California Eviction Process for Landlords

In California, you evict a tenant by serving a written notice and then filing an unlawful detainer lawsuit, the state's fast-track eviction case, in the superior court for the county where the unit is. For unpaid rent or a fixable lease violation, the notice gives the tenant 3 days to pay or comply, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, or court holidays. If the Tenant Protection Act covers the unit and the tenants meet its occupancy requirements below, you also need a just cause stated in the notice, and no-fault causes require relocation help equal to one month's rent. After you win, only the sheriff can remove the tenant, and only after a 5-day notice to vacate.

Does the just cause rule apply to your rental?

Civil Code section 1946.2, part of the Tenant Protection Act, generally bars ending a tenancy without just cause once a tenant has continuously and lawfully occupied the unit for 12 months. If another adult is added to the lease before an existing tenant reaches 24 months, this protection begins when every tenant has occupied the unit for 12 months or any tenant reaches 24 months. The main exemptions a small landlord might fit:

• The building got its certificate of occupancy within the last 15 years.
• You live in one unit of a duplex and have since the tenancy began.
• You rent rooms in your own home and the tenant shares a kitchen or bathroom with you.
• The unit is a single-family home or condo owned by individuals (not a REIT, a corporation, or an LLC with a corporate member), and the lease contains the exemption notice in the statute's exact words. Without that notice, the exemption is lost.

Cities with their own just cause ordinances can replace or add to these rules, covered at the end of this article.

Which causes count

At-fault causes include nonpayment of rent, a material lease breach, nuisance, waste, criminal activity on the property, refusing to sign a renewal on similar terms, unauthorized subletting, refusing lawful entry, and unlawful use. For a violation the tenant can fix, you must first serve a notice to cure. Only if the tenant does not fix it can you move to a 3-day notice to quit.

No-fault causes are limited to four:

1. You, your spouse or domestic partner, child, grandchild, parent, or grandparent will live in the unit as a primary residence for at least 12 continuous months. The notice must name the person, and they must move in within 90 days after the tenant leaves. For leases entered into on or after July 1, 2020, the lease must authorize this termination or the tenant must agree to it in writing. You cannot use this cause if the intended occupant already occupies a rental unit on the property or a similar unit is vacant there.
2. You are withdrawing the unit from the rental market.
3. A government order or local ordinance requires the unit to be vacated.
4. You will demolish or substantially remodel. The work must need a permit (or hazardous material abatement) and require the tenant to leave for at least 30 consecutive days. Cosmetic work does not qualify. The termination notice must state the demolition or remodel plan, describe the work and its expected duration (or expected demolition date), and include copies of required permits. For hazardous material abatement requiring no permit, attach a signed contractor agreement detailing the work instead. Use section 1946.2's required wording about offering the unit back at the prior rent and lease terms if the work is not started or completed, including the tenant's 30-day response and reoccupancy deadlines. Also tell tenants interested in returning after the remodel to notify you and provide their address, phone number, and email.

For a no-fault termination, you must either pay the tenant one month's rent within 15 calendar days of serving the notice, or waive the final month's rent in writing before it is due. The notice must tell the tenant about this right. Missing any part of the relocation rule voids the notice. If the relative never moves in or leaves within 12 months, you must offer the unit back at the prior rent and terms and pay the tenant's reasonable moving costs beyond any relocation money already paid.

An owner who tries to recover a unit in material violation of section 1946.2 can owe actual damages and attorney's fees, and up to three times damages for willful violations. Our California rent increase rules cover the same law's cap on increases.

Which notice do you serve?

The 3-day notice to pay rent or quit must state the amount due and the name, phone number, and address of the person to pay. It must also say how to pay: the days and hours that person accepts payment in person, or a bank account at an institution within 5 miles of the unit, or an electronic transfer method you already set up with the tenant. You must serve it within one year after the rent became due.

Pay-or-quit and perform-or-quit notices exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and court holidays. An unconditional 3-day notice to quit counts calendar days starting the day after service; if the deadline falls on a weekend or court holiday, it extends to the next business day.

Pay-or-quit counting example: if you hand the notice to the tenant on Wednesday, December 2, 2026, day 1 is Thursday, December 3, day 2 is Friday, December 4, and day 3 is Monday, December 7. You can file on Tuesday, December 8 if the tenant has not paid or moved.

Serve the notice by handing it to the tenant. If the tenant is not at home or work, you can leave it with a person of suitable age at either place and mail a copy to the home. If neither works, post it in a visible place on the property, give a copy to a resident if one is there, and mail a copy to the property address. Our guide to ending a month-to-month rental agreement covers the longer notices.

How does the unlawful detainer case run?

1. File the complaint and summons in superior court after the notice period ends.
2. Have the tenant served with the summons and complaint.
3. Wait for the response. Under CCP section 1167, the tenant has 10 court days to respond, excluding weekends and judicial holidays. For personal service, count from the day after the tenant is handed the papers. For substituted service (leaving the papers with another qualifying person and mailing a copy) or court-authorized posting and mailing, service is complete 10 calendar days after mailing; the 10 court days follow that period.
4. No response: only after the full response deadline for that tenant has passed, ask the court for a default judgment.
5. Tenant responds: ask the court to set a trial. Section 1170.5 requires trial within 20 days of that request.
6. Judgment: if the judge rules for you, you receive a judgment for possession.

Tenants often defend nonpayment cases by pointing to repair problems; see California maintenance and repair obligations for what you must keep in working order.

How does the lockout happen?

After judgment, fill out the writ form, have the court clerk issue it, and take it to the sheriff's office in that county. Call the sheriff first to learn its requirements. The sheriff serves or posts a Notice to Vacate giving the tenant 5 days to leave. If the tenant stays past that date, the sheriff returns, removes the occupants, and puts you in possession.

The tenant can still ask the court for a stay of execution (more time to move), to set aside the judgment, or appeal. Belongings left behind have their own storage and notice rules; see handling property abandoned by a tenant.

Self-help evictions

Civil Code section 789.3 bars a landlord, acting to end a tenancy, from interrupting any utility, changing locks or using a bootlock, removing outside doors or windows, or removing the tenant's belongings without written consent. The tenant can recover actual damages plus up to $100 for each day of the violation, with a minimum award of $250 for each separate violation, and the winning side recovers attorney's fees.

How do city just cause ordinances change this?

The state rule is a floor. Section 1946.2 does not apply where a qualifying local just cause ordinance covers the unit, and those ordinances can be stricter. Los Angeles is an example of how much a city can add:

• Its Just Cause Ordinance covers most units not under the city's rent stabilization law once the tenant has lived there 6 months or the original lease expires, whichever comes first, including single-family homes.
• Since March 27, 2023, you cannot evict for nonpayment in a covered unit unless the tenant owes more than one month of Fair Market Rent for that unit size.
• Every eviction notice must be filed with the Los Angeles Housing Department within 3 business days of serving it.
• No-fault evictions require city relocation payments, and a Notice of Right to Counsel must go out with each eviction notice.

Before serving any notice, check your city's rent or housing department. When the tenant leaves, the deposit return rules in California security deposit laws apply, and the steps for eviction proceedings compares the process across states.