hands by bullying the tenant into submission. This includes locking the tenant out of the unit, cutting off utilities to the unit, or taking possession of items belonging to the occupants. Failing to comply with these rules set forth by the state of California could result in criminal as well as civil charges being filed against you, in addition to fines of $100 per day during the time which these self-enforcement measures are being taken.

Knowing your rights and limitations as a landlord in the eviction process can save you much expense and trouble in the long run. For further information regarding the eviction process in the state of California, log on to the California Department of Consumer Affairs website located at www.dca.ca.gov .