Landlord-tenant law is actually a fairly technical area of law. In non-rent-controlled areas like Sonoma County, the law clearly and decidedly favors landlords. The law wants landlords to be able to regain possession of their property if a tenant isn't paying the rent or is otherwise abusing the agreement by which they are in possession. But the trade-off is that landlords are held to very specific requirements to obtain that eviction.
Specifically, eviction notices must follow specific rules, complaints must state facts in strict accordance with leases, court documents must be served properly, and so on. Here are a few notes on notices:
Specifically, eviction notices must follow specific rules, complaints must state facts in strict accordance with leases, court documents must be served properly, and so on. Here are a few notes on notices:
- 3-day, 30-day, 60-day notices. To evict a tenant for cause, a landlord must provide a three-day notice. The best cause is failure to pay rent ("Pay Rent or Quit" notice) but in general tenants can be evicted for violating most terms of the lease. In Sonoma County, if you're on a month-to-month lease (either by explicit arrangement, or because a term lease has expired) the landlord can evict you for no reason with 30 days notice (if you've lived there less than a year) or 60 days notice (more than a year).
- Option to cure First and foremost, the notice must give the tenant the option to cure the defect, if it is curable. Obviously, if a tenant is being evicted for failure to pay rent, payment of the back-due rent will "cure" the breach. If the problem isn't curable (tenant committed a crime on the premises), the landlord can simply order the tenant to vacate.
- Technical requirementsAccording to Code of Civil Procedure 1162, the notice has to give the name, address and phone number of the person to pay rent to, the days and hours rent can be paid if it's to be paid in person or the address if it's to be paid by mail.
- The rent demand. This is important. A "Pay Rent or Quit" notice can only demand the past rent due. It can't include late fees, interest, utilities, etc. It can only demand rent due. For this reason, the landlord must attach a copy of the lease to their complaint (which I'll discuss later) and the amount in the lease, complaint and notice need to be in agreement. If the landlord demands more than the proper rent, tenants will be able to demurrer to the complaint, dragging out the eviction process. For a tenant this can mean a chance to move out before an unlawful detainer action goes forward. For a landlord, it means that it will take another few weeks to get to a judgment against the tenant.
Can you tell me the eviction proceedings after purchasing a property at the Sonoma County tax sale (August 2010).Thank you, Barbara Pappas