California - Close to Evicting a Tenant. Steps?

Question

BP,

Asking for another individual.

A tenant has leased the unit for the last two years. Their contract is about to expire at the end of the month (March), and the landlord does not want to renew the lease contract. Given that it's California, what are the laws/rules as it relates to having them relocate within the allotted timeframe, however long that may be?

A realtor noted that in California, the inhabitants have one month of "buffer" for each year they've lived on the premises. So, does this mean that the landlord just needs to provide a letter to the individual that states that:

1) They will not be renewing/extending the lease,
2) By law, they have 60 days' grace period to find another living situation (same lease amount per expired contract)
3) If they have not vacated the premises after the 60-day period, then legal action may be taken?

Links/leads to any resources that will assist me in answering the questions above would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Kyle J. · Answer

@Jonathan Ko You don’t mention anything about the specific rental “unit” (house, apartment, etc), so no one will be able to answer your question exactly. However, what I can tell you is that what the Realtor stated is not how it works.

There’s a new law (AB1482) in California and if a property is covered by the law (most multi-family properties over 15 years old are covered), and the tenant has lived in the property for over 12 months, then you can’t just kick them out without cause.

There are a few exceptions, and other types of properties that are completely exempt from this new law though. There just wasn’t enough info in your post to know if any of those might apply.

Here’s a couple links where you can read more about this new law:

https://a17.asmdc.org/issue/ab-1482-frequently-asked-questions

https://cal-rha.org/legislative/ab-1482/

Kyle J. · Answer

Since it's a duplex, unless it was built in the last 15 years or the property owner lives in the other half of the duplex (and has since before these other tenants moved in), the new law I mentioned and provided links to would apply.

Prior to this new law, you would have just been able to give the tenants a notice to terminate tenancy after their lease expired and that would have been it.  Now, that's all changed.  So you (or the individual you're getting the info for) will need to fully understand this new law and the "just cause" provisions of it.

Just so you know, there are still provisions in the law that allow for "no fault" removal of the tenants (i.e. intent by owner or owner-relative to occupy the unit, withdrawal of the rental property from the rental market, etc).  However, they're very limited in scope and it's way too complex of a topic for this post, so I'm not going to try to explain it here.  You should should consult a landlord-tenant attorney (and not the Realtor you initially got info from) if you're interested in pursuing any of those.

Brian Garlington · Answer

No disrespect but if most of your units had Section8 tenants in them you probably would not be as worried about being able to pay that mortgage note. I know section 8 is not glamorous but the rental income is guaranteed and know politician .... Republican or Democrat wants to be known as the person that shut down an affordable housing program on their watch.

Something to think about.

Account Closed · Answer

You don't need an attorney.  You just need to take the time to read the law, which someone linked to above.  And the realtor also needs to crack a book on landlord-tenant law before giving crazy advice.  Heck, lawyers don't often bother to take the time to keep up on the laws.  There are lots of lazy lawyers out there.  If you end up in small claims court, just show the judge and the tenant the law you read:

(2) This subdivision shall not apply to a lessor who is a natural person and who leases four or fewer single-family residences.

Here's the link again: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1481

If your friend doesn't own more than 4 rental units, they can give 30 days notice if they've lived there less than 12 months, 60 days if more than 12 months, and you don't need to pay them a relocation fee.  There's no definition of "single family residence," so it would be reasonable to assume they meant rental units, which could mean apartments, and not single family homes.

The new law says you can kick people out without cause, but unless you have one of the exemptions, you have to pay them a relocation fee up to 3x monthly rent, depending.  If you're a landlord with 5+ units, you might have to pay them a relocation fee, but you can still kick them out.

And the thing is, what's the worst that can happen if you do something wrong unintentionally?  The tenant takes you to small claims court (not very likely), and you ask the judge to figure it out, and it will probably be cheaper than if you paid a lawyer to figure it out.  Most tenants aren't going to pay a lawyer to take you to civil court, they're going to take you to small claims court, and it's really rare for tenant to even do that.  You'd have to do something pretty bad for most tenants to bother.

Tenants don't understand the new laws, either.  So, if your tenant wants to sue you, let them figure out the law and show you what it's supposed to be.

But, this law won't apply to or hurt smaller time landlords in any giant way.

Lawrence Leung · Answer

@Jonathan Ko  Bottom line is your "individual" needs to consult an attorney. @Kyle J. points out some very relevant information related to the Tenant Protection Act aka TPA (AB1482). But no one here is a lawyer and should not be giving legal advice.  Based on my experience, regardless of the length of the tenancy, as long as the lease term has not yet ended (i.e. transitioned to a m-t-m tenancy), the lessor has every right to not renew the lease. A lawyer can give the "individual" proper guidance on what communication he/she would need to provide to the lessee of their desire is not to renew the lease such that the "individual" does not open themselves to a wrongful eviction suit.

Kyle J. · Answer

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter if they're month-to-month anymore for long term tenants like the OP is asking about.  If they've been in there over 12 months (which they have in this case), this new law applies.  Cities (like Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc) can have their own rent control ordinances that provide more restrictions, but there cannot be cities that provide less protections than this new statewide law.

David Avetisyan · Answer

It depends on where your property is located in CA. In some jurisdictions, when a lease expires, your tenant becomes M2M by default - CA is a tenant friendly state.

As a matter of fact, if you ask a tenant to leave without an unlawful detainer - assuming one is legally warranted - they are entitled to a relocation fee.

https://hcidla.lacity.org/syst...

To your success!

Mary M. · Answer

Best to contact an attorney as things are changing rapidly

Jonathan Ko · Answer

Thanks for the links, Kyle. The property is a duplex.

Thanks, Erik. The lease already expired/ended, and the inhabitants want to renew/extend, but the landlord does not want to. I believe it's within the landlord's right to refuse as the contract is no longer valid; they are not terminating it prematurely.

Erik Grahn · Answer

From my understanding you can’t end a lease unless they want to leave. There are some ways to do it thoughhttps://leginfo.legislature.ca...

California - Close to Evicting a Tenant. Steps?

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