When a tenant fails to pay rent in California, the landlord has three days to either pay the rent or resign.
Most leases and rental agreements require renters to pay rent on the first of every month, even if it is a weekend or holiday. Landlords are not compelled by California law to provide renters a grace period before collecting a late charge or terminating the lease.
There is, however, no rule prohibiting landlords from making rent due on a different day of the month or from offering renters a grace period for paying rent. A lease or rental agreement, for example, may say that if the first of the month is a holiday, rent is due the next business day. Alternatively, a lease or rental agreement may require the landlord to wait three days after the rent is due before charging a late charge. All agreements between landlords and renters should be written down and signed by both sides in a lease or rental agreement.
(See California Civil Procedure Code 1161(2) (2022).)
A landlord may provide a three-day notice to pay rent or vacate by using the following methods:
(See California Civil Procedure Code 1162(a) (2022).)
A renter might reply to the three-day notice in a number of ways.
California landlords cannot use self-help techniques to evict renters, such as changing locks or shutting off the power. Rather, after providing the required termination notice, the landlord must launch a “unlawful detainer” (eviction) action. The landlord must submit a summons and complaint with the superior court of the county or district in which the rental unit is situated to begin the illegal detainer proceedings. The court will schedule a date for a hearing before a judge, and the landlord must serve the court documentation on the renter (a summons and a complaint).
To assist the renter, the landlord may do the following:
Hire a professional process server to deliver the papers to someone at the tenant’s home or work and send a copy to the tenant, or post a copy at the tenant’s house and mail a copy to the tenant.
The renter has five days to react to the summons and complaint (or 15 if they are not served in person). If the renter answers, the court will hear all sides of the tale. If the tenant does not answer, the landlord might request a “default judgment,” in which the court would issue an order granting the landlord the right to reenter the property.
When both the tenant and the landlord appear in court, most courts will order the parties to mediate the disagreement in order to reach an agreement. If that fails, the court will rule whether the tenant is allowed to continue in the property or if the landlord is entitled to a writ of possession.
The only legal option for a landlord to evict a tenant is to obtain a writ of possession to hire the sheriff or another law enforcement official to physically remove the tenant and his or her things. If a landlord tries to wrongfully remove a tenant, the tenant may sue for damages.