The California Eviction Procedure – A Guide For Los Angeles Property Owners

The California eviction procedure concerns all property owners and tenants who must operate as the eviction legislation states. The most important thing a property owner must do before an eviction can be conducted is the serving of the eviction notice some period of time prior to the actual date of the eviction for you to permit the renter time to prepare.

This involves serving the tenant correctly so that the order remains effective legally in the event it goes to litigation. This order has to be performed by the landlord, and provide the reasons the action is being brought. Alternatively, emailing the order to the tenant is acknowledged as legal delivery.

The California Eviction Procedure

The following is the legally allowed California eviction procedure (at the time of writing) for renters who skip on payment of rent.

First, the renter is provided a 3 day ultimatum to repay all their rent or settle each of the reasons marked in the eviction notice. If settled adequately, the case ends. On the other hand if the tenant fails to reimburse the rent or remedy the matter regarding all allegations, they’re given summons and a complaints sheet.

For renters who fail to work on the summons, they’ll be served with court documents, the final solution for the landlord. Once served, the renter should be prepared to be present in court. There, the tenant might utilize several procedures as part of their defense. The summons and complaints are given five days to be addressed. Otherwise, the following steps will be taken:

Step One

In the event that the summons isn’t responded to, default ruling is granted and lasts five days. The renter will then be served with a notification from the sheriff within six to eight days of the default verdict. If this isn’t resolved, the sheriff has the power to dislodge the tenant.

Step Two

The next step in the California eviction procedure after the summons and procedures, a renter may give explanations for their actions, and then a jury will either set criteria to be completed, or throw out the complaints or even to quit the summons whereby a hearing is held where a renter could either get a reprieve or be evicted.

Property owners who lose their hearings have to reapply for a different trial date within a span of eight to thirteen days. A settlement date, also called a settlement conference, is held within a week. At the settlement conference, a resolution will be made awarding one of the parties as the winner.

If the California eviction procedure is won by the landlord, a period of one to five days will be given to the renter to vacate the premises, followed by the sheriff’s notice to the defaulting renter, which may take an additional 6-8 days. As soon as this period has lapsed, the tenant will be evicted by the Sheriff.

Whenever dealing with the California eviction procedure, a property owner needs to be extremely careful in doing so as they could find themselves being sued in response for violating the renter’s rights. In many instances, your best opportunity at a successful outcome is to retain the help of a qualified process server.

If you ‘d like to talk about your situation in person, please give our professional Los Angeles process servers a call at (866) 754-0520.