Rental property Eviction Information For Income Property Owners

If you’ve owned income property for a while, you’ve probably run into a tenant who won’t pay rent, is damaging the apartment, house or office building or is a noisy neighborhood nuisance. 

Of course you’d like them to catch up on their rent, stop the property damage and quiet down. But when all else fails, you’ll most likely want to formally evict that tenant. 

There’s no doubt about it, eviction is a time-consuming, complicated process. But if you don’t do it right, you could lose rental income and experience even more damage to your income property. 

Here are the basic steps of the eviction process. 

1.     You must serve proper written notice. Notices can be for three days, 30 days, 60 days or as long as 120 days for properties that fall under rent control. The notice period varies based on the reason for eviction, how long the tenant has occupied that unit and a few other special cases. 

2.     If the tenant moves out, that’s the end of the process. Otherwise, you may file an unlawful detainer lawsuit, known as a UD, with the courts and serve it to the tenant with proper notice. This starts the eviction process. 

3.      Your tenant is required to file a response to the UD within five days. This period can go up to 15 days in some cases. If the tenant doesn’t do this, you may pursue a default judgment. 

4.     The court will set a date to hear the lawsuit. The judge will decide whether the eviction is proper based on the evidence presented.  The judge will also make a ruling on any money owed. 

5.     If the court finds in your favor, it will issue a writ of possession for the subject property. 

6.     You will present this writ to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. 

7.     By order of the court, the Sheriff’s Office will evict all tenants from the property. 

Here are some actions you cannot take as a landlord or landlady. 

It is a crime for you to turn off the power, water or gas to the rental property if the tenant won’t pay rent if the tenant is there legally. You could get arrested for doing this. You can’t lock the tenant out of the property either. 

Remember that there is no such thing as an emergency eviction. However, in cases of domestic violence, there are move-out orders issued by police or sheriff’s deputies. 

You can’t enter a room or residence any time you want. You can only enter during normal business hours, generally 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays if you give notice stating the date, approximate time and reason for entering.

You can enter without notice to respond to an emergency, the tenant has moved or abandoned the rental or the tenant gives you permission to enter. Here’s how to acceptably notify the tenant of your intent to enter a home.

You can personally deliver the notice to the tenant, leave the notice at the unit with a person of suitable age and discretion, for example, a roommate or teen member of the household or leave the notice on, near or under the entry door in such a way that it’s likely to be found. Finally, you can mail the notice to the tenant. 

You can’t throw a tenant out if they don’t move out after their three-day, 30-day, 60-day or 120-day notice has expired. You can only evict a tenant if you have followed the eviction process all the way to the end, a writ of possession. Only then will the Sheriff’s Office carry out an eviction. 

Recreational vehicle parks and mobile home parks have special rules. You can’t evict a tenant who has an active lease unless there is a provision in the lease that allows it. It’s best to consult a lawyer for questions on terminating a lease.