The Basics Steps to Evict a Tenant in California
One of the greatest challenges — and risks — of being a housing provider is dealing with problem tenants. No matter how tight your tenant screening process is, you can still end up with renters who aren’t able to pay rent or who are different than you initially expected. Sometimes, difficult tenants become so problematic that you may be forced to evict them, which can be a challenging and unpleasant process. However, if you are a housing provider in California and want to make evicting a tenant as pain-free and smooth as possible, it can help to arm yourself with a knowledge of the eviction process. Here are the basic steps of eviction in the state.
1. Ensure You Have a Legal Reason to Evict
Before you move to evict someone, you should make sure that you have a legal reason to do so. In California, there are many reasons a housing provider can evict a tenant, including failure to pay the rent, violation of the lease, using a property for illegal purposes and more. (Check out a complete list from the California Department of Consumer Affairs here.) Make sure you have documented proof of the violation before moving to evict.
2. Serve a Formal Notice of Eviction
If you have a legal reason to evict your tenant and you want to move forward with the eviction, you should serve them a notice of eviction to let them know. The notice should be personally delivered to the tenant. If it’s not possible to reach them, the notice should be affixed to the door of the unit, and also sent to them via certified mail. For failure to pay rent in California, housing providers can give tenants three days to fix the problem.
4. Await the Tenant Response
5. Go to Court
6. Have the Sheriff Serve a Vacate Notice
