Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Recently, a judgment was entered in my tenant's favor on a technicality which I will not go into, except to say be sure that court employees know what they are talking about when you go to file a notice. Regardless of the judgment, I feel that I should be able to pack his stuff, set it out, and lock him out because I had served proper notice due to unpaid rent and utilities, failure to maintain the premises, and being a nuisance to my other tenant. He has had more than a month to coast along while he filed an appeal and worked the system to his advantage. Other landlords have said I am in the right, but I don't want to move too fast and find myself in the wrong. Any advice?

Start over, now you know the technicality you need to look for. I'm in the process of trying to evict some horrible people that DO know the system, and even though I winded up hiring an atty, he is still going with my paperwork, and my first mistake was not giving a 60 day notice because they were there longer than a year (CA). I'm not sure the ruling will go in my favor, so I may have to start over with the proper notice, I'll find out in court. Also, the clerk didn't give me ALL the proper papers to serve on the tenants, but as they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Posted by Kathy L, CA on Friday, March 14, 2008