A three-day notice that overstates the rent by even a dollar. A rent payment an online portal accepted automatically after that notice was served. A local ordinance requirement the notice left out.
Meet the speakers
Executive Vice President of Legal Affairs, CAA
Compliance and Legislative Counsel, CAA
Any one of them can send a California eviction case back to the start — and back through a court process that often runs four to five months even when nothing goes wrong.
That was among the warnings from a California Apartment Association webinar this week on unlawful detainer actions, the state’s court process for recovering possession of rental housing after a tenancy ends.
Whitney Prout, CAA executive vice president of legal affairs, and Monica Deka, CAA compliance and legislative counsel, presented the Aug. 26 session, Why Is My Eviction Taking So Long? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Unlawful Detainers. The approximately one-hour program is now available on demand.
The presenters began with an expectation reset: An unlawful detainer is a formal civil lawsuit, not a rubber stamp. The landlord must prove each element of the case, and technical mistakes can force a housing provider to correct the problem and begin again.
“An eviction is a real lawsuit,” Deka said. “It’s technical, it’s unforgiving of mistakes, and it deserves the same seriousness and the same professional help you bring to any other litigation.”
CAA strongly recommends using an experienced landlord-tenant attorney. For rental housing held by a corporation or limited liability company, representation is a legal requirement, because the entity cannot represent itself in court.
Prout and Deka told attendees that even a solid case with no unusual complications can take four to five months from start to finish, and many take longer. Attorney fees continue to accrue, rent may remain unpaid and a money judgment does not guarantee collection.
Deka summed up the calculation this way: “If you run that math, settlement stops looking like surrender and starts looking like what it is, which is a business decision about time and money.”
Winning does not end it. A judgment for possession does not itself return the unit; the court must issue a writ of possession and the sheriff must complete the lockout, and that stretch can add more time. Until the sheriff restores possession, the prohibition against self-help remains in place.
The on-demand webinar walks through the full timeline, including common tenant defenses, pre-answer motions, discovery, the evidence rules that catch providers off guard at trial, settlement strategy and enforcement after judgment — along with the records providers should be keeping long before a notice is served.
Watch the webinar on demand
The on-demand webinar costs $55 for CAA members and $95 for nonmembers. It qualifies for one unit of CCRM continuing education credit for current CCRM-certified individuals.
