California Notice of Belief of Abandonment

While no one wants to be a situation where a tenant abandons the property, unfortunately, it happens. So what do you do when your tenant is two weeks behind on rent and you have not been able to get in contact with them? Or perhaps, there are other red flags that the tenants have abandoned the property, such as not checking the mail for an extended period of time, the premises becoming unkempt, or you and the neighbors not seeing the tenants for a period of time. There may be several other factors that lead a landlord to reasonably believe that a tenant has abandoned the property. The California Notice of Belief of Abandonment is for these situations exactly.

Under California law, if after 14 consecutive days of non-payment of rent landlords believe their tenants may have abandoned the property the landlords must send the tenants a notice of belief of abandonment. This document clearly sets forth the provision of California law that requires notice to be sent, explains the consequences. The California Notice of Belief of Abandonment is concise and clearly addresses the issues, while informing tenants that their lease agreement will terminate at least 18 days from the date the notice was mailed or 15 days from delivering the notice in person.

The document explains the tenants’ obligations if they would like to remain in the property. If the tenants wish to remain in the property they must respond to the notice confirming they did not intend to abandon the property and providing an address where they can receive certified mail in case they will be served for an unlawful detainer action. This document clearly sets forth the terms and gives the tenants an opportunity to respond prior to the landlord taking further action to terminate the lease agreement.