Found an issue on this page? Let us know and we will look into it as soon as possible.
Tenant refuses to leave property
Anonymous7 views3 answers
Tenant was 30 - 40 days late in rent for 5 months in a row while on a month-to-month lease. I issued Lease Termination on Sep 15 giving 60 days notice. Also asked tenant to get caught up with Aug & Sep payments and 5 months late fees by Sept 16th else I will issue an eviction notice using the legal process. Tenant paid partial amount on Oct 6 minus late fees and no Oct rent. Oct 30th I asked tenant to leave the property with a written notice for failure to pay Oct rent & 15 day prorated Nov rent. Filed for an eviction on Nov 1. Tenant paid Oct rent on Nov 5 still with no 6 months late fees then answered the eviction notice. It is Dec 3rd tenant has not paid Nov rent and got a continuance and wont leave. Tenant says she has 60 days since Oct 30th to leave. Help!!!
When the tenant has failed to pay the rent, whether in a long term lease or a month to month lease, the LL is not required to give 60 days notice. When the rent is not paid, the code is silent to the duration of the required notice, but commonly people give 3 days for the tenant to pay up, or to quit the premises. On the 4th day you can file the eviction case if they haven't paid up in full. Only when the tenant is paying the rent as a tenant at will and the LL wants them out is the 60 day notice required. Is the new court date set yet? A second continuance is not likely. There are a lot of professional deadbeat tenants out there that know how to work the system. If you have one of them on your hands you should consider retaining a LL-T attorney to represent you.
Andrew Phillip GreenfieldCar / Auto Accident LawyerSan Diego, CA ·
When you issued a 60 day notice on September 15, this gives you the right to file an eviction proceeding on November 15, but not before. If the tenant hasn't paid rent, however, you can issue a 3 day notice to pay rent or quit. If the tenant doesn't pay the rent by that time, then you can file the eviction lawsuit the next day. It's a little confusing from your chronology, but from what I understand you say you issued a "written notice for failure to pay rent on October 30". Was this a 3 day notice to pay rent or quit? If so, you didn't wait long enough to file since you state that you filed for an eviction on November 1. It also sounds like you accepted the rent on November 5. Eviction proceedings aren't "rocket science" but they require strict adherence to procedural requirements. From the sound of it, you didn't follow them. You didn't wait until November 15 for the 60 days to expire and it doesn't sound like you issued a proper 3 day notice to pay rent or quit (and even if you did, you didn't wait long enough to file a lawsuit because you filed November 1 which is only 2 days after October 30). Tenants don't have many defenses and typically only win because the landlord doesn't follow the procedural requirements. I would strongly urge you to contact a local attorney who specializes in landlord/tenant law, have him/her handle this and pay close attention to what the lawyer does (ask lots of questions). You'll learn how to do this so you can do it properly without an attorney in the future. If you don't do this, you're being "penny wise and pound foolish."
I agree with the previous great answers. I would add do not take advice from your tenant. Hire a local lawyer who handles evictions regularly. The can be confusing and one missed step and you can be back to square one.
Good Luck
