Make your Free California Eviction Notice

If you own or manage residential property in California, you can create a California Eviction Notice to notify renters of impending legal action if they are unable to respect the terms of the lease agreement that they signed or do not leave the property as demanded. As a result of this essential legal notice, you'll be able to exercise your rights, while giving the tenant time to resolve the issue at hand within an allotted amount of time. That said, in some instances, there is no resolution, and filing with the court is inevitable. Appropriate for any residential property type, our Eviction Notice for California can be used with tenants in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and in all of the other municipalities within the Golden State.

Generally speaking, yes, and you can make a California Eviction Notice (specifically referred to as a 3-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit) to start the process. That said, due to COVID-19, there are some protections in place for tenants who are unable to pay rent. Despite the fact that the federal ban on eviction has been blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, the state of California and individual municipalities can create and enforce their own restrictions for residential evictions. Keep up with the current developments for your state or talk to a lawyer, if you remain unsure.

If you wish to remove a tenant from your California rental property, you must always provide them with a Notice of Eviction first. Some of the most common situations in which you might need one include:

• The tenant is habitually late to pay their rent or they are behind on payments
• The tenant has caused substantial damage
• The tenant harasses or disturbs the quiet enjoyment of their neighbors
• The tenant is using your property for an illegal business
• The tenant gets a dog or cat and the rental contract forbids pets
• The tenant sublets their unit in breach of the agreement

Outside of these violations, a renter typically may be evicted by a landlord for reasons that are not related to a fault of their own. For instance, when the property owner needs to move back in. Please note that the list above isn't exhaustive and that the acceptable reasons for evicting a tenant may be different from place to place, among other determining factors. If you've got any concerns about California eviction laws, ask a lawyer.

You can click on the button that says "Make document" to check out our California Eviction Notice sample. Before getting started, you usually might want to prepare the following critical details:

• The address and description of the property
• The renter's contact information
• How many past due rent payments should be made (if any)
• Which of the lease clauses have been violated
• How much time the tenant has to resolve the situation

In the event that the tenant isn't at fault, you may want to provide more context. Further customization is permitted, as well. You'll need to confirm that all of the policies and terms mentioned in the Eviction Notice are present in the fully executed rental contract.

Laws continually evolve over time and the eviction process and restrictions can be relatively nuanced for a first-timer. In certain cases, there might be varying notice periods and other requirements based on the length of the tenant's occupancy and why they are being evicted. As a result, it is strongly recommended that every property owner connect with an eviction lawyer when making a Notice of Eviction to any tenant.

California Eviction Notice Laws: Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1161(2)

Luckily, you don't have to start from scratch when writing your document. With the document tools on Rocket Lawyer, you should feel empowered to create a free California Eviction Notice online very easily. Your notice will be constructed piece by piece so you can feel confident that it has the proper details that you'll need. This solution is often much less time-consuming than working with a traditional provider.

The fees associated with hiring a conventional attorney to make a Notice of Eviction could add up to anywhere between hundreds of dollars and thousands. Unlike the other websites you might stumble upon, Rocket Lawyer offers much more than an eviction form. If you decide to proceed with an eviction lawsuit, your membership offers up to 40% in savings when you hire an attorney from our On Call network. If you want to understand the complete cost of eviction, you will need to consider the cost of filing court documents, legal fees, the value of unrecovered payments, storage or cleaning fees, and finally the money and time spent finding a replacement tenant.

The duration of the eviction process for California tenants will usually depend on the notice period required, in addition to the overall volume of lawsuits that are being held concurrently. Below, you'll find a basic explanation of California notice periods:

• Past-due rent: 3-day notice
• Rental agreement violations: 3-day notice
• No fault of the tenant: 60-day notice if the tenant has lived in the unit for more than one year; 30-day notice if the tenant has lived in the unit for less than one year

When your notice period is over, the actual eviction may take anywhere between 45 and 75 days. Please note that with certain kinds of housing, for instance where rent is subsidized, the mandated notice period is often even longer.

While you can opt to prepare a Notice to Quit without support, most landlords who take tenants to court have legal representation. Getting a legal professional to provide feedback on your document may take longer than you'd expect if you do it on your own. An easier approach would be via the Rocket Lawyer On Call^® network. Premium members can ask for guidance from an On Call attorney with experience in landlord-tenant matters or pose other questions. As a property owner or manager, you can be confident that Rocket Lawyer is here by your side.

After making a California Eviction Notice with Rocket Lawyer, you will be able to review it on any device. You also may engage with the document by editing it and saving it as a Word document or PDF file. You must sign the notice before serving it on the tenant(s). This California Eviction Notice includes a proof of service so that you will have clear documentation of its delivery. There are a few methods for serving the notice:

• Use a professional process server
• Deliver the notice by hand
• Send it via certified mail

Please remember that "self-help" or "DIY" evictions are illegal in California. Landlords shouldn't throw out belongings, shut off utilities, change the locks, or in any way attempt to intimidate tenants in an effort to force them to move. Taking the appropriate lawful actions before and throughout the eviction process is critical to removing tenants successfully under a court order.

If a tenant does not pay rent after being given a 3-day notice, the landlord can choose to file an eviction lawsuit, also known as an unlawful detainer suit.